Ask Entrepreneur

Nina L. Kaufman is an award-winning business attorney, author and speaker. For more than 15 years, she has successfully navigated thousands of small businesses through the legal hurdles they face in starting and running their companies. Under her AskTheBusinessLawyer.com brand, she reaches thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners with her legal services, professional speaking, information products, and LexAppeal weekly ezine. With skills honed from stand-up comedy, Nina is a sought-after professional speaker. She has given seminars, workshops, teleclasses and presentations for numerous organizations in the New York City area, with hot topics that include protecting your business on the internet, building business partnerships and collaborative alliances that work, and training clients to pay on time.

Brad Sugars is the founder of ActionCOACH, the world's number one business coaching firm. As a world-renowned entrepreneur, author and Business Coach, he has helped more than a million clients around the world find business and personal success. Sugars has owned and operated more than two dozen companies including his main company, ActionCOACH, which has nearly 1,000 offices in 26 countries.

Mark L. Skaist is a shareholder in the Newport Beach office of Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, where he specializes in corporate and securities law. His practice focuses on public and private securities offerings, venture capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions and intellectual property (including technology licensing, development and distribution transactions), primarily in the high technology/information technology industries. His clients, who range from early stage start-ups to large publicly traded companies, include those involved in network infrastructure technology, enterprise software, telecommunications and new media, as well as a number of venture capital and private equity firms.

Tim Berry is the president of Palo Alto Software Inc., which produces the industry's leading business planning software, Business Plan Pro, as well as other popular planning applications for businesses. He also is an author and an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon, where he teaches a course on entrepreneurship. In January 2007, Berry received the Corporate Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Pam Newman is a Certified Management Accountant, author and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor for Financial and Point-of-Sale software. She is also president of RPPC, Inc., which offers customized business development services. Newman provides financial coaching to entrepreneurs through a variety of mediums, including a weekly talk show, newsletters, books, articles, presentations and personalized consulting.

Dr. Elinor Robin is a mediator, columnist, and trainer specializing in professional and personal relationship matters. As a recognized expert in the field of conflict management, Robin has a background in small business, a PhD in psychology with a specialization in conflict management and a wide range of experiences from within the public and private sectors. Robin's areas of expertise include small business, professional practice, business partnership, and workplace disputes. She has taught mediation to over 5,000 students nationally and internationally. She has also mediated thousands of commercial and workplace disputes, successfully assisting in conflict management and transformation. Dr. Robin was born and raised in New York City and has lived in South Florida for more than 20 years. While in a fulfilling marriage with her husband David, she is involved with a wide variety of community and professional activities. To learn more, please feel free to contact Elinor at 561-394-9226 or elinorobin@aol.com or visit her website www.elinorrobin.com to sign up for her free monthly E-zine.