Yesterday I spoke at the BIZ Raising Capital Seminar mentioned in my last blog post. I thoroughly enjoyed being on a panel with some excellent business advisors including:

But mostly  I enjoyed listening and talking with a group of excited and motivated business owners that are determined to make things happen in Des Moines. I felt a collective energy from those business owners that I had not felt from similar groups in the past.

Several of the attendees were also involved in the recent Startup Weekend Des Moines. From the conversation today it was clear that was a highly successful event that may produce more than one viable business opportunity.

I am also encouraged by Christian Renaud’s StartUpCity Des Moines. It’s a new resource and gathering place for startups in Des Moines.Christian anticipates it will be up and running by the end of the summer. If you are a new business looking for guidance that could be a great place for you to start.

Go create and innovate!

I’ll be one of the speakers at the annual Raising Capital Seminar sponsored by the BIZ on March 29, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The seminar is located at the Des Moines Partnership offices.

"Many entrepreneurs don’t have a good understanding of the types of capital that start-up businesses can or should raise," says Mike Colwell, executive director of the Business Innovation Zone of Central Iowa, the seminar sponsor. "This event will be the place to learn about the legal requirements, investor expectations of them, the timeframes and the costs involved in raising capital."
 
Leading business advisors will deliver presentations on business valuation, fundraising compliance and legal issues, using friends and family as capital sources, angel investor expectations, and how to use venture capital and private equity sources.

I’ll be speaking on corporation and LLC entity formation (it’s not the gut wrenching decision some seem to make it) plus partnership considerations (don’t do it). Hope to see you there!
 

My friend, Joel Libava (aka "The Franchise King"), inked a book deal to write a book on franchising. I’m excited because Joel is a reliable resource in the franchise industry. We don’t always agree but I do respect his opinions on franchising. He tells it like it is even if that means calling out a franchisor or two in the process.

If you are considering franchising, I encourage you to visit Joel’s site and pay attention to his articles on investigating a franchise. 

Congratulations on the book deal, Joel! Looking forward to reading it!

I often received questions about whether a worker should be classified as an independent contractor or employee. In fact a blog post on Employees v. Independent Contractors is still one of the most popular posts ever on my blog even though I wrote it over three years ago.

In a couple of recent blog posts, Brick Gentry immigration lawyer, Austin Kennedy, explores the use of independent contractors by companies hoping not to verify the employment authorization of a worker and whether this practice could lead to liability. His posts are worth a read. 

See links below:

Does an Employer Have to Verify the Employment Authorization of Independent Contractors?

When can an Employer’s Use of Subcontractors Still Lead to Liability?

This post comes via Monica Dolezal of BIZSTARTS. The U.S. Small Business Administration has announced it will be continuing its successful Emerging 200 Initiative in Des Moines.

For the last three years, Des Moines has been selected as one of a limited number of cities nationwide to participate in the SBA’s Emerging 200 Initiative (e200). The goal of e200 is to identify businesses across the country that show a high potential for growth and to provide them the network, resources and motivation required to build a sustainable business.

 

Based on the success of the initiative in Des Moines in 2008, 2009, and 2010, SBA will offer the program again beginning in April. However this year, again, SBA will be expanding the program boundaries to include the entire city of Des Moines.

 

The cornerstone of the e200 initiative is an in-depth educational program running approximately 80-100 hours, April through mid-November every other Thursday evening. It will focus on topics such as organization management, finance, growth strategies and management, and market development, resulting in a 3 year growth plan.

 

Participation in e200 is free to qualifying businesses. Criteria for participation includes having been in business for a minimum of three years, $400,000 or more in gross annual revenues, and a business location within the city of Des Moines. Participation will be limited to only 15 businesses in Des Moines.

 

For more information on the program, contact the SBA in Des Moines at (515) 284-4522 or at thomas.lentell@sba.gov. Or you can contact the instructor, Monica Dolezal, BIZSTARTS, LLC at 515-229-2345 or monica@bizstarts.biz.

Listen and watch the premiere Brick Gentry, P.C. webinar from immigration lawyer Austin Kennedy on our new Brick Gentry Web site. Austin’s presentation is on Achieving Lawful Permanent Residency in the United States Through the Labor Certification Process.

We are currently in the process of developing presentations on franchise and LLC issues. Register for our Webinars and receive updates on when new webinars are completed. Let us know if there is a topic you are interested in and we’ll consider a webinar for it.

 

Pat Burk, a shareholder with Brick Gentry, P.C. practicing in real estate and business law has an important update with respect to how LLCs convey real property in Iowa.

Pat indicates that a recent change to the Title Standards of the Iowa State Bar Association removes the presumption of authority on LLC conveyance documents, such as a deed. Now, information must show of record indicating whether the LLC is member-managed or manager managed, that the deed was given in the ordinary course of business and setting forth the proper authority of the signatory(ies). This is a major change to the manner in which LLC’s convey property and may be missed by many LLC owners until this becomes common knowledge.

Just another reason why it would be a good idea to use a lawyer for your LLC documents in Iowa. Sorry, LegalZoom.

It is important to note that Iowa’s former LLC law (Chapter 490A) is repealed this year and all Iowa LLCs will be subject to Chapter 489 of the Iowa Code effective January 1, 2011.

Prior to this year, Iowa LLCs formed before January 1, 2009 could remain under the old LLC law or opt-in to be covered by the new Iowa statute. I wrote a series of posts back in December of 2008 concerning the new Iowa LLC law. However, one important reminder involves the significant change relating to management. The old Iowa LLC law provides that member voting is based upon capital contributions of the members. Generally, that meant voting is based upon the percentages of the members and a member with 51% or more would control how the company is operated.

However the default provision with the new Iowa LLC law is one member – one vote. This means that even a member with a minority percentage may have the ability to have as much management authority as an member that has a majority of the membership units. Accordingly, if a majority owner wants to maintain management control, the written operating agreement will need to specify such arrangement. Some unsuspecting LLC majority owners may be surprised to learn that they may not be in control of their business unless an operating agreement specifies the majority interest controls.

This issue is just one of reasons I recommend that all Iowa LLC owners seek legal advice from a business attorney when forming an LLC under the new Iowa LLC act. And why every LLC owner formed before January 1, 2009 should seek the advice of their business attorney to see if their current documents apply as intended under the new Iowa LLC law.

 

 

 

 

Most people are familiar with Shakespeare’s famous words spoken by Dick the Butcher in Henry VI (Part II) , "The first thing we must do is kill all the lawyers."  The majority of people perceive this as a lawyer joke, however, in reality Shakespeare realized that the surest way to chaos and tyranny even then was to remove the guardians of independent thinking.

But sadly, Shakespeare’s character has now taken the form of out-state-interests who seek to take over our Iowa judiciary after an Indiana lawyer filed a federal lawsuit this week claiming that lawyers have too much say in the judicial selection process in Iowa. The goal is to deny the current Iowa State Bar Association members on the Judicial Nominating Commission the opportunity to vote on the short list of judicial candidates to be given to the governor.  According to James Bopp, Jr., Iowa lawyers have a "stranglehold" on our Iowa judiciary. Similar lawsuits like the one filed by Bopp in Iowa have been dismissed in other states.

In my previous post regarding the Iowa judiciary I warned this would happen.  Those that complained about judicial activism in our last retention election resulting in the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices are now seeking judicial activism themselves. Iowans need to stand up and support an independent judiciary free from the whims of out-of-state political interest groups. Iowans should not be misled. Those that seek to oust our judges and change our judicial selection process don’t care a wit about how our judicial system works.  The only goal is to push their political agenda. Nothing more. Nothing less.

*The views expressed in this blog post are my own and are not intended to speak for or represent the views of the other lawyers in Brick Gentry, P.C.

 

The Franchise King, Joel Libava, has an interesting post on Small Business Trends asking Why Aren’t Women Interested in Franchise Ownership? Joel says it’s all in the numbers. According to Joel, about 25 percent of franchises are owned by women.

Joel references a book by Iain Murray that says women often have excellent qualities that allow them to become successful franchise operators:

  • Women are good at organizing, at coordinating activities and people efficiently. This means women franchisees will be naturally inclined to organize and coordinate their franchise opportunity more productively and profitably.
  • Women are good at prioritizing, at deciding which activities are more important than others. This particular skill works well in the franchising industry, when problems arise concerning planning, staffing, financing and people management.

According to my own unscientific experience this year, I’d say women owned franchise ownership is on the rise. I haven’t kept exact statistics, but 3 out of the last 4 franchise reviews I’ve performed have been for women and I would say the number of women I performed reviews for this year is at  least equal in number to men. Of course, Iowa is always a little ahead of the curve.