As I mentioned in an earlier post, September is National Preparedness Month. This month is a perfect time to remind you to review your office procedures and backup plans for emergencies. By doing this tasks, it tells employees what to do in case of an emergency like a hurricane or other natural disasters. It also shows your customers that you are thinking about their well-being. The clients who have concerns and issues and reach out to you for help or guidance will be your advocate when others … [Read more...]
6 Tips for Keeping Effective Filing Systems in the Office
Effective filing systems for the office make your business run more functionally. You can find papers easier and save time looking for them. To keep effective filing systems in your office, try these tasks and share them with everyone in your office to keep the system going consistently. Steps to make a filing system more functional Determine how you want to retrieve the files. Do you want the files to be sorted by event, topic, or speaking engagement? Label each hanging and manila folders. … [Read more...]
How To Organize Employee Records in Your Small Business
How do you keep your employee's paperwork? Do you have one folder for each employee? Or, are they all in one folder? Do you know where all your employee paperwork is? Do you have subcontractors? Where are all the sensitive W-9 and W-2 paperwork? Are they in a secure place? Every small business needs to keep employee records. I have found that several small businesses do not know where all their paperwork is. And, if this information falls into the wrong hands, you could be creating undue … [Read more...]
7 Important Examples of Small Business Paperwork Systems
Is your small business paperwork important? One word, YES! Your small business paperwork is important! They need to be accessible, at a moment's notice. The IRS may need them if you were audited. Your accountant may need them if she is doing your taxes. You may need them if you have to reference client information. Having a good filing system in place for all your different types of paper will make your office run more efficiently. Just like the brain, we need to be able to retrieve … [Read more...]
7 Areas to Organize in Your Office Files
Many owners view filing systems as a necessary evil since by taking the time to set it up and maintain it doesn't help make money for their business. So, they quickly file papers in groups that may or may not be appropriate just to get it out of the way and give them more time to do things that help them make money. But, then they get frustrated when they can't find what they were looking for in the future. The reality is all businesses need to keep retrievable files and need to have systems in … [Read more...]
Benefits and Tips to Revisit Paper Files Yearly
If you needed a piece of paper from 10 years ago, how easy would it be to get it? Not many small business owners who have worked for years could say they would be able to find a piece of paper from 10 years ago. And, that is OK. We all don't keep every single piece of paper, though I found while working with several small businesses that not finding that piece of paper gives them undue stress for days if not weeks trying to find it. So, instead of stressing about lost papers, let's create a … [Read more...]
3 Tips to Help Any Small Business Start-Up Reduce Stress
Does this scenario sound familiar? A client calls and asks for some notes from the meeting emailed to him/her ASAP. You get off the phone and your hearts racing while you frantically look for a piece of notepaper. Finally, after 30 minutes of looking under piles and piles of paper, you find it. You think to yourself, "OK, breathe, I found it. Thank God!" It doesn't have to be this way. When starting a new business, you need to get your space organized to manage those tasks that come in. … [Read more...]
5 Bookkeeping Tips for Small Business
Bookkeeping has many details steps. If you are not a detailed person, this may be struggle to handle. I have many clients that when they started their business didn't know how to manage all the details in the bookkeeping so by the time I started working with them, we had to create systems on not only how to keep the books, but also the system of how to keep the paperwork so that I could get it into the books. Here are 5 bookkeeping tips for small business that should help cut the surprises … [Read more...]
5 Steps to Create an Organized Home Office
Is this year's goal to get your business organized? Wouldn't you love an organized home office? A space that is just for your business. A space that you can do your work, your bills, and be able to research with minimal distractions. Ah, doesn’t that sound lovely? Well, I am here to tell you that it IS possible to do this. Here are five steps to create an organized home office that is also hidden when you are not working. First, find a place in the corner of your home that is out-of-the-way. … [Read more...]
