By: Charles Moster

Drifting snow, chiming bells, and rosy cheeks mark the beginning of our merry holiday season.  And many businesses anticipate the greatest holiday gift of all: the economic outlook has begun to turn rosy as well.

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By Shari Wynne

Health care - and who pays for it - remains an important topic for business owners. Recent legislation will require employers to pay for 65% of separated employees’ health care continuation payment for a prescribed period.  Previously, employers were required to keep separated employees on their health care plans as long as the employee paid up to 110% to cover the payment and attendant administrative cost.  

As a health and benefits plan (ERISA) attorney, I want employers to understand that separation notices and the amount employers are now required to pay must change.  While there are tax credit reimbursements your cash flow will be impacted and you need to be prepared.   (more…)

By Charles Moster
(Originally published by Fred Patterson, SBIR Coach)

Imagine that you just stepped off the elevator having traveled 30 floors talking to the CEO at your top prospect.  You gave the most stirring elevator speech in the history of elevator speeches, and captured her imagination with your tale of cutting-edge technologies and memorable branding. (more…)

By Charles Moster

I’ve always been fascinated by time travel stories which often deal with the possibility of alternative histories.  In the typical story line, a time traveler journeys back in the past and accidently changes the course of history.  The potential outcomes are fascinating.  What if the South prevailed during the Civil War?  What if the Germans in WWII had successfully completed their nuclear research and produced the first atomic bomb?  What if Monica Lewinsky passed up that opportunity to work as an intern in the Clinton administration?  I would surmise that Al Gore would have been elected President in 2000 and a gentlemen named Barack Obama would be a fairly obscure junior Senator from Chicago.  And so on.
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In what is shaping up to be a recurring collaboration, we want to highlight some expert commentary from Fred Patterson. Fred is a huge advocate of growing the economy by growing small business and, in particular, by finding ways to fund innovation with Federal money that never has to be paid back!

Best,
Charles Moster (more…)

By Shari Wynne
Picture yourself having hired your first 5 new employees to help get your new business off the ground. If you’re wondering how to protect the customer base you are working so hard to develop, you are likely concerned about how the use of non-compete agreements can help or hurt you. Your concerns are well founded. (more…)

By Charles Moster
Your business has thrived as a leading distributor of computer monitors. As the CEO/Founder, you have assembled an excellent management team and maintained double digit growth in an expanding market. Just as you are about to put your third plant on-line, the stock market experiences its most significant decline since the Great Depression. Almost overnight, your ability to obtain credit seems to vanish and several of your largest customers have cancelled pending orders. (more…)

By Charles Moster 
Consider the following scenario:
If Darth Vader went to the best law school he could get into…
And then became the biggest baddest lawyer in town…
And set his Laser Light Saber on your Texas business, how would he fare?   (more…)

By Charles Moster
I was reminiscing with an old client of the Firm when suddenly he looked decidedly uncomfortable and a bit on the queasy side.  I inquired if he was suffering from food poisoning or some such malady when he confided that this year was spinning by so fast he would never achieve his financial goals for 2008.  (more…)

By Charles Moster
I was recently asked to make a presentation to the Austin Chamber of Commerce on the topic of “Leadership & Motivation”.  As a business owner and third generation entrepreneur for over 12 years I felt qualified to offer up my observations given the intensity of my experiences which could be best measured in “dog years”. 

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