September 20, 2026
Why Your New LLC Gets So Much Spam Mail
You filed your LLC on a Tuesday. By the following week your mailbox was full of official looking envelopes, and you want the answer to two questions. Who told all these people abo…
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September 20, 2026
Why Your Dream Business Is a Bad First Business
A 20 year old with good credit and no savings recently asked an online forum how to start a business with no money. The businesses he named were a mini market, a gas station, and…
September 20, 2026
The Capital Ladder: How Businesses Get Funded
Most people ask where to get money for a business. The more useful question is what you can do from where you are standing today. This post answers that one. A 20 year old recentl…
September 20, 2026
Can You Start a Business With No Money? Honest Answer
A 20 year old asked an online forum a question we hear almost every week. He had good credit, no savings, no steady job, and a real wish to own something. Can you start a business…
August 4, 2026
Texas Mechanic's Lien Deadlines for Contractors (2026)
You finished the work. The invoice is 60 days past due. Somebody keeps telling you the draw is coming next week. In Texas, that waiting has a price most contractors do not see unt…
August 4, 2026
What to Check in an FDD Before You Sign (14-Day Rule)
You are about to spend six figures on a franchise. Somewhere in your inbox sits a 300-page PDF called a Franchise Disclosure Document, and a franchise development rep is asking wh…
July 9, 2026
How to Pay Yourself: Take It First
A business owner's LLC was profitable on paper, but his bank account did not agree. I get this question constantly. The business has a good year on paper, but the bank account doe…
June 25, 2026
Home Business Zoning Rules Can Stop You
A soap maker did everything right to set up her LLC. Then she found out she could not store inventory at home. She had picked a name, filed the paperwork, set up the LLC. The hard…
June 3, 2026
Iowa SUI Tax Credit: Check Your IWD Account
A few weeks ago I got an email saying I had an important message about my payroll tax. Logging in and tracking it down took more clicks than it should have, but it was worth it. T…
May 23, 2026
The Termination That Gets You Sued Isn't the One You Planned
You made the decision. The employee is not working out, and you are ready to move forward. You have thought about it, maybe for months. The termination feels straightforward. So w…
May 23, 2026
How Open Source Companies Protect Their Brand (And Why You Should Too)
Some of the most valuable technology companies in the world give their core product away for free. Anyone can download it, use it, modify it, and redistribute it. And yet these co…
May 23, 2026
Workplace Texts as Legal Evidence: The OpenAI Lesson
In May 2026, a federal jury in Oakland dismissed all of Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman. The trial lasted three weeks. The verdict took less than two hours. But w…
May 23, 2026
You Named Your Beer John Lemon. Now You Owe €100,000.
Aurélien Picard thought he had a clever name. His Brittany brewery, L’Imprimerie, made a lemon-ginger beer he called John Lemon. The label featured a caricature of John Lennon spo…
May 23, 2026
M&A Deal-Killers: What Ben & Jerry's Teaches Small Business Sellers
In 2000, Ben & Jerry's sold to Unilever for roughly $326 million. On the surface, it looked like a clean exit. The founders got their price. The brand would live on. The deal…
May 23, 2026
What Happens When an LLC Gets Sued?
You formed an LLC to protect yourself. That is one of the main reasons people choose the LLC structure. And the good news is: it works. Most business owners who get sued through t…
May 19, 2026
How to Hire Employees in Texas: Employer Guide (2026)
Hiring your first employee in Texas creates a sequence of legal and tax obligations that need to happen in a specific order. Most employers miss one or more, and the missed obliga…
May 19, 2026
Texas Husband-Wife LLC: Disregarded Entity & Tax Filing
Starting an LLC with your spouse in Texas creates a question that often gets glossed over in national guides: how will the IRS tax the business, and how do you make sure your tax…
May 16, 2026
Why Running a Small Business Is Mentally Exhausting
If you have ever wondered why running your small business feels harder than starting it, you are not alone. The internet is full of advice about launching a company, quitting your…
May 15, 2026
How to Fire an Employee: Documentation That Wins Appeals
Three employees challenged their firings. All three lost. The difference between their employers winning and losing was not the severity of what the employees did. It was the pape…
April 11, 2026
Trademark Attorney vs. Online Filing Services
Filing a trademark looks simple on the surface. You pick a name, fill out some forms, pay a fee, and wait. That is the version you see in ads for online filing services. And to be…
April 11, 2026
Trademark for Startup Founders | Surge Business Law
You have spent months picking the perfect name. You bought the domain. You designed the logo. You started building a customer base. Then one morning, an attorney's letter lands in…
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