IBO Updates

Fred Harte is News Articles - 10 Signs It's Time to Quit

Fred Harteis News Articles - "I like what I do. I just don't like where I work." Sound familiar? From unbearable co-workers to depressing work environments. Here are some signs it by be time to look for a new job.

Sign No. 1: Your co-workers are annoying.

Obnoxious people can invade your work life. Let's face it, not everyone gets along perfectly. But you need to have some sort of harmonious relationship with fellow employees to get the job done. How are you supposed to get any work done when these guys keep getting in the way? They are distracting and impede productivity.

Sign No. 2: The environment is toxic.

Everyone experiences job highs and lows, but discontent could also be a sign of a chronically depressing work environment or even a company in peril. A bad work environment is reflective of the culture of an entire business. Do you work in a less-than-nurturing atmosphere? Is morale constantly low? Have you been complaining for two solid years?

Sign No. 3: You're mentally exhausted by the end of the day.

Stress can cause low morale, decreased productivity and apathy towards work. Plus, it can spill into your personal life and even have a negative effect on your health. Today there are fewer people who are taking on more and more work. American workers experience burnout at an alarming rate. According to CareerBuilder, 68 percent of workers feel burnout at work, and 45 percent said their workloads are too heavy.

Sign No. 4: Your boss is a nightmare.

Even though this person is your boss, it doesn't give him license to do anything he wants. Your relationship with your supervisor plays a big role in your overall professional happiness and success. Fighting to have your boss removed or waiting for your boss to change or get fired are rarely successful tactics. If you are working for someone who is always absent, unavailable, self-absorbed or untrustworthy, it's time to look for a better supervisor and a better opportunity.

Sign No. 5: You're watching the clock... every 10 minutes.

Though you might not like to work, it's even worse when you are bored while you're there. One can only watch so many videos on YouTube or bid on unneeded things on eBay. If you aren't feeling challenged, that's a sign that you need additional responsibilities or a change roles.

Sign No. 6: You get no respect.

Does any of this sound familiar? Your ideas aren't taken seriously; there are no opportunities for advancement; the boss ignores you; co-workers alienate you; you're discouraged from improving skills with a course or seminar; you're passed over for a promotion -- again; or you're excluded from key projects and strategizing session.

Sign No. 7: Your co-workers act like animals.

They live for themselves and only themselves. They irritate you. They offend you. They have no manners or ethics. And you work with them all. There's the Office Thief who steals your ideas. The Shirker arrives late, leaves early and disappears whenever work is near. The Buck-passer unloads her work onto everyone else and blames others for her mistakes.

Sign No. 8: Nobody communicates.

Although we live in a world of e-mail, cell phones, instant messages, Blackberries, WiFi and, yes, even face-to-face conversation, there can still be a complete lack of communication. Whether it's a co-worker who's not returning your voice mail or the CEO not conveying a company's goals and accomplishments, the breakdown of communication can be frustrating and detrimental to your job. It can cost you an account, make you to miss a deadline, cause you to lose a client, and even get you fired.

Sign No. 9: You're not valued.

Forty-three percent of workers do not feel appreciated, and one-fourth of workers feel that they are just a "number" within their organization. You need to realize that you deserve credit for your successes. Recognition is important, and good companies implement programs to let employees know they are valued.

Sign No. 10: You feel stifled.

What kind of quality of life do you have? Is your 40-hour week turning into a 24/7 grind? While salary may seem like the end all and be all, your quality of life determines your overall happiness. How much time you spend on the job, working conditions, supervisors and subordinates can positively and negatively impact your job outlook. If you dread the time you spent at work, it should be a clear indicator that it's time to break free. A job shouldn't stifle you creatively, mentally or physically.

Source; Careerbuilder.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles - The 13 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions

Fred Harteis News Articles - Don't let an oversight force you to overpay your taxes. Here's a baker's dozen of deductions that you could easily miss or never realize you were entitled to take.

1. State sales taxes. As part of the last-minute tax package last December, Congress resurrected the chance for taxpayers to deduct state and local sales taxes. Although all taxpayers have a shot at this write-off, it makes sense primarily for those who live in states that do not impose an income tax. You must choose between deducting state income taxes or state sales taxes and, for most citizens of income-tax states, the income-tax deduction is a better deal.

2. $250 educators' expenses. This break, too, lost its place on the tax forms because it expired at the end of 2005 and wasn't reinstated until the 2006 forms were set. Still, teachers and their aides can deduct up to $250 they spent in 2006 for books and classroom supplies.

3. College tuition. You won't find this one on the forms, either, but you may qualify to deduct up to $4,000 you paid in college tuition in 2006 for yourself, your spouse or a dependent. This break can pay off if your income is too high to qualify to claim the Hope or Lifetime Learning credit.

4. Student loan interest paid by mom and dad. Until recently, if parents paid back a student loan incurred by their children, no one got a tax break. To get a deduction, the law held that you had to be both liable for the debt and actually pay it yourself. But now there's an exception. If mom and dad pay back the loan, IRS treats it as though they gave the money to their child, who then paid the debt. So, a child who's not claimed as a dependent can qualify to deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest paid by mom and dad.

5. Out-of-pocket charitable contributions. It's hard to overlook the big charitable gifts you made during the year, by check or payroll deduction. But the little things add up, too, and you can write off out-of-pocket costs you incur while doing good works. Ingredients for casseroles you regularly prepare for a nonprofit organization's soup kitchen, for example, or the cost of stamps you buy for your school's fundraiser count as a charitable contribution.

6. Moving expense to take first job. Here's an interesting dichotomy: Job-hunting expenses incurred while looking for your first job are not deductible; but moving expenses to get to that first job are. And you get this write-off even if you don't itemize. If you moved more than 50 miles, you can deduct the cost of getting yourself and your household goods to the new area, including 18 cents a mile (and parking fees and tolls) for driving your own car.

7. Military reservists travel expenses. If you are a member of the National Guard or military reserve, you may deserve a deduction for travel expenses to drills or meetings. To qualify, you must travel more than 100 miles and be away from home overnight.

8. Child-care credit. A credit is so much better than a deduction: It reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar. So missing one is even more painful than missing a deduction that simply reduces the amount of income that's subject to tax. But it's easy to overlook the child-care credit if you pay your child-care bills through a reimbursement account at work.

9. Estate tax on income in respect of a decedent. This sounds complicated, but it can save you a lot of money if you inherited an IRA from someone whose estate was big enough to be subject to the federal estate tax. Basically, you get an income-tax deduction for the amount of estate tax paid on the IRA balance.

10. State tax you paid last spring. Did you owe tax when you filed your 2005 state tax return in the spring of 2006? Then remember to include that amount with your state-tax deduction on your 2006 return, along with state income taxes withheld from your paychecks or paid via quarterly estimated payments.

11. Refinancing points. When you buy a house, you get to deduct points paid to get your mortgage in one fell swoop. When you refinance a mortgage, though, you have to deduct the points over the life of the loan. That means 1/30th a year if it's a 30 year mortgage -- that's $33 a year for each $1,000 of points you paid.

12. Reinvested dividends. This isn't really a deduction, but it is a subtraction that can save you money ... If, like most investors, you have mutual fund dividends automatically invested in extra shares, remember that each reinvestment increases your "tax basis" in the fund. That, in turn, reduces the taxable capital gain (or increases the tax-saving loss) when you redeem shares. Forgetting to include the reinvested dividends in your basis -- which you subtract from the proceeds of sale to pinpoint your gain -- means overpaying your tax.

13. Jury pay paid to employer. Here's a break that's not as easy to miss this year as in the past: Jury pay you turned over to your employer. Some employers continue to pay employees' full salary while they are doing their civic duty but ask that they turn over their jury fees to the corporate treasury. The only problem is that the IRS demands that you report those fees as taxable income. You've always had a right to deduct the amount, so you weren't taxed on money that simply passed through your hands. But this is the first year the tax forms include a line dedicated to this deduction. Enter it on line 13 if you file the Form 1040A or on line 34 if you use the full-fledged 1040.

Source: Kiplinger.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Treasuring Time

Fred Harteis, “Each moment has great value and is to be treasured rather than squandered.” 

Fred Harteis: Quick Leadership Wit and Wisdom

A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) Physician and writer

Don’t cry because it’s over – smile because it happened. - Unknown

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.

Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) Musician

Fred Harteis and Linda Harteis are members of IBOAI

IBOAI, the official trade association of IBO’s. serves and protects the business interests of independent business owners leadership includes Jim Janz,  Don Wilson, Billy Florence, Jody Victor.

Billy Florence leads Team DCI (Team Dream Chasers) Billy Florence owns Florence Enterprises. Fred Harteis owns Harties International and Harteis is past president of IBOAI. .

Diamond Leadership team key words: Don Wilson, Colombo DiSalvatore, Randy Haugen, Louis and Jean  Mazzante, Orrin Woodward

© 2007 FRED HARTEIS web blog.

Fred Harteis News Articles - How to Settle With a Debt Collector

Fred Harteis News Articles - That bill has been sitting at the bottom of your paperwork pile for a while, and despite your best effort, ignoring it hasn't made it go away.

Now you've acquired somebody who wants to be your new best friend, a debt collector.

You can't wait any longer to face it. In fact, many credit experts say too often consumers dodge the opportunity to resolve their money issues with the debt collector when they should.

"If you know you lost your job and you don't have the money to pay your creditors, don't be reactive, be proactive," says Robin Holland, spokeswoman for Equifax, a credit reporting agency.

But many people don't know what to do when it comes to working out a deal with a debt collector. The following questions could help.

True or false: An account sent to collection still can be deleted from your credit report. That's true. A deletion is possible, but that doesn't mean all creditors will agree to it, cautions consumer credit attorney Edward Jamison, which specializes in helping consumers get their credit ratings restored.

Even if the collection agency agrees to a deletion, it's only of limited value.

Maxine Sweet, spokeswoman for Experian, explains that if the deletion letter came from the collection agency, only the collection account would be removed. The original credit or account from the creditor would remain on the report.

True or false: Paid-in-full collections are better than settled.

Depends on who you ask. If it's not possible to get the account removed from the report, Jamison suggests settling. He believes this move can prevent the resale of your debt, prevent a lawsuit and alleviate damage to your credit report and credit score.

Collection agencies will act as the middlemen during the deal, says Jill Jensen, director of Omnium Worldwide Inc., a collection agency. She says Omnium's clients, which include banks, credit card companies and phone companies, will define the parameters for settling.

"The client will have payment criteria, for instance, on when the account can be paid, what kind of terms can be offered and in what situations the agency can offer the settlement," she says.

True or false: You can be sued after the statute of limitations period ends. True, technically, says Baird, but only if you reaffirm the debt.

Generally, the statute of limitations is the amount of time the debt collector can take legal action. This action can include a lawsuit or having your wages garnished. The time period is set by individual states.

Source; Aol.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis – Entreprenurs

Fred Harteis ~ People who start and run businesses (entrepreneurs) are a wide and diverse bunch. There however, tend to be certain common features:

-They are risk takers

-They show determination

-They believe they will succeed

-They have confidence in their own ability

-They display energy

-They keep going

-They can manage money

-They will find ways around obstacles

Fred Harteis has become a successful entrepreneur over the years. “Harteis Explains, “Becoming an entrepreneur and owning your own business is a risk but the reward in the end is well worth it.”

Fred Harteis & Linda Harteis

Fred Harteis owns Harteis International, and a North American business technology firm. With a background in construction and agri-business laid Harteis’ business foundation.  Under Fred’s leadership and vision, Harteis businesses have grown exponentially. 

Harteis International is a family company.  Harteis' children, Tonya, Fred and Annie, support world-wide operations.

Fred Harteis News Articles - Four Hot Jobs Where Employers Come To You

Fred Harteis News Articles - Feel like the bulk of your job search rests solely on your shoulders? Fear not. Employers are looking for you, too. Job hunters can expect to see more employment opportunities in the spring of 2007, as employers begin aggressively hiring in anticipation of pending retirements, a recent recruiting trends survey of 864 companies.

With companies reporting a need for more professionally trained graduates, certain career fields, such as business and engineering, will be hiring more so than others, the report reveals. As a result, specific academic majors -- perhaps your major -- will be in high demand.

Getting Down to Business

With so many career options for business-degree holders, such graduates can narrow down prospective jobs with the knowledge that the financial sector has one of the highest intentions of hiring new employees -- 66 percent, according to the report. Indeed, those within the profession report strong demand for certain qualified employees.

“I try to steer business majors toward accounting,” says Martha C. Stark, senior vice president of Signature Bank, “Accounting firms are desperate for new employees since the advent of Sarbanes-Oxley,” she continues, referring to the 2001 government ruling for stricter accounting practices following financial scandals like Enron and WorldCom.

Engineer Your Way to a Career

Engineering will be another high-demand major in 2007. It’s also one of the career fields with the highest starting salaries. First-year chemical engineers, for example, earn an average of $51,664 annually. And that range can reach as much as $100,000 per year. How can you get on the higher end of the pay scale? By specializing, experts say. As more and more companies go “green” and invest in ways to reduce emissions and pollution, the need for environmental scientists is strong. The BLS forecasts the profession to grow much faster than average -- 27 percent or more -- through 2014. What’s more, in May 2004, the average annual salary of environmental scientists was $51,080, with the highest 10 percent in the profession earning more than $94,460, according to the most recent data available from the BLS.

Rehabilitate Your Earning Potential

Health care is another in-demand industry with high earning potential within specialized fields. Bachelor's degree-toting nurses, on average, earn about $46,865, but for nurses with a specialty focus, earning potential can jump as much as $15,000. For example, physical therapists in 2004 earned an annual salary of $60,180, according to the most recent BLS data. Earnings vary based on the area of physical therapy, but generally the BLS states that positions in home health care services, nursing care facilities, physician offices and general medical practices and hospitals fall within the salary range of $60,000 to $65,000. Again, job hunters are faced with dozens of career paths within a specialty. How can you narrow it down? “Spend time interacting with physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and others,” suggests Diane Jette, a physical therapist and tenured professor and chair of the department of rehabilitation and movement science at the University of Vermont. “Many students become interested in physical therapy because they or someone they are close to has had physical therapy for an injury or disease,” she continues.

As a result, those interested in pursuing physical therapy only need a strong desire to help others, backed by at least a bachelor's degree. In fact, Jette reports several students of hers came to physical therapy from a variety of backgrounds, including a Wall Street broker, building contractor and professional dancer.

Technically Speaking

Following the dot-com crash of 2001, the need for information technology professionals is once again on the rise,  particularly within smaller companies. The BLS expects the need for computer-savvy employees to grow faster than average, up to 27 percent, through 2014.

Computers are yet another instance where salaries vary depending on the specialty. Starting offers for computer science graduates with an MBA and one year or less of experience averaged $52,300, according to a 2005 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Elsewhere, earnings can reach into the high $90's. According to the most recent data available from the BLS, the top three earners from computer and information managers in May 2004 were software publishers, with an average annual salary of $107,870; system designers, earning an average of $103,850; and company IT managers, with an annual salary average of $99,880.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis – Entreprenurs

Fred Harteis ~ People who start and run businesses (entrepreneurs) are a wide and diverse bunch. There however, tend to be certain common features:

-They are risk takers

-They show determination

-They believe they will succeed

-They have confidence in their own ability

-They display energy

-They keep going

-They can manage money

-They will find ways around obstacles

Fred Harteis has become a successful entrepreneur over the years. “Harteis Explains, “Becoming an entrepreneur and owning your own business is a risk but the reward in the end is well worth it.”

Fred Harteis & Linda Harteis

Fred Harteis owns Harteis International, and a North American business technology firm. With a background in construction and agri-business laid Harteis’ business foundation.  Under Fred’s leadership and vision, Harteis businesses have grown exponentially. 

Harteis International is a family company.  Harteis' children, Tonya, Fred and Annie, support world-wide operations.

Fred Harteis News Articles - Do Pretty People Earn More?

Fred Harteis News Article - You know the woman -- the one who could wear a paper bag to a board meeting and still manage to look both beautiful and perfectly professional. As if it weren't annoying enough that she maintains her obnoxiously flat abs by lifting doughnuts to her mouth, it turns out your gorgeous co-worker may also be out-earning her less genetically-blessed colleagues.

Good looks can have a real impact on workers' bank accounts, according to research by Daniel Hamermesh and Jeff Biddle published in the Journal of Labor Economics. Attractive people earn about 5 percent more in hourly pay than their average-looking colleagues, who in turn earn 9 percent more per hour than the plainest-looking workers.

This means if an average-looking person earned $40,000, their prettiest co-workers would make $42,000 while their least attractive colleagues brought home just $36,400.

Plain-looking workers may also receive fewer promotions than those awarded to their more striking contemporaries.

Are Pretty People Just More Talented?

It remains uncertain whether the handsomest people translate their good looks into higher productivity, but students do consistently give better-looking professors higher evaluations than they give their less comely teachers, according to research by Hamermesh and Amy Parker.

Still, many experts warn against assigning too much value to beauty in the workplace, arguing that even if your good looks do get you in the door, they may not get you much farther.

"A person can be breathtaking in person and destroy that within the first five minutes by acting in a way that seems superior or behaving in a way that is lewd or provocative," said Francie Dalton, president of Dalton Alliances Inc., a consulting practice providing executive coaching to C-level clients.

"Although I very firmly believe that looks are the first thing one notices, I am not convinced that looks trump things like competencies, interpersonal skills and other factors," she said.

Unfair, but Legal

Unlike religion, national origin or disability, discrimination based on looks is legal in most jurisdictions, said James McDonald, Jr., managing partner of the office of employment law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP.

Fortunately, there's -- literally -- more to attractiveness than meets the eye. Researchers Markus Mobius and Tanya Rosenblat found that confidence makes up 20 percent of perceived attractiveness.

To ensure the image you're portraying is a confident one, be sure your posture doesn't betray your nervousness. Keep your back straight, head high and make eye contact with your associates.

Source: Aol.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Favorite Business Quote

Henry Ford was a remarkable business man. He realized what it took to become successful, staying focused. – Fred Harteis

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” ~ Henry Ford.

Fred Harteis Notes, Henry Ford always pushed himself to do more, even when obstacles were in his path or people doubted him.

Fred Harteis & Linda Harteis

Fred Harteis owns Harteis International, with a background in construction and agri-business laid Harteis’ business foundation.  Under Fred’s leadership and vision, Harteis businesses have grown exponentially. 

Harteis International is a family company.  Harteis' children, Tonya, Fred and Annie, support operations.

Fred Harteis is the former President of the International Business Owners Association International (IBOAI).   

Fred Harteis News Articles - The 9 Rules of Airline Etiquette

Fred Harteis News Articles - Flying in today's world of hyper-stringent security can wreak havoc for even the most unflappable of souls.  If we all just followed these, flying might be fun again!

The nine rules of airline etiquette:

1. Learn how to share armrest space.

Two armrests for three seats is one too few, so we have to share. Just because you get stuck with the middle seat does not mean you have the right to use both armrests.

2. Don't rearrange other people's luggage in the overhead space.

There are only two people who should touch anything in the overhead bin: the owner of the object in question and the flight attendant. Do not move someone else's suitcase or coat so you can fit yours in.

3. Go to the bathroom before getting on the plane.

If you follow Mom's time-honored advice, you might not have to pop up to use the onboard bathroom, making life more pleasant for you and your seatmates.

4. Don't intrude on airline seat space.

The seat next to you, especially when it is occupied, is not yours. You may not use it as an armrest, leg rest or pillow. And never wedge your head between the two seats.

5. Using your cell phone? Keep your voice down.

If you must use your cell phone after boarding and immediately upon landing, use your indoor voice.

6. If you can't lift it into the overhead bins, check it.

Don't expect other passengers to do your heavy lifting for you. If your suitcase is too heavy for you to lift into the overhead bin, don't bring it onboard.

7. Don't drink and fly.

Even if you can handle your liquor without disturbing those around you, will you be in any shape to drive once you land?

8. Use only the space underneath your seat.

Your laptop computer bag takes up most of the room under your seat, but that doesn't mean you can put your oversized purse under the seat next to you or behind you. Even if you ask nicely.

9. If you're flying with kids, be prepared.

Do understand that the cabin pressure during takeoff and landing could hurt children's ears, making them cry. Do what you can in advance to make them comfortable. Do be prepared with quiet toys, books, puzzles and even portable DVD players to keep them occupied so they don't bother other passengers.

Source; Aol.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.