4 Steps To Going "Paper Less" In 2017

Just the other day, I was asked by a co-worker "where do you fall on the paperless issue that businesses are starting to confront?"

I had been looking for the first subject to engage my readers with and I thought this would be a great segway into my writing about having a virtual bookkeeper or utilizing the services that freelance bookkeeping can provide to your business.

My answer, of course, was "I'm all for it!" and she said, "I just knew you would be!"

She went on to tell me about the extremes in thinking on the subject that she had encountered. They went from totally resistant to change to completely paperless.

I land somewhere in the 80% "paper less" side. "Paper less" is different from paperless; "paper less" is an extreme reduction in paper, but, not completely paperless.

Get it? I heard that in a training course and had to swipe it!

In this day and age, there simply is no reason for businesses to still be putting a year's worth of paperwork into cardboard banker's boxes and loading them into storage or file rooms where they will wait to be shredded in 7 years. it's archaic and a huge time suck!

Don't panic!

We are still in the first quarter; there is still time to start this year off, working towards your "paper less" goals.

1. SCAN & THROW IT AWAY

If you have a printer with a scanner on it, you need to start using it or learn how to use it, if you don't know how.

Every piece of paper that comes across your desk should be scanned the minute it lands there (or at the 1st available moment; at least.) If you felt the need in the past to put that piece of paper in a file folder or on a pinup board, scan it and then throw it away or shred it.

The only originals that you should be keeping are taxes and any legal documents, otherwise, scan it and get rid of it.

2. MAKE ELECTRONIC FOLDERS

In conjunction with your scanned documents, you will need a "reference library" to quickly access your scans.

Remember the old way of making folders;you had to sit at your desk, tear the tabs at the perforated lines, slide those paper tabs into the plastic tabs, fit the "feet" into the slots on the folders and then either hand write or print labels on manila folders to go into the hanging file folders. WHOO, it was exhausting to type!

Now, you simply go and tell your pdf software where to save the file to and you're done!

I know that you are hesitant and that a lot of you are still not really sure about the security of having your documents online only.

If you choose a cloud program with bank quality encryption like onedrive.com or google apps, you can rest assured that your information is secure.

• Your cloud "dashboard" becomes your file cabinet. Set it up just like you did your metal file cabinets. The most simple way to start is to go with the 26 folders, A-Z method

• Scan your files into those folders

• Create subfolders of your choosing; by client name, by business name, by business category, etc. Make it as seamless a transition as possible especially if you have coworkers looking for the files too. If you filed "The Home Depot" under H in the file cabinet donC

Continue this process until you can find that file in less than 10 seconds and then you are good to move on.

3.NAME ALL OF YOUR FILES

The next step is to name all your files; especially pictures. When you save a picture, by default the software assigns it a number unless you rename it. If you want to use those pictures on your website, in social media campaigns, blogs, newsletters, etc. the need "alt tags"; names describing what the viewer would see.

Think about the time that you saw a broken link to a picture. If it was correctly named, you knew what was supposed to be there.

4. ORGANIZE YOUR FILES BY TYPE

Lastly, you should organize your folders by the type of information that can be found in those folders.

For example:

• don't save pictures and videos in the same folder

• don't save pictures and pdf's in the same folder

• don't save word documents in the same folder as pictures

It will save you a ton of time in the long run and make it easy to forward the entire file, if you need to, electronically without having to take out files that the receiver doesn't need.

If you just aren't ready to dive right into the "paper less" movement, start off by figuring out which files you accessed the leased in the last year and start with those files.

If you continue to do this, adding 2x what you did the last time in each session, you will end up not knowing why you didn't do this sooner; trust me!

Thanks for checking out my first blog and please follow me for a continuing series in running my freelance bookkeeping and social media marketing service.

Check out my site at www.hdmbonline.com/freelance-bookkeeping to see how my services can do this and more for you and send me any comments you have.