Cleaning Up The Paper Trail: Organizing Your Business Paperwork

As entrepreneurs it's easy for paperwork to pile up while growing your businesses. But having a clean, organized system is everything. Let me explain how...

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

Hi, everybody. It's great to be back and welcome back to Empower Her Entrepreneur, the podcast that helps ambitious women like you level up in every area of business and life. I'm Janice Bujo, and today we're tackling a topic that can often feel overwhelming, but is absolutely essential to the success and efficiency of your business. Cleaning up your paperwork. I guess this is probably one of the least favorites. It's the one of the most procrastinated activities on there is cleaning up the paper trail and organizing your business paperwork. If you've ever found yourself scrambling to find a contract, digging through piles of forms, or wondering where that all-important client document is stored, you're not alone. As entrepreneurs, it's super easy for paperwork to pile up while we focus on growing our businesses. But having a clean, organized system for your forms, contracts, and information isn't just about saving time anymore. It's about projecting professionalism, reducing your stress, and being ready for whatever comes your way. So grab your coffee or maybe a glass of wine and take a deep breath, everyone. And let's dive into how you can clean up all of the paperwork in your business and build a one-stop system that works for you. So, why is organizing your paperwork so essential? First, let's talk about why this is so important. Paperwork, whether it's physical or digital, represents the backbone of your business. Your contracts protect your interests, your forms streamline operations, and your business information keeps things running smoothly. When your paperwork is disorganized, you waste valuable time searching for things. You risk losing important documents, you may appear unprofessionable to clients, partners, suppliers, and let's not forget the added stress of feeling out of control. On the flip side, having a streamlined, well-organized system means you can access what you need instantly, you're prepared for audits, clients' questions, or legal issues. You present yourself as a top-tier professional. So this is about reclaiming your time, protecting your business, and stepping into the role of a CEO who's got it all together. This is one of my favorite things to work on my business. I guess this is an area I didn't procrastinate in while growing my company because I make time that I put in my schedule that I know that I'm always reviewing and cleaning up. And there are so many different aspects. I at our company we use the Google Drive. It's just easy, it's hooked up to our website and our email. But we don't just use the Google Drive. We have folders, and in the folders, we have files. Everything is kept. We are essentially paperless. Um, we did a lot of scanning to put that in place. Um, paperwork can be emails. Our email system is stellar. We have all the side columns that we file emails away into. Um, their subjects, whether it be could be facilities, it could be suppliers, um, payment questions. We we've got quite a list going. So when I say that we're organized with our paperwork, we are organized. Everything from review of forms. So sometimes it's you're gonna have to pick an area to start, but those are all areas that are very organized for me. Is making sure and say once a year I go over every single form. And when I mean form, I mean something that we're giving clients, something that's online, it could be a consent, it could be a health intake, it could be a contract, an employment contract. They are all up for review. And of course, our contracts were all designed by a legal team in collaboration with us. We do have them for purchase on our website. Sometimes that even makes it a lot easier for you. If you don't want to have to uh review and you just want to purchase and call it a day, that can be easier. That's why we even develop those. Anyway, the first step in cleaning up your paperwork is to take an inventory. Take an inventory. Think about every area of your business that involves forms, contracts, or written slash email information, letters. Ask yourself, what paperwork do I currently have? This could include client contracts, vendor agreements, financial records, which is invoices, receipts, tax documents, employment forms, standard operating procedures, your SOPs. Woohoo! And that was my favorite thing to develop over the last two years. While I felt sometimes things were getting a little hayward, um, for myself, it was more just like really delusional. Uh, you know, a few staff over the last decade that I had brought on, things were running amok, um, just not not, they weren't following any rules. Well, there wasn't really any operating procedures in place. Um, the office, the when you're growing, get that in place. That's all I'm gonna say. Um, two, what do I actually use? Some documents might be outdated, duplicates are no longer relevant. I constantly go through um our our our workplace drive. I look at the folders, I look what's in them. Uh, there absolutely can be duplicates just by error, just by accident, um editing, and then you you created another file by mistake, or stuff you're just not using anymore. Gone, delete. It's like not being a pack rat at your your business. Um, three, where is it all stored? Is it scattered across your desk, email inbox, Google Drive, or filing cabinets? It should be set in one place, accessible to all. Um, for a lot of you, you may be an independent person working. You could be working with office people, you could be working with a team. There should be access. The reason I like the Google Drive, and there are other options, is that I can give permissions. So my business manager might have the company information file, but whereas the clinical manager might only have the sections dealing with um files to hire, orientate, and education. Do you get where I'm going with this? Um, there's there's lots of ways to be able to do it. Pro tip start a paperwork audit spreadsheet list what you have and where it's located. This will give you a clear picture of what needs to be cleaned up and organized. Section three of what I want to talk to you about is creating your one-stop business hub. Now that you've taken inventory, it's time to create a system, a single place where all your business information is stored and easily accessible. Here's how to set up your one-stop business hub. Number one, decide on a storage system. You can go fully digital, you can stick with physical files or use a hybrid system. For digital storage, tools like Google Drive, Dropbox, or even there's one called Honeybook. It's a client management system. For physical storage, you can invest in a filing cabinet with labeled folders for each category. Don't get me wrong, I know that a lot of us aren't in the digital world and maybe you want that filing system. Well, then get the filing cabinet, get a pretty one, get a colored one, get the folders, start labeling and putting everything away. Everything should be so easily accessible to you. Whether you are 10 years into your business or one, this is something you've got to do. You will sing your praises after. Two, organize by category, divide your paperwork into categories such as contracts, which is like clients, vendors, partners, financial documents, which could be invoices, receipts, taxes, and then legal forms, permits, registrations, trademarks. Um, well, you could have many different things, employee-related documents, business plans, goals, and SOPs. So these are all um essentially sections, and then in the sections, they're files. Um, that's whether digitally or in a cabinet, that's exactly what you need to do. This will, when this is set up, it can give you so much clarity and make it so you can just understand what's going on in your business. And when you're understanding and you're not stressed out, you're able to grow and think about so many other wonderful things. Three, standardize your forms, create templates for frequently used forms like invoices, contracts, and intake forms. Use tools like Canva or a professional graphic designer, or hey, purchase them from our company to ensure these documents look polished and branded. This is something we definitely took the time out. I told you we did hire a designer as well as a um legal group that we use continuously. They basically did an overhaul on every single form in our business because we wanted to protect ourselves from a liability perspective and be able to gather information and make sure what we were using was perfect. And so those templates are absolutely created for us. It was a lot of money. I mean, I think I spent almost 10 grand getting all of these forms done. Um, and I wish there was a person like me out there that created them that I could just, you know, I think one of our templates is like$100. Um, while it's all that beats a lot than um spending a thousand and it's done and it's and it's well crafted. But this is something to look over and then get them into your system. Four, back everything up. If you're using a digital system, ensure your files are backed up to the cloud or an external high drive. I only use things that are hooked to the cloud, um, so I'm good with that. For physical files, consider scanning important documents and saving them digitally as well. That's why I I really do strongly believe in digital, um, because the cloud just is not gonna dissipate. Um, but you know, water damage, a fire, or I mean, I also, you know, you could be, you don't know if somebody could take a document or it just gets misplaced or thrown out. Um, okay, organization ideas to keep you guys on track. Okay, now you've cleaned up the chaos and you're setting up your system, and how do you maintain it? Here are some tips to keep your paperwork organized moving forward. One, schedule regular cleanup days. Set aside time every month or quarter, which is what I do, to review and update your paperwork. Shred what's no longer needed and file new documents properly digitally. Two, label everything clearly, whether it's digital folders or physical files, label everything so it's easy to find at a glance. Three, use naming conventions for digital files. So, what that means is you're not you're gonna want to make sure every file actually has a name, not untitled document, not client contract. Like if you've got contracts set for certain areas, you want to just put identifiable things in there, right? So, so Google Drive, especially, or if you're using Dropbox, you can punch in the search engine. And so if you've got contracts at five places, make sure somehow you could even have the year on them with the name and that it's a say a facility contract for automate wherever possible. Use tools like DocuSign for contracts or QuickBooks for financial documents to reduce manual paperwork. And I love this. This is absolutely um some of the things I use. We use QuickBooks for our business. Um, almost everything is done done digitally. We do have an amazing um accounting team and bookkeepers. There's actually five of them who cover our business. DocuSign, I've had to use a few times, um, but most importantly, I use our uh uh clinical charting management software. We use Clinico, and that's how, like, when we are sending out that consent, we've had digitized it. It can go to them via email or SMS text, and they can sign it. It immediately gets filed to the system. I love it. They're actually able to sign their consent form. And five, create a cheat sheet, keep a quick reference document listing where all your key paperwork is stored and how you're going to access it. Okay, the power of professional paperwork. Lastly, let's talk about how having top-notch organized paperwork can elevate your business. Professionally designed contracts and forms instill confidence in your clients and partners. They show that you're serious about your work and respect the business relationship. If design isn't your strong suit, consider hiring a professional or us using tools like Canva, PandaDoc, or uh Adobe Acrobat to create sleek branded documents. Remember, your paperwork isn't just a back office task. It's your brand and it's what protects you. It is your liability. So there you have it, everybody. A roadmap to cleaning up the paper trail in your business. Remember, this isn't just about tidying up, it's about setting yourself up for success, reducing stress, and showing the world you're running a business with intention and professionalism. If you found today's episode helpful, I'd love to hear from you. Share your thoughts, questions, or your own paperwork organization tips. If you're on our private VIP Facebook group, uh, give me a message. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review so we can keep empowering women entrepreneurs just like you. Until next time, keep building, ladies, keep thriving, and keep empowering.