I encourage you to check out Blawg Review #126 written by Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends.  Anita is a lawyer by training but an entrepreneur at heart.  Her award winning Web site was the "Best of the Web" according to Forbes Magazine for small business blogs.

The lineup of small business experts on Anita’s

I have written about how to hire a business lawyer at times in the past.  My first rule is that the lawyer should be experienced and competent in business law rather than choosing a personal injury, family law, criminal law or other lawyer.  My analogy used to be that you would not want a plastic

Congratulations to What’s For Dinner – Des Moines and its owners, Dawn Angus and Kristen Severs for their feature article in the Des Moines Business Record.  The success of their meal assembly business has brought multiple inquiries from would be entrepreneurs who are wondering whether they offer franchises opportunities for their business.  The thought of expanding beyond

Congratulations to Vince Basile of Aerospace Geartech who is featured in an article about the Business Innovation Zone (BIZ) in today’s Des Moines Register Business section.

Executive Director Mike Colwell worked with Vince to obtain grants through the Iowa Department of Economic Development and DMACC in order to purchase two manufacturing businesses (one from Ilinois and

It is possible to form your own corporation without a lawyer’s help.  Every day, many entrepreneurs do exactly that by using online incorporation kits.  I have written about such companies in the past.  There is definitely a segment of the market these incorporation companies serve.

The most obvious motivating factor for setting up a corporation

From Mike Colwell of Biz I learned about Franchise Interviews which is another resource for those interesting in franchising.  The site has several interviews with successful franchisees, franchisors and franchise experts (including lawyers).

I listened to the interview with leading franchise lawyer Kevin Hein of the Denver office of Snell & Wilmer. ( An interesting interview but

I am excited to announce that the Sullivan & Ward law firm will publish its Iowa Law Blog beginning in mid to late August.  The firm’s law blog will cover general legal issues inlcuding the following areas of law:

  • Utility and electric cooperative law;
  • Business law;
  • Trusts and estates;
  • Family law;
  • Real Estate law;
  • Trial &