Focused on Small Business Success
Benefit Corporations vs Public Benefit Corporations in Iowa
An Iowa benefit corporation is a for-profit corporation with a purpose to help the public, while a public benefit corporation is a charitable non-profit corporation.
Safeguard Your Startup: Why Registering a Trademark is Essential for Tech Entrepreneurs
Another company is using my name! We worked with a business owner who had a competitor start a business in a neighboring town using the same name. It was in the same county! The competitor used a different logo but had the name printed on their trucks and offered a similar service. Customers were naturally…
Caring about Small Businesses – Entrepreneurship in Our Genes
Why do we on the Iowa Business Lawyer team care so much about small businesses? Well, small business ownership is in Attorney Matt Nuzum’s genes. Parents play a huge role in their children’s lives, and although no parent is perfect, they influence us in many different ways. In business, a parent can demonstrate upstanding morals,…
Free Event – Biennial Report Help 2023
Free help for Iowa LLC owners—every other year you have to file a biennial report. If you’d like help, join this meeting and I’ll walk you through it. The process takes 10 min or less, so no need to stay on for the whole meeting. However, you are welcome to chat and say hi! Note: The…
What intellectual property rights should business owners protect?
Define IP, IP types, and their differences, understand the benefits of IP protection, and discover how to get IP protection. What Intellectual Property Means Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, like inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, names and images used in commerce. Just like you can own a physical…
Buying or Selling a Business
Buying or selling a business can be a great opportunity for both the buyer and seller. Learn about the key risks and make a plan.
What happens to the security deposit if a tenant leaves before the lease ends?
So what happens to a deposit if a tenant breaks their lease before the end? The short answer is that the landlord can apply the deposit towards the damages, but landlords may have a duty.
Do Iowa landlords need a trust account for rental deposits?
There is legal terminology running around that says “landlords must hold rental deposits in trust,” or similar. This is not exactly what the law says, though at a high level, I believe that’s what the law means. However, it leads to confusion over what a landlord must do with rental deposits. In short, no, a…
Iowa’s Low-Speed Electric Bicycle law
Iowa laws about e-bikes were clarified for 2022. This makes it easier to know how your electrically assisted bicycle will be treated.
Four Simple Steps to a Solid Business Plan
A simple business plan gives your idea a much higher chance of success. Use these four steps to make it easy.
Should my spouse be listed as a co-owner of my LLC?
Single owner LLCs get special tax status with the IRS. Adding a spouse as a co-owner loses that status, but here are some alternative ways to do what you want.
Help, my LLC was administratively dissolved, what do I do?
Don’t panic! If your LLC was administratively dissolved, you can fix it. You first need to figure out why you were administratively dissolved. Here’s how.
Do I need LLC as part of my business name?
Yes, in Iowa and most states, you must have some variation of LLC as part of your legal name. It does not have to be exactly “LLC,” but you probably should because people are used to it and it’s the most common option. LLC stands for “Limited Liability Company,” which is a special kind of…
What Should I Name My Business? Trade Names, DBAs, and More
Naming things is difficult—in fact, maybe one of the most difficult decisions you’ll make as you launch your business. In some cases, laws will have a slight impact on what your business name will be, for example, if it must or cannot include certain words. But for many, the sky’s the limit. Fortunately, there’s a…
Is Iowa a “business-friendly” state?
Recently, an article came out ranking Iowa poorly on a list of states that are business-friendly. The article focused on one, and only one, specific metric—corporate taxation. Many businesses in Iowa do not care about this metric because they are not a corporation or are small enough that their tax exposure is too low to…