Your trusted source for Iowa business and franchise law insights.
Your trusted source for Iowa business and franchise law insights.
Over the years I’ve noticed that very few businesses actually plan for selling or passing on their business to employees or family. It’s one of the most important things any business owner can do.
I’ve teamed up with business coach Monte Wyatt to provide a free seminar to business owners on business succession planning. The…
The Business Innovation Zone (BIZ) is holding its annual Raising Capital seminar at StartupCity Des Moines on March 27 starting at 9:00 a.m. Raising capital for your business is complex and often time consuming. This is a great seminar to get you started.
There are several lawyers, accountants and business people presenting including Ben Milne…
In the past many new business owners funded their ventures through home equity lines of credit. But with the decrease in home values over the past few years, it’s been tougher for the start-up business owner to rely on home equity for funding. So what’s a new business owner to do?
An article from the Wall…
I was quoted in this article from The Street entitled, "When The Parent Company Drags You Down". The article discusses the financial woes of some franchises including Quiznos and the impact on franchisees.
If your a franchisee caught in a system experiencing financial problems, my first piece of advice is to carefully review the terms of your…
Joe Kristan of the Tax Update Blog has a very interesting post on So What is the Right S Corporation Salary? The blog post discusses a recent 8th Circuit case where a West Des Moines accountant had to pay FICA taxes on about $91,000 of his earnings from his professional S corporation –rather than $24,000–…
I recently had a meeting with a startup company that has tremendous potential for growth. If the idea for the business is to take off, it’s likely they will need some capital injection along the way, especially if the owners want the growth they hope for in a short amount of time.
One question we discussed…
Lawyers are not immediately recognized as the most creative souls on the planet but some of the best lawyers I know definitely have the the creative spark. I have seen many who were classic doodlers, photographers and painters. Some of them were also the most creative in the courtroom and ultimately very successful in winning cases. That’s why I am…
Jason Shinn of the Michigan Employment Law Advisor had a great post entitled "Is your company making this mistake when it comes to employees and intellectual property?" The post centers on a lawsuit filed by an employee of Marvel Entertainment who claimed he created the Ghost Rider character back in the 1970s. With the recent success…
In this video I discuss a red flag I’ve seen come up in franchise agreement negotiation. Sometimes a franchisor will tell a prospective franchisee that they can’t (or won’t) change the franchise agreement. That’s just fine but my problem comes when they say, "Don’t worry though, we won’t hold you to that provision." That is…
Maryland franchise lawyer Jeff Fabian has an excellent blog post on the issues to consider when the franchise agreement terminates on the Franchise Help blog.
In my experience many franchisees are under the misconception that they can simply change the name of their business and then begin serving the same customers the next day under…