Keeping organized is something that people want to be, but sometimes they are not willing to pay the price. Small and home businesses are usually run on as little money as possible, usually foregoing such as niceties as a secretary, but that creates a problem when it comes to keeping the paperwork most businesses generate organized. This means that everything from receipts to customer records needs to be kept in some form that is easy to organize, making tracking down a specific piece easy to do when it has to be done. This is why binding has become so popular over the last few years.
While it is possible for the small businessman to have all of this done at the photocopier’s for a small price, sometimes it can be done cheaper if it is done in he office. While it can be hard to find the right binding supplies doing so can life much easier. With almost everything done on computer, it helps to have a paper back-up especially when it comes to showing a customer exactly what is going on. While it is simple to print out a receipt or a billing statement, it is not so simple to decide what format to use to keep the records.
The two basic options are boxes and binders. With boxes the paperwork is kept in files and the more boxes are added as new paperwork is added; this applies regardless if it is in boxes or file cabinets. While this is great for paperwork that is rarely referred to, it can making the files difficult as papers in files are notorious for scattering everywhere at the slightest provocation and can make retrieving that information difficult. Binders, however, not only make the retrieving of paperwork easy but also prevents its scattering. This means that binders are better for a small businessman who needs information at their fingertips, or at least within easy reach.
Binders can also maintain paperwork for other purposes as well. This can mean holding contracts as well as standard procedures, enabling new staff to be taught quickly as well as having proven solutions at hand. It also means that the complete history, including contracts, of a client can be quickly found. While this does mean that you need to make sure you proofread everything, it does mean that you will be able to quickly find any information that you need, and we all know that time saved means money earned.
Because so many people bind up their paperwork, there are some great tactics to use when doing so. First, decide between paperwork for clients and paperwork for potential employees. Of the latter, this means things like employee handbooks and contracts, even contractor forms, that you know will make life easier for your employees. Even if you do not have employees it can be useful to standardize your procedures; by writing them down it can make your life a lot easier in the long run. It can thus be a good idea to have all of these procedures in a form that is not on your computer, making binding them so much easier.
Obviously you need to worry about organizing binders for your clients as well. This means that you need to decide how many binders you need, and that is based on how much paperwork each client creates. Most businesses will only generate a bill of sale and possibly receipts to the clients. If that is the case then a handful of binders will be fine for a long time. On the other hand, if instructions get detailed and you are dealing with government offices then you will be generating a lot of paperwork; it may not be a bad idea to keep a small binder for each client, even if it is just papers that are held together with brads.
Binders are a great way to keep your business organized, and the more organized your business is the more efficient it is. At the very least it means not wasting time looking for forms and client questions can be answered quickly, making you look pretty good in their eyes. It also means that you can eliminate training time or looking up established procedures. Thus it is well worth the time and money spent binding paperwork, and will allow to focus less on paperwork and more on business.
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