Business Profile Feb2010

An Interview with

John Blankenship

Owner of H&R Block in Lewiston and Moscow

~ PAGE 8

A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE LEWISTON TRIBUNE FEBRUARY 15, 2010

NEW YORK — Many peo-ple who received buyouts and severance packages last year used the money to start home-based businesses. Now, they’ll want to take tax deductions for their home offices.

The deduction for us-ing part of your home for business purposes — popu-larly known as the home office deduction — used to be something scary. It was widely believed that taking the deduction would automatically land you an IRS audit. Tax advisers say that’s no longer the case, especially since there are so many businesses being run out of homes, garages and apartments. But if you don’t follow the rules and try to take too big a deduction, you could still draw the atten-tion of IRS employees.

Get To Know The IRS Rules

IRS Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home, spells out the rules under which you can take a deduc-tion for using your home as your office, manufacturing facility or warehouse.

Your home office should be used:l Exclusively and regu-

larly as your principal place of business, orl Exclusively and regu-

larly as a place where you meet or deal with patients, clients or customers in the normal course of your trade or business.

“Exclusively” refers to the requirement that the part of your home that you

use for business cannot be used for any personal rea-son. The IRS doesn’t require that it be a complete room in a house, or that the space you use be partitioned. It does require that your home office or workspace be a “separately identifiable space.”

If your computer and papers are spread out on the dining room table and you put them away when it’s time to eat, you can’t take the deduction. But if you have a corner of your family room that is clearly a home office, and your kids don’t use it to do their homework, then you can qualify for the deduction.

The structure that you use the deduction for doesn’t have to be the one you live in. A garage, shed or barn that you use as a studio, for manufacturing or for storage can also qualify. But, you can’t also park your car in the garage, or house your lawn mower and other gardening equipment in the shed.

Jeffrey Berdahl, a certi-fied public accountant with RLB Accountants in Allen-

town, Pa., suggests that if you were thinking of using a garage or barn for both per-sonal and business use, that you purchase a shed so you can legally take a deduction for one of your buildings.

More Than One Place Of Business?

“Exclusively” does not mean your home office has to be the sole place where you do business. If you have a home office but need to rent space by the hour to see clients in a more busi-ness-like setting (away from the kids and barking dog), you can still deduct the ex-penses take the home office deduction.

But even if the bulk of your business activity takes place in another setting, you may still be able to take a home office deduction. IRS Publication 587, which can be downloaded from the agency’s Web site, www.irs.gov, gives the hypothetical example of an anesthesiolo-gist who does all of his ad-ministrative work at home and who is allowed to use the deduction.

What Can You Deduct?

Part of your expenses such as mortgage or rent, insurance, utilities, main-tenance costs and repairs can be deducted. The IRS allows business owners to deduct the portion of their

Feb. 16 — Lewis-Clark Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, noon, Elk’s Temple, Al Reagan, (208) 743-5441.

Feb. 17 — Orofino Chamber of Commerce, noon, Ponderosa, (208) 476-4335.

Feb. 17 — Lewis-Clark Association of Realtors, 11:30 Elk’s Temple, (208) 746-2019.

Feb. 18 — Lewiston Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours, 5-7 p.m.

Feb. 18 — Port of Whitman County, 10 a.m., (509) 397-3791.

March 3 — Grangeville Chamber of Commerce, 1:30 p.m., Oscar’s, (208) 983-0460.

March 3 — Orofino Chamber of Commerce, noon, Ponderosa, (208) 476-4335.

March 3 — Kamiah Chamber of Commerce, 7 p.m., chamber building, (208) 935-2290.

March 5 — Lewiston Chamber of Commerce general member-ship, 7 a.m., Red Lion, (208) 743-3531.

March 9 — Grangeville GEM Team, 7 a.m., Oscar’s.

March 9 — Pullman Chamber of Commerce, noon, location TBA, (509) 334-3564.

March 9 — Port of Lewiston, 1:30 p.m., (208) 743-5531.

March 10 — Clarkston Chamber of Commerce general membership, noon, Quality Innd, (509) 758-7712.

March 10 — American Business Women’s Association, 6 p.m., Rowdy’s Steakhouse, Carol Pretz, (208) 750-7251.

March 11 — Cottonwood Chamber of Commerce, 8 a.m., Coffee Mill Creations, (208) 962-3231.

March 11 — Port of Clarkston, 1 p.m., (509)758-5272.

CALENDAR

COMMEnTARy

Joyce Rosenberg

SMALL TALK

2 BuSInESS PROFILE MOnDAy, FEBRuARy 15, 2010

Home is where your small business tax deduction is

SEE ROSENBERG, PAGE 5

2 SMALL TALK: Home-based businesses and their deductions

4 BUSINESS ON THE GO: Who’s doing what

5 BUSINESS ANSWERS: Don’t wait for tax time to organize

7 BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU: When Great News really isn’t

13 WORKPLACE WELLNESS: Getting employees to participate is job 1

14 ASK IDAHO LABOR DEPT.: Let Labor post your job openings

February 2010VOLUME 11, ISSUE 2

Business Profile is compiled by Target Publications of The Lewiston Tribune. Business Profile is inserted in The Lewiston Tribune the third Monday of every month.

EditorsROBERT [email protected]

MARY [email protected]

AdvertisingContact your Lewiston Tribune sales representative or call (208) 848-2292 for advertising information

Your commentsPlease write to us at:

Business ProfileTarget PublicationsLewiston Tribune505 Capital St. Lewiston ID 83501

or e-mail us at: [email protected]

On the coverH&R Block owner John Blankenship By BARRY KOUGH of the Lewiston Tribune

Our favorite quote“I’m not a geek, at least not totally. Maybe three months out of the year.”

— John Blankenship (story Page 8)

Regular departments

Computers can’t thinkTax preparation is really about people PAGE 8

3BUSINESS PROFILEMONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010

BUSINESS ON THE GO

4 BUSINESS PROFILE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010

Ronda Laybourn, a sales associate with Century 21 Beutler & Associates in Lew-iston, has earned her Certi-fied Residential Specialist designation by the Council of Residential Specialists, the largest non-profit orga-nization affiliated with the National Association of Re-

altors.Realtors who receive the

CRS designation have com-pleted advanced courses and have demonstrated profes-sional expertise in the filed or residential real estate. Fewer than 38,000 Realtors nationwide have this desig-nation.

Ronda Laybourn earns CRS designation

Quality Inn & Suites Con-ference Center Hotel in Clarkston has been awarded the 2010 Platinum Hospital-ity Award from Choice Ho-tels International, the owner of the Quality brand.

Curt and Madonna John-son are the general managers of the Clarkston Quality Inn.

Of the more than 4,800

franchised hotels in the United States under Choice Hotels International family, the Clarkston hotel ranks among the top 3 percent in the Quality brand. It is one of only 25 of 1,336 Quality hotels to receive Platinum status and is ranked 10th of all Quality Inns in the Unit-ed States.

Clarkston Quality Inn wins platinum award

Floor Coverings Interna-tional of Lewiston, owned by Dan and Carla Jensen, was named Franchise of the Year for 2009. The award was presented at the company’s convention in Las Vegas. There are almost 200 fran-chises in the United States and Canada.

This is the third time the Jensens have won the award.

The Jensens opened the franchise in 1995 and moved into their North Lewiston showroom in 2007. They have 11 employees.

They also received one of eight President’s Circle Awards. Employees Jeremi-ah Wynott and Vicky Butler won sales associates awards; Wynott was named top sales-man in the Floor Coverings International system.

Lewiston floor covering business named No. 1

Regence BlueShield of Ida-ho has given St. Joseph Re-gional Medical Center a Blue Distinction for spine surgery.

Blue Distinction Centers for spine surgery are part of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s expan-sion of the Blue Distinction

designation.SJRMC is one of only two

hospitals in Idaho to earn this distinction in spine surgery.

The selection criteria used to evaluate hospitals were developed with input from a panel of experts.

St. Joseph spine surgery gets Blue distinction

Press Ganey and Associ-ates, a health care monitor-ing firm, awarded Pullman Regional Hospital with a Summit Award for 2009. The award recognizes hospitals that maintain a patient satis-

faction rate in the top 5 per-cent for three or more con-secutive years.

Pullman Regional Hospi-tal was one of only 83 hospi-tals nationwide to receive the award.

Pullman Regional Hospital wins Summit Award

Scott Baldwin, a vice president and financial consultant in D.A. Davidson and Co.’s Lewiston office, has been hon-ored with the 2009 Bragg Lewis Knutson Community Service Award. This is the company’s highest award; it is given to an employee for outstanding volunteerism.

The award was established in 1995 in memory of Gene Lewis, Bob Bragg and Don Knutson, three D.A. David-son executives who died in a plane crash and who were active in community and pro-fessional service.

Baldwin has volunteered

with Twin County United Way for the last 13 years and be-came a board mem-ber in 2000.

He has been a member of the Lew-is-Clark State Col-lege Warrior Athletic Association for the last four years. Bald-win coaches Little

League and is a past member of the Youth Accountability Board.

He and his wife Staci es-tablished Jackson’s Pay-It-Forward Foundation, and organization that helps local children and their families who are suffering, in honor of their oldest son, who died in 2006 at 10.

D.A. Davidson honors Lewiston employee

Scott Baldwin

Business on the GoWe want to know what you’re doing. Promotions,new hires, new products — we want to know.

Please call Business Profile at (208) 848-2243.Send information to: BUSINESS PROFILEP.O. Box 957 Lewiston, ID 83501

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BUSINESS ANSWERS

Question: What type of in-formation and documents do I need to prepare my taxes?

Answer: To make the pro-cess of tax preparation go as smoothly as possible, it is im-portant to organize a system to use routinely throughout the year. It is never a good idea and requires so much more time if this is done at the last moment. (Developing good organizational habits helps provide order and ensures easier access to any document or information you may need. It will also reduce the amount of time spent

searching during tax season as well as any other time.) Your system should include routine expense categories, organized monthly, which would be easy to locate and maintain. A basic organiza-tional rule is any item that is recurring, represents large amounts or payments, or must be accessed frequently needs a separate category. The same is true of revenue sources. If you have different sources, and the information would be helpful if broken down, then it will require separate categories. This can

be beneficial when decisions must be made, especially concerning today’s environ-ment, when costs have to be evaluated closely to deter-mine what should be reduced or eliminated.

The first step in devel-oping your organizational system is to identify the type of financial information you most frequently need, deciding which items to keep separate and which would be practical to be grouped. If an activity represents a small amount or occurs irregu-larly, then it would be best if grouped with similar items. Also, it is a good idea to avoid a miscellaneous category as that yields little or no

information of value without deeper investigation.

The second step is to get into the habit of handling items on a regular basis. Should expenses be taken care of weekly, monthly or at some other interval? What is the most efficient and ap-propriate practice? Set aside a time on a regular basis to take care of each financial activity for which you have a responsibility. It is also necessary to have a spe-cific location where you keep items that need your imme-diate attention, can be held for awhile or just need to be filed. Don’t let items accumu-late so that you avoid taking care of them and it becomes an overwhelming chore. This will be more time-consuming as well. You will be rewarded when you establish an or-ganized workplace for your documents and files, either manually or electronically.

Especially during tax time, many documents will be coming in the mail from various entities, especially in January. These forms will provide you with the neces-sary information you must report. It is important to have the appropriate documenta-

Don’t wait until tax time to organize

home expenses that can be at-tributed to the office or work area. The most commonly used method is to compute the percentage of your home’s square footage that is devoted to the business, and then multiply that amount by what you’ve spent.

For example, if your home has 2,000 square feet and your office takes up 200 square feet, you can deduct 10 percent of your expenses.

But many home-based business owners are sur-prised to find how little they end up deducting, Berdahl said. “In the end it doesn’t amount to a lot,” he said.

Using the example of 10 percent, if you had $5,000 in expenses for your home, that’s a $500 deduction. And your tax savings will be less than that.

The home office deduc-tion also allows a business owner to take deductions that are not ordinarily available to homeowners, including depreciation on the home.

A word of caution: If you claim a deduction that seems exorbitant, it may catch the attention of the IRS. In that case, the agency might want to take a look at your home office to see if your deduc-tion is justified.

The MechanicsTo claim a home office

deduction, you need to complete IRS Form 8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home. The form and in-structions for it can be down-loaded from the IRS Web site. Among other things, the form requires a busi-ness owner to compute the amount of space in a home that’s devoted to business. There are separate lines for entering various expenses such as rent, repairs, utilities and mortgage interest.

Form 8829 should be filed only by business owners who attach Schedule C, Profit or Loss from Business, to their Form 1040s.

Rosenberg covers small business issues for the Associ-ated Press.

ROSENBERGFrom page 2

COMMENTARY

Delta Heath-Simpson

SEE SIMPSON, PAGE 7

6 BUSINESS PROFILE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010

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BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU

tion to back up your financial situation. You may want to keep these grouped together so you have easy access to the information when the time comes for preparing your taxes. You should also review your tax forms and make sure you have those you will need to use. If everything is orga-nized, it will be a much less stressful situation.

A well-developed organi-zational system is essential and must be tailored to each individual or business. It allows for the best use of your time whenever circum-stances arise in which you need information or source documents.

It also reduces mistakes and errors, ensuring greater accuracy in your records and in the reporting of your financial position.

Heath-Simpson is an associ-ate professorin the business division at Lewis-Clark State College on the Lewiston campus.

SIMPSONFrom page 5

After the publication of last month’s column in Business Profile, I received numerous faxes at the Better Business Bureau from an organization called That’s Great News LLC, which also goes by the name That’s Great PR.

One fax started out with the question: “How much is the prestige and good name of the business you’ve worked so hard to build worth?” It goes on to answer that question: “As much as you are willing to make it worth.”

Another fax began, “Congratulations — I saw the article they published about you! That was a great write-up they did about you, and it’s not just any business owner or professional that gets this kind of recognition! Congratulations!”

Now, chances are, that if I, a regular business columnist in this paper — and not the subject of a business feature — am receiving these unso-licited faxes from a company

I’ve never done business with, other columnists and the actual subjects of news articles are receiving them, too.

The purpose of the faxes from That’s Great News is to sell you a plaque “turning your momentary publicity into a beautiful, eye-catching mahogany, oak or shiny black celebration of your success that lasts for years to come — enhancing your prestige and impressing your clients, friends and associates like

nothing else.”Here are the facts: That’s

Great News, founded by Bob Roscoe, has an “F” rating with the BBB.

That’s Great News, LLC908 S Meriden RdCheshire, CT 06410-1863www.thatsgreatnews.com

<http://www.thatsgreatnews.com.

According to the report at www.bbb.org (www.bbb.org/connecticut/business-reviews/plaques/thats-great-news-in-cheshire-ct-87014321) this company has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, for reasons including: 19 complaints filed against the business, insufficient background information on the business,

two complaints filed against the business that were not re-solved, and failure to respond to one complaint filed against the business.

Eighteen of the BBB complaints concerned Sales Practice Issues.

Hmmm. In the words of That’s Great News, “How much is the prestige and good name of the business you’ve worked so hard to build worth?”

According to the Federal Communications Commis-sion, (www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes.html), businesses are prohib-ited from sending unsolicited ads to fax machines; that is,

Is this really great news?

COMMENTARY

Holly Doering

SEE DOERING, PAGE 13

2337 3rd Avenue, Lewiston, ID 83501 • 208-743-7858

Floor Coverings International Franchise of the Year!

Meet TheAward Winning Staff

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cover story

8 BusinessProfile MonDAY,feBruArY15,2010

Tribune/Barry Kough

John Blankenship owns the H&R Block franchise in Lewiston and Mocow, which makes good use of his people skills.

John Blankenship started in law enforcement, became a firefighter and has owned the local H&R Block franchises for 18 years

By Mary TaTkoOf TargeT PublicaTiOns

Professional income tax preparers get to know an awful lot about their clients, de-tails people’s families and closest friends probably don’t even know about them.

That makes confidentiality the corner-stone of any tax preparation business, said local H&R Block franchise owner John Blankenship.

“Once that door is closed it’s like be-

He’s the people people have

seePeoPLe,PAge9

9Business ProfileMonDAY, feBruArY 15, 2010

cover story

ing with your priest in the confessional,” he said.

He doesn’t absolve any sins, but he enjoys getting people through what often is a high-anxiety situation.

Of course, preparing tax returns demands not just em-pathy for clients but exacting accuracy. A successful tax preparer, someone who really enjoys the job, Blankenship said, is a “people person” who “has a thing for numbers” and “doesn’t mind paperwork.”

It’s a combination of quali-ties he discovered he had 30 years ago when he took his first tax class, and during the 18 years he’s owned the lo-cal H&R Block offices, he has surrounded himself with oth-ers who share his fascination with people and his fondness for math.

small PondIn high school, Blanken-

ship moved to Genesee from Bremerton, Wash., where his father was a Navy officer.

His class in Bremerton numbered about 1,250 stu-dents. In Genesee, he was one of 13.

“My senior class was big-ger than the whole town of Genesee,” he said.

He experienced a bit of cul-ture shock at first, but found small town life agreed with him.

“I enjoyed the laid back lifestyle,” he said. “And I like to do things outdoors when I have the time.”

In 1978, he graduated from Lewis-Clark State College with a degree in criminal jus-tice, then went back to the West Coast where he headed a department for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

A year later, he returned to north central Idaho, where he did police work the next three years before getting out of law enforcement to take a job with Potlatch Corp.’s security department.

Ultimately, he spent 28 years working for Potlatch’s fire department; mementos from his firefighting career, including his PCFD helmet, decorate his office.

“Once a firefighter, always a firefighter,” he said.

While making his way from law enforcement to firefight-ing, Blankenship explored an-other interest, taking a basic tax class. The work appealed to him, and from 1980 to 1991

he worked part-time for H&R Block, gradually taking on more responsibilities. In 1992, the local franchise owner put the area offices (in Lewiston, Moscow and Pullman) up for sale and Blankenship bought them.

Since then, he has added offices in Clarkston and the Lewiston Orchards and moved the downtown Lewiston office from the old Osmer Building at New Sixth and Main to a more spacious building sev-eral blocks east.

Two of his employees have been with the business for the entire 30 years Blanken-ship has been there. Several others have been there 15 or

more years.“They get the bug, they

stay,” Blankenship said.

computer vs. expertAs in so many professions,

computers have transformed the tax industry.

“When I started, the only thing on my desk was a pen-cil, eraser, calculator and on-ionskin paper,” Blankenship said.

Now, most of what he does is online.

“It’s sped things up and made things a lot more effi-cient,” he said.

But it’s also created some-times unrealistic expecta-tions and the potential for mistakes.

“Everything’s gotta be fast, fast, fast,” he said, shaking his head.

As helpful as the technol-ogy is, Blankenship cautions his employees not to depend on it to handle problems. “Don’t let the computer think for you,” he tells them.

After all, it’s the tax prepar-er’s expertise clients seek when they entrust a company like H&R Block with their returns.

That’s the premise of the company’s advertising cam-paign, based on the catch- phrase “You’ve got people.”

One of the benefits of being part of a franchise is the expo-sure local offices get from the greater organization’s mar-keting, and H&R Block’s mes-sage perfectly conveys what

PeoPLeFrom page 8

Tribune/Barry Kough

John Blankenship

see PeoPLe, PAge 12

“When I started, the only thing on my desk was a pen-cil, eraser, calcula-tor and onionskin paper.” — JoHn BlAnKensHiP


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TRAVEL-OREGONOcean Terrace Condominiums

Lincoln City, ORwww.oceanterrace.com

USED AUTOSClarkston Auto Sales, Inc.www.clarkstonautosales.com

WEB DEVELOPMENTFirst Step Internet

www.fsr.com

WINDOWSWindows, Doors & More

www.wdmsstore.com

RECREATION CENTEROrchard Lanes

www.orchardlanesbowling.comRECYCLING

Lewis-Clark Recyclers, Inc.www.LCRI.net

REHABILITATION SERVICESOpportunities Unlimited

www.oui.org

RVSLewiston RV Center

www.lewistonrvcenter.com

SEWING MACHINES/SERGERSNelson’s Sewlinewww.sewline.com

SPASYB Tubless - 216 Thainwww.ybtubless.com

TAX SERVICESTaxMaster Income Taxwww.itaxmaster.com

cover story


makes his business valuable, Blankenship said

“It really typifies our role,” he said. “You’ve got people with more knowledge than you, who know the ropes.”

He laughed as he recalled being chastised by a retired English teacher who told him, “You know that slogan your company came up with is not grammatically correct.”

That’s true, he said. But ob-viously it’s memorable.

Do It Yourself — At Your Own Risk

Tax preparation software, such as Turbo Tax, can in the-ory make filing a tax return easy for anyone, eliminating the need for having “people.”

But Blankenship said the phenomenon has been “kind of a mixed bag.”

“The software glut in our country has created a prob-lem,” he said. “The program writers can only write it as complex as the general public can handle.”

And, just like the people who file them, every tax re-turn is unique.

The result, he said, is any-thing more than the most straightforward of filings is prone to errors or omissions that can hurt the taxpayer in the long run.

“We see a lot of them after the fact when they get the let-ters (from the IRS),” he said of tax software users.

Helping someone out of such a situation often creates a client for life.

Those people who’ve come to count on professional tax preparers have helped busi-nesses like H&R Block weath-er the economic downturn.

Taxes are, after all, inevita-

ble, and inevitably confusing.“Supposedly, they’ve sim-

plified the tax code year after year after year,” Blankenship said, chuckling.

This year is a perfect ex-ample, he said. The code was changed, and “people are re-ally confused.”

For Blankenship, ever- evolving tax rules mean there’s always a fresh chal-lenge — and job security.

“About the time we’re get-ting used to the tax code the system, it’s changing,” he said.

Quality ControlDuring tax season, the

number of employees at Blan-kenship’s five offices swells to more than 50. Among those always have been people re-sponsible for reviewing the tax returns other employees have prepared.

This quality-control de-partment, Blankenship said, is “a carry over from the old pencil and paper days.”

Technically, he’s not re-quired to maintain such a de-partment, he said. In fact, he said, he’s been questioned by people at his parent company about why he pays “extra” employees to review docu-ments and returns when it’s not necessary.

But he said it has kept the number of mistakes in his of-fices remarkably low, well below the error rate the com-pany allows.

H&R Block advertises a guarantee, he said, in which the company will pay the penalty and interest a client is assessed by the IRS if it’s a result of mistake made by the tax preparer. It’s peace of mind for customers, Blanken-ship said, but even better is knowing a mistake is highly unlikely.

His office has made such payments “every once in a while.”

After all, he said, “every-body’s human.”

But he’s been fortunate, he said. “It doesn’t happen very often.”

The Busy Season Blankenship’s offices pro-

cess 6,000 to 7,000 tax returns a year. Most of that work hap-pens between January and April, but the season extends beyond the April 15 tax dead-line.

There are late filers in May, and those who received exten-sions show up in September and October. Training for the next season’s tax preparers takes place from September through November.

The slowest months, he said, are June and July.

But this time of year, the offices are open seven days a week. “We were booked solid last Sunday,” Blankenship said recently.

When April 15 finally comes, everyone who works there is ready to celebrate. That night, when the offices close, they order Chinese or Thai food and “we have a big feast,” Blankenship said.

Once the dust settles, there’s a banquet around the first of May, another chance for employees to gather for recognition after an intense few months of tax season.

‘Ordinary Joe’Blankenship describes him-

self as “just an ordinary Joe,”

PeoPLeFrom page 9

John r. Blankenshipoccupation:H&rBlockfranchiseownerAge:53residence:lewistonFamily:wifeTerry;daughtersCharmain,39,and

Jeana,37;stepdaughterslaurenandlisa;onegrand-sonandonestep-granddaughter

education:lewis-ClarkstateCollege,1978,criminaljustice

civic/professional:memberlCsCAlumniAssociationboardofdirectors,lewistonandClarkstonchambersofcommerce,idahoAssociationofPublicAccountants,nationalAssociationofenrolledAgents,WashingtonstateTaxConsultantsandnationalnotaryAssociation

H&r BlockLocations:1446Main

st.,lewiston;455Thainrd.,lewiston;435elm,Clarkston;124WCstreet,Moscow;151nGrand,Pullman

Products/services:individualandbusinesstaxpreparation;busi-nessservices,includingbookkeepingandpayroll

employees: five full time,year-roundwithupto50moreseasonally

History:BlankenshipstartedwithH&rBlock30yearsago,purchas-ingthelocalfranchisesin1992.H&rBlockhasbeeninthevalleyabout50years,hesaid,andthecompany,foundedbybrothersHenryandrichardBlochinKansasCity,Mo.,is55yearsold.

seePeoPLe,PAGe15


Workplace Wellness

from sending you an ad about any property, good, or service without your prior express invitation or permission. In others words, if you haven’t done business with the com-pany before and you haven’t asked them to send you a fax, it is probably a junk fax.

If you don’t want to receive future faxes from That’s Great News (or any other company) call or fax them and ask to be put on their Do Not Call list. The number to opt out of faxes from That’s Great News is 800 841 3020 Ext 5340. Or Fax the word “Unsubscribe” to 203 651 1088.

Senders who receive a request not to send fur-ther faxes must honor that request within the shortest reasonable time from the

date of the request, not to exceed 30 days. They are also prohibited from sending future fax advertisements to the recipient unless you subsequently give them prior express permission.

If you have a newer fax machine, you may be able to program it to reject any faxes from a particular telephone number. The faxes the Better Business Bureau received from That’s Great News did contain the date, time and telephone number of the transmitting company, but many junk faxes, in violation of federal law, do not indicate the sender’s name, address or phone number, nor do they contain the date and time. Your fax machine may be able to print at least the date and time.

In order to file a complaint about unsolicited faxes from companies you’ve never done business with, it’s important to record as much informa-tion as you can. The FCC can

issue warning citations and impose fines against compa-nies violating or suspected of violating the junk fax rules, but does not award indi-vidual damages. If you have received a fax advertisement from someone who does not have an established business relationship with you or to whom you have not provided prior express permission to send fax advertisements, you can file a complaint with the FCC. There is no charge for filing a complaint.

You can file your com-plaint using an on-line com-plaint form found at www.esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm. You can also file your complaint with the FCC’s Consumer Center by e-mail-ing [email protected]; calling (888)-CALL-FCC(888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELL-FCC (888-835-5322) TTY; faxing 1-866-418-0232; or writing to: Federal Com-munications Commission, Consumer & Governmental

Affairs Bureau Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554.

Remember, it will save you a good deal of aggravation in the long run to do a little research before deciding whether or not to do business with a company. At www.bbb.org, the Better Business Bureau can provide you with a neutral report of the facts on a company’s complaint history and organizational structure before you commit to buy. Whether the product is an Amish-made heater for your office or a plaque cele-brating your publication in a newspaper, be sure to check it out first with the BBB.

Doering is the charity re-view and grants coordinator for the BBB serving Washing-ton, northern Idaho and Mon-tana. she may be contacted at [email protected] or at (800) 356-1007.

DoerInGFrom page 7

Workplace wellness can take many forms, but the success of any program relies on employee participation. That might require changing behavior and, let’s face it, the only reason most of us make a change is that there’s some-thing in it for us.

According to a recent survey by Watson Wyatt, cold, hard cash is a powerful incentive. Even $50 to $100 makes a marked difference in getting employees to complete a health risk assessment or en-gaging them in smoking cessa-tion or weight-loss programs.

A properly structured incentive program does much more than protect investments in health management, said Sherri Potter, senior group and health care consultant at

Watson Wyatt. It creates a healthier and

more productive workforce.Incentives. Incentives

generally follow the carrot or stick approach: entice people or drive them into activities.

Carrots can take the form any-thing from T-shirts to pedom-eters to gift cards. Federal law mostly steers employers away from sticks like monetary pen-alties for certain risk factors. However, it’s possible to make job conditional on avoiding certain risks, like tobacco use.

Your health plan may be able to partner with you on designing incentives that align with your wellness goals, for example rebating a certain percentage of premium if cer-tain risk factors are reduced, such as blood pressure.

The carrot approach can be quite successful: We all prefer being enticed to be-ing threatened. But building new habits — and a wellness culture in your company — is hard. There are many barriers

to participation, and it makes sense to design your carrots to overcome them.

Overcoming Barriers To Participation

Understanding. Studies show people underrate their disease risk factors and don’t know how to lower them. A health risk assessment with a neutral third party (there are some concerns about sharing family history with the employ-er) provides a reality check. This helps people learn their biometrics, like blood pressure and cholesterol, with a health professional who can put their

How to get employees to participate

see Jones, PAge 14

coMMentArY

Justin Jones

PACHTER ON BOOKS


Question: I have opera-tions in both Lewiston and Clarkston, and I am consid-ering hiring a couple of new employees. Is there a way for me to post my job listings on your Web site and review resumes or applications of current job seekers within your system?

Answer: Absolutely! You can post the job listings yourself using our Employer Job Order Entry system at any time.

You can access this system from our Web page, www. labor.idaho.gov. All you need to do is register your business with us and then you can create and man-age your own job listings at

your convenience. You can also review the resumes or applications of job seekers in our system who meet the qualifications you specified. Your listings are reviewed by a staff member and then released onto our Web site for job seekers all over the world to see.

If you prefer, you can contact any one of the Idaho Department of Labor of-fices, and we will be happy to assist you and create and manage your job listings. The choice is yours.

For more information on these options, visit our Web site www.labor.idaho.gov or contact your nearest Idaho Department of Labor office.

ASK IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

risks in true perspective. That is often enough to get them started on taking steps to avoid the most prevalent diseases, like heart attack/stroke, cancer and diabetes.

Convenience. Proximity and schedule often hamper peoples’ fitness intentions. That’s why on-site oppor-tunities are so important to success, from wellness bud-dies to brown-bag wellness talks to a gym or classes on location. Shift work can be a challenge, so design quali-fying activities that don’t require 8-to-5 presence.

Preference. People like different things, so the more varied your wellness activi-ties, the more likely you are to get broader involvement among employees. Group ac-tivities and solitary options, tracking activities, targeting certain issues, classes and cafeteria discounts, create something for everyone.

Cost. Keeping fees reason-able, offering discounts or even using payroll deductions, can make a marked difference in participation of fee-based activities, from gym or classes to healthy cafeteria fare.

Health. Healthy employ-ees are the first to sign on and reap incentives, and

studies show it’s important to keep their risk factors low. But it’s also important to reach those who know they need to do something differ-ent, and need help to build new habits. This is where culture comes into play.

Culture Of WellnessCompanies that have suc-

cessful workplace wellness programs have achieved more than just getting people into activities, they have de-veloped a culture of wellness. This happens when employ-ees see management and ex-ecutives lead by example, and participate along with them in the many wellness activi-ties developed for employees. It takes constant effort and consistent action, just like workplace safety, to keep wellness at the forefront.

When we make wellness the norm, this subtle influ-ence inspires people to achieve a higher degree of health, wherever they begin on the continuum.

Read More About Ithttp://www.prevent.org/

content/view/29/39/

Jones is the Wellness Pro-gram Coordinator at Regence BlueShield of Idaho. He welcomes your questions at [email protected].

JONESFrom page 13

By RichaRd PachteROf The MiaMi herald

“Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones” by Joseph Jaffe. Wiley, 286 pages.

It’s bizarre and baffling to me that companies expend so much time, money and en-ergy on customer acquisition and then follow it up with crappy service after the sale.

Think about it: Advertis-ing, marketing and sales department are all geared to-ward convincing prospects to buy the company’s products and services. But after ask-ing for the order and getting it, the customer — especially if it’s a consumer and not a business — is often ignored. Worse, they’re frequently forced to deal with incompe-tent, unhelpful or ignorant people several continents away when they have a

problem.There’s nothing inher-

ently wrong with outsourcing customer service to India or South America, for example: I’ve had exceptional ser-vice, in fact, from friendly and well informed people in those places. But I’ve had also awful ones, too.

Every interaction with a customer holds the potential to not only serve their needs, but turn them into evange-lists and advocates for your company and continued sources of sales and revenue. So why is this not obvious to every enterprise?

Joseph Jaffe wonders the same thing. In this new book, he looks at every aspect of the client experience, includ-ing, obviously, “customer service” interactions. But he goes well beyond that,

Customer service is key to building business

seePACHTER,PAge15

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Let us show you the Royal difference with the Valley’s

most state of the art and innovative equipment.

302 Thain Rd., Ste A, Lewiston208-746-0448

[email protected]

EMBROIDERY – SCREENPRINTINGDirect to Garment Printing

2559

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records: January

1. number of homes on the market as of Jan. 5: 403.

2. number of homes sold in the last six months (Aug. 1 to Jan. 29): 284.

3. Average sales price of those homes sold in the last six months: $160,911.

4. Average days on the market in the last six months: 122.

1. number of homes on the market as of Jan. 31: 147.

2. number of homes sold in the last six months (Aug.1 to Jan. 31): 119.

3. Average sales price of

those homes sold in the last six months: $198,215.

4. Average days on the market in the last six months: 229.

Source: Multiple Listing Service

moscow

lewiston, clarkston and asotin

Sponsored by: Steve Donovan (208) 413-0494

housing market update

newly licensed businesses

5 star consulting services — Val Mundell, busi-ness consulting, 1720 ripon Ave., lewiston.

black boar Firearms & accessories — Bruce Krugh, internet sales, 1309 10th st., Clarkston.

cc’s — Charles Clanton, Paula D. Clanton, retail gifts, accessories, 539 Thain rd, lewiston.

cheF al’s campus corner — Allan legoll, restaurant, 607 seventh Ave., lewiston.

chieF Joseph dental

clinic — steven Zollman, DMD, dental office, 3509 12th st., lewiston.

Fine line lawn services — robert Johnson, landscap-ing, 812 Park Dr., lewiston.

J.h. enterprises — Jerry Hieronyomus, internet sales, 746 ninth st., Clarkston.

Jiovana — Jiovana Martinez, cleaning services, lewiston.

tiny toes play and learn — Brooke ramsey, sarah randall, child care center-preschool, 625 Bryden Ave., lewiston.

wendy’s electrolysis — Wendy fortney, electrolysis, Clarkston.

who enjoys fishing, hunting, camping and riding his ATV.

“I like to play computer games when it’s ucky outside or dark, but other than that I like to be outside,” he said.

“I’m not a geek, at least not totally,” he said, then paused. “Maybe three months out of the year.”

In theory, Blankenship should have more time to

devote to being outdoors now that his dual career has been narrowed to one after retiring as a captain from Potlatch’s fire department in 2008. He quickly found, though, that one job expands to fill the space of two if you let it.

“Last year was my first ‘free’ summer, so to speak, but then it became unfree,” he said.

This year, he said, he’s vowed to have more “play time,” including fish-ing with his grandson.

peopleFrom page 12

INDIVIDUAL BANKRUPTCIESFOR JANUARY, BY COUNTY

0 2 4 6 8 10A — AsotinB — Clearwater

C — GarfieldD — Idaho

E — LatahF — Lewis

G — Nez PerceH — Whitman

ABCDEFGH

12 14

5

43

3

26

13

0

pachterFrom page 14

too. Engaging people is the challenge. Your product is secondary. After all, they’re not buying what you’re sell-ing; they’re buying a solution to a problem or a fulfillment of a need.

Jaffe cites companies like Nike, Comcast and oth-ers that flipped the funnel

by building their business through customer retention. Prime example is Zappos, which was so impressive in its customer relation-build-ing that Amazon acquired the company lock, stock and sandals.

In addition to case studies (good and bad), Jaffe looks at social media (naturally!) and provides steps for companies to take in implementing the flipped funnel for fun and, of course profit.

2587

00BO

-10

(208)

413-0494

®

??

?

?

?

? ? ?? ?Questions about the home buyers

tax credit?

call me today I’ve got the

answers

Steve Donovan

LCHomeSearch.com


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Business Profile Feb2010

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Transcript of Business Profile Feb2010