The Shoemaker's Daughter has no Shoes?

My accounting is perfectly up to date all the time. Accounting is required in business and if done well, becomes a profit center. What a simple way to make more profit!

It's New Year's, and time to roll over your paperwork!

File by year. Put transactional receipts for the past year into archive boxes. Keep the boxes out so you can file remainder paperwork as it comes in, and have access to receipts for product returns.

Have only current year files in the filing cabinet by your desk. After you clear out last year's paperwork, you'll have a place to file the current year's paperwork that is crossing your desk now. This is a huge time-saver. And if you're successful enough in business to last many years, having yearly archives will be a huge time and space-saver as well.

Fixed Assets, such as your vehicle, plus licenses, warranties, credit card legalese, debit card pin numbers, and other paperwork that is current for the business stays in the filing cabinet.

This is a good time to add printed labels. Besides creating a more attractive filing system, printed labels are easier to read, so less paper is misfiled. Toss excess paperwork. Filing is faster if the folders have wiggle room. My filing cabinet is a beauty to behold and it only takes this once a year update to keep it that way.

The last thing I did as I was archiving last years paperwork was to note my income vouchers and say a blessing prayer for all the clients/readers who who gave me money last year. I am unabashedly practicing gratitude as a spiritual practice. May you prosper in future years!

Filing Systems -- Find Any Piece of Paper in Minutes

I love organizing data, and offices (and all of my friends closets). Real work is messy; so it's nice to start and end with a clear palette. In this way, one creates a balanced office.

In my own filing system, I can find any piece of paper, from any year, within minutes. In the book, I explain how to create a filing system, even if you're starting with an office disaster. From that core system, you'll modify your filing system according to how you do business, so that you too can find any piece of paper in minutes. This is absolutely doable; I've done it for many clients. Here's one tip: it's rarely necessary to file a singe piece of paper. Put it in a "To Be Filed" folder. When you find yourself with a spare 10 minutes do all the filing.