This is Lesson #3 in a five-part series on the top reasons I’ve seen franchisees fail. 

Tucked away in nearly every franchise agreement is a provision that very few franchisees consider when they are purchasing a franchise business. The provision I am referencing gives a franchisor the right to sell or transfer its business

 Mike Colwell of THE BIZ posted a presentation I have on Partnering for his Raising Capital series. One of the biggest things a partnership needs is communication. Like any good marriage, communication is the key. Business partners that communicate effectively are much more likely to be successful. Also, proper documentation is a key. Without

The franchising model is available in almost every industry. (Even law firms apparently). Reports have indicated there’s nearly 1 million established franchised businesses in the U.S. Among those franchises are many unknown (or relatively unknown) franchises. In my opinion it is critical to buy franchises with brand recognition.

Does that take out

The Iowa Supreme Court has announced that it is beginning a three-year project for an Iowa Business Specialty Court for complex cases with $200,000 or more in dispute. To begin the project, three Iowa judges will be hired for the court based upon their educational background, judicial and trial experience with complex commercial cases

Happy New Year everyone! The first blog post of the year centers on a controversial Iowa Supreme Court decision handed down right before the holidays.

In Nelson v. Knight, the Iowa Supreme Court was presented with the question whether a male employer could terminate a female employee because the employer’s wife, due to no

In meeting after meeting with prospective franchisees I am asked what I would look for in a franchise opportunity. It’s not an easy question. But trust me when I say that all franchise opportunities are NOT created the same.

What separates the good franchising opportunities from the bad franchising opportunities in my experience? Here are

Daniel Burnick of the Alabama Employment Law Report has an interesting post on a case involving a disputed Twitter account where the employee left his employment, changed his Twitter account name and then kept all the followers he had with his former employer.

In Kravitz v. PhoneDog, Kravitz used @phonedog for his Twitter account

IASourceLink.com is a new online resource available to help small business owners and entrepreneurs across Iowa. I haven’t had a ton of time to explore the site but I impressed with the information available on my initial review.

One neat feature is the Iowa Business Concierge service available in collaboration with MyEntre.Net. The business

In a recent review of a franchise disclosure document (FDD), I spotted a provision from a franchisor requiring the franchisee to pay any state taxes imposed on the franchisor as a result of the franchise operations within the state. Franchisees (particularly here in Iowa) should think twice before agreeing to this type of provision due