If you are looking at a franchise opportunity perhaps you should beware if your prospective franchisor says the following:

  1. You don’t need a lawyer to review the agreement. 
  2. I would prefer you don’t talk with the other franchisees.  You should only talk with me.
  3. We won’t negotiate any terms.
  4. Trust us, we can’t (and won’t) change

Is your business in need of a buy-sell agreement?  Don’t know how to get started? 

An excellent resource worth considering is a book from Z. Christopher Mercer called Buy-Sell Agreements:  Ticking Time Bombs or Reasonable Solutions?   A blog post from Mercer worth reading also raises an excellent point regarding buy-sell agreements:

If you are in the process of

The Iowa Caucus is this Thursday, January 3rd.  The national media has descended upon us and at least one of my restaurant clients I talked with recently is extremely thankful.  Yesterday, I featured the Democratic candidates and today it’s the Republican candidates.  Again, my intent is not to endorse any particular candidate but rather provide a little bit

Yesterday I received five phone calls and four knocks at the door from several campaigns that are pulling out all the stops to win the Iowa caucus.  With the caucus coming up this Thursday, January 3rd, I wanted to highlight all the major candidates with some video footage of speeches.  Today I will feature the

The Iowa Caucus is approaching quickly.  If you attend campaign rallies for the candidates or listen to TV ads you will almost never hear anything about small business. 

But in reality, America’s small businesses are the driver of our economy.  Consider these facts from the Small Business Administration (SBA) as outlined in February 2006:

10.

American_dream With 2008 fast approaching perhaps you are considering the pursuit of the American Dream to own your own business.  But where do you start?  Here are some helpful legal tips to consider before you start your Iowa business:

1. Find out the availability of your proposed business name. You can do a quick search