I am often asked about business grants for women and minorities. In my experience these grants can be difficult to come by but they do exist. Here is an article from Entrepreneur discussing grants for women-owned businesses and also a link to the Targeted Small Business site with the Iowa Department of Economic Development.… Continue Reading
My social media news feed is full of articles and stories about business ownership. I am a business lawyer. I represent business people. So it benefits me if I promote business ownership and in general I try to do just that. However, I am here to tell you that despite the mountains of articles talking … Continue Reading
Inc.Magazine has a great article on the 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Buying a Franchise. The one I want to touch on in this post is #4 – Not learning how to implement the franchise system. All too often, would be franchise owners think they are “buying their own business.” This is not really true. What … Continue Reading
If you are fresh off your spring break and looking for a great networking event I recommend attending the BIZ Luncheon this Wednesday, March 25th at the Ruan II Building, 601 Locust, Conference Room 101 in Downtown Des Moines. Casey will share the tale of his leap from the corporate world with Microsoft to the … Continue Reading
All too often business owners neglect succession planning. In fact, according to a recent Inc Magazine article and Deloitte survey on the topic, 90 percent of business leaders recognize the success of their company depends on effective leadership succession but only 13 percent are confident about the succession plans they have made. And those are business … Continue Reading
Franchise Times has an interesting article on 20 to Watch: franchise trendsetters in 2015. One of the more interesting items to me was No. 18 – So Sue Me. Apparently one enterprising insurance executive has set up a suite of insurance products specifically designed for franchisors and franchisees to limit their risk against lawsuits. You … Continue Reading
Back in January of 2013 I shared that the Iowa Supreme Court began a new specialty court for business cases. According to a recent article from the Des Moines Business Record it sounds as though the court is off to a good start. (Unfortunately the article is only available in the member’s section of the … Continue Reading
I don’t know why or what’s in the water but November 17th must have been my own little national start a business day as I helped people form and start four businesses today. It is days like today that certainly keep you energized as a business lawyer and it is fun to see the excitement … Continue Reading
Entrepreneur Magazine columnists Courtney Spritzer and Stephanie Abrams list Hiring a Good Lawyer as one of the four things a start up business owner should do that may not be in the business plan. Another professional they suggest engaging is a knowledgeable accountant. And I could not agree more. In fact, I get worried when a client … Continue Reading
I was recently contacted by a business client whose employee signed a “contract” purporting to be from YELLOW PAGE IOWA that had been faxed to their business for what appeared to be a free Yellow Page or Facebook ad. The contract is misleading and deceptive and the fine print actually attempts to lock the client … Continue Reading
A recent Wall St. Journal article discussed some of the franchise brands with higher-than-average default rates. The highest on the list? Planet Beach at a considerable 41.1.% default rate for SBA loans from 2004 through 2014 according to the article. The franchising industry and its model of business does a wonderful job of marketing itself. … Continue Reading
I read an excellent post recently about The Secrets to Success in Franchising. I love what blog author Mike Sheehan had to say to start the article, If the title of this article caught your attention because you’re looking for a magic bullet, stop reading right now. There is no such thing – for any … Continue Reading
Recently I reviewed a restaurant franchise offering for a client. One of the things I pointed out is the franchise agreement is freely assignable by the franchisor. This means the franchisor could sell its franchise to another entity and the original franchisor could disappear. If a sale occurs it is difficult to predict whether it … Continue Reading
It goes without saying considering I am a franchise lawyer, but I agree completely with the Franchise King who offered his Top 5 Reasons to Hire a Franchise Attorney in a recent post. In my experience a lot of prospective franchisees skimp on hiring a franchise lawyer to review their FDD and franchise agreement. Many … Continue Reading
I read an interesting article from Entrepreneur on the Key to Understanding a Company’s FDD (franchise disclosure document). It’s an article I’d recommend prospective franchisees read but they better be prepared to go deeper if they really want to understand a Company’s FDD. The author recommends checking three key sections of the FDD: Item 3 … Continue Reading
Steve Sink wrote recently wrote a blog post on IowaBiz covering Why Deals do not Close. I recommend buyers and sellers of businesses to read the post. Fortunately, most of the deals I work on tend to close but from time to time there are issues with a deal or perhaps even litigation after a deal closes. … Continue Reading
Accountant Joe Kristan of Roth & Co. has an informative post on the IowaBiz Blog discussing the dangers of using IRA retirement monies to fund a startup business. In the situation described, a would-be entrepreneur took about $320,000 from his 401K and rolled it into a self-directed IRA. From there, the entrepreneur invested almost all … Continue Reading
Franchisors often tout that they are selling an "exclusive territory" to a franchisee during the sales process. Franchisees generally want an exclusive territory because they believe this protects them from competition from other franchisees or the franchisor itself. But if you are a franchise who has been sold an exclusive territory, you better make sure … Continue Reading
I read an interesting blog post on the LexBlog Network from Tom Crane of the San Antonio Employment Law Blog called What We Can Learn from the Government Shutdown. The lesson Crane preaches that bullying tactics usually do not work very well in negotiation and tend to invite an equal response from the other side. … Continue Reading
You can catch me tonight on the Insight on Business – The News Hour with Michael Libbie this evening at 5 pm on AM 1350-KRNT. Michael and I will be talking franchise law and more. It’s a great program you should check out. The show runs Monday-Friday each week at 5 PM.… Continue Reading
Prospective franchisees are often under the mistaken belief that franchise agreements are not negotiable. That’s often true even after a franchisor says initially that it will not negotiate a franchise agreement. So what’s one key in obtaining concessions in your franchise agreement? Be willing to walk away. It’s true of any negotiation. If you are … Continue Reading
If you’re a prospective franchise I highly recommend a series of articles written by Robert Purvin, Chairman and CEO of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers, on franchising myths. One of his best articles touches on the myth that Franchising Provides a "Proven Franchise Business System". I hear this one all the time. For … Continue Reading
Joel Libava (a/k/a "The Franchise King") has a list of 20 Must-Do Things Before You Buy a Franchise. It’s a great list so I thought I’d share the article with you. The last item on his list is to "Lawyer Up". Joel explains that the franchisor has a lawyer so franchisees should too. He also … Continue Reading
