Moderator: Welcome to tonight's special event: "Organizing Your Business - Part 2 -- File Systmes, Storage and Supply Management" with Connie Bechtel
Alan is on the stage.
Connie is on the stage.
Alan: Welcome to tonight's special event.
Alan: Tonight's special event will start with a 30 minute interview, then we will open it up for questions from the audience for the second half hour.
Alan: We have some images to show everyone, via your web browsers. When this happens, be sure to adjust your screen so your web browser is visible to you.
Alan: Throughout the event all questions submitted to the stage, will go to an off screen moderator, to allow for grouping of questions.
Alan: Our guest tonight Connie Bechtel with Wyvern Productions
Alan: Tonight we are going to discuss:
"Organizing Your Business - Part 2 of our 4 part series on organizing." "File Systems, Storage and Supply Management"
Alan: Welcome Connie,
Connie: Thank you, Alan.
Connie: This week, I'll be covering both paper and electronic files - as well as possibilities for supply ordering and storage. The only URL for tonight is a record retention timeline.
Slide show URL sent -> http://www.williamskeepers.com/tools_for_you/record_retention.asp
Connie: This will help you evaluate your paperwork and determine just how long you have to retain each type.
Connie: First, a few statistics. In most organizations, 80-90% of all records are paper based.
Connie: Also, 30-40% of all recorded information (both paper and electronic) can be removed immediately due to duplications.
Connie: Another 20-30% can be transferred to a central records area - either off- or on-site.
Connie: If a disaster strikes and wipes out records, nine out of 10 businesses will never reopen their doors.
Connie: It costs 150 hours a year to recover missing documents, $30 to file initially, $120 if it is misfiled, and $250 to recreate if it is lost.
Connie: One in 20 documents is lost and never recovered.
Connie: Step one to correct poor record management is to identify what is working and what isn't working.
Connie: I recommend the KISS principle (Keep IT Simple, Silly). A record keeping structure that requires a catalog to track will not speed up the filing process.
Connie: Prepare a system that everyone in your organization can use with a minimum of effort. Make it easier to process the paperwork properly than it is to not do so.
Connie: As operations become more efficient, costs proportionate to business generated - drop. Results of increased profits and an improved bottom line are realized.
Connie: On a personal level - Set a specific time each day to deal with email, snail mail, faxes, bill paying, etc.
Connie: Sort everything according to these five statements: To Do, To Read, To File, Today, Trash. Do this daily.
Connie: . (Personal management, or what to do with too many items in the To Do and Today areas, I'll be covering in greater detail in a couple of weeks).
Connie: Once you pick something up, deal with it - avoid handling anything more than twice (Most organizers say once, but for paperwork, I prefer to deal with all like items at the same time.)
Connie: I read emails first thing in the morning and periodically throughout the day.
Connie: . First I delete any SPAM that made it through my filters, then I identify emails that need a reply immediately.
Connie: The rest I read and file throughout the day.
Connie: My email inbox is similar to my file cabinet, with additional sections for personal items.
Connie: Not only do I have file folders, I also color code certain emails for priority handling.
Connie: Email orders, receipts and bills are printed and filed with the appropriate vendor or customer.
Connie: I allow myself between 5 to fifteen minutes to deal with this (otherwise I'd sit in front of my computer all day long).
Connie: For paper mail and faxes, it's another 5 to fifteen minutes (You may be seeing a theme here). I separate home bills and put them in a slot by due date (my husband pays those).
Connie: Sales fliers either go in the Trash or my To Read file. Credit card offers are shredded (trash). Junk mail is trashed or shredded.
Connie: Statements are placed in my To Do file (to balance my accounting program), business bills are placed in a To Pay folder (pay on Fridays).
Connie: My file system is color coded. I break out hanging files as follows: Primary sections are Banking, Suppliers and Customers.
Connie: Sub sections on Suppliers are Materials (finished textile supply), Office (URL registration, business cards, general office supplies) and Packaging (Equipment, threads, backing, etc.).
Connie: Each company/customer has their own file folder within the hanging folder. When it gets full, it's time to purge.
Connie: Purging means throwing things out or filing them in records boxes away from your desk (and ideally in a secure, off-site location)
Connie: I also keep a notebook of work orders & the associated design by customer for quick reference (it travels a lot better than my file cabinet).
Connie: When archiving, label boxes on the top and all 4 sides of the boxes. Include a destroy date when possible. Keep a log.
Connie: A lot of how you store design files is determined by your machine. I keep a CD for each year, one set for customers, and one for each month.
Connie: For example, the annual CD holds designs created in 2003, is burned and closed once on January 1. Once verified, I purge my hard drive.
Connie: My customer CDs are by alpha with 2-3 letters per CD (ABC on one, DEF on the next, etc.). They are left open, and updated when a design is complete.
Connie: The monthly CDs are a rotating system for redundancy. I have three CDs that I rotate out. CD 1 is used in January, April, July, December. CD 2 starts in February, and so on.
Connie: This way, I have multiple copies of designs in case something happens to one of the CDs. I store the annual CDs at my safe deposit box and monthly CDs in my safe.
Connie: If you remove a file, CD, catalog, magazine, and cannot refile it immediately, place it in a To-File box. Spend fifteen minutes at the end of the day and put everything back where it belongs.
Connie: A lot of people recommend a once a week filing system, but If you schedule the time each day, you don't get behind (even if you miss a day). Besides, it's a great feeling of accomplishment when you've got a neat space.
Connie: For a large office, assign one person to handle supplies (or one to handle each type). The more people that handle an item, the more chance there is of loss, missing inventory, or miscounted inventory.
Connie: If your supply cabinet isn't organized, the only way to fix it is to empty it and follow a formula to rebuild it. Keep like items together. Place the newest items in the back (first in, first out). Label each shelf. Color code if possible.
Connie: Keep an inventory list. This will also serve as a shopping list when items run low. Include dates for ordering and pretty soon you'll have a schedule for ordering most regularly used items.
Connie: Not only will this eliminate most "emergency" thread runs, it reduces the 1 and 2 item orders. It also helps prevent ordering things that you already have in stock.
Connie: Can't find that perfect item to store your cones or backing? Build it yourself (or get your favorite handyman or woman to build it for you). Need ideas? I've seen some really amazing stuff from our fellow embroiderers.
Connie: Need a place to store needles and other small items? Take a look a fishing tackle boxes. Purchase the magnetic business card backs, cut them to fit the divided sections, peel and stick.
Connie: Add a label for each type of needle. When looking at storage containers, clear plastic is better than opaque. You can see what is inside at a glance.
Connie: Overall, use what is available and be ruthless with your filing. Don't spend a ton of money on file or storage systems that don't work for you. Don't buy on a whim.
Connie: Approach your organizational needs the same way you approached your business plan. Don't plan for right now without also planning for the future.
Connie: That's all I have.
Alan: Connie, great part 2,
Connie: Thank you.
Alan: Question.. how much time per day do you spend on organization
Connie: Given 15 minute shots, about two hours - but that includes my home organizing, too.
Alan: so about a quarter of your day.
Alan: I spend probably that much just looking for stuff
Connie: If it was just an 8-hour day, sure.
Connie: I'm pretty sure that most of us don't have standard 8-hour days.
Alan: that's for sure for this Latte's crowd at least!
Connie: To me, two hours is nothing compared to what I used to do.
Moderator: Audience member says: "When you prioritize your e-mails....are you filing them in you computer or making hard copies?"
Connie: On the computer. The less actual paperwork I have, the better for me.
Connie: I only print the ones that involve orders or receipts.
Moderator: Audience member says: "How do you color code your e-mailes then?"
Connie: I use Eudora, and can select from eight different colors for the header information.
Connie: The filters turn on the colors before they're sorted into my folders.
Connie: The advantage to electronic mail is that you can do most of your sorting automatically.
Moderator: Audience member says: "Is that a special software?"
Connie: Eudora is a free email program that you can download from the web.
Alan: I'm a big fan of Eudora also.. been using it from the start
Moderator: Audience member says: "How would I get this free software?"
Alan: http://www.eudora.com
Connie: visit www.eudora.com and download.
Connie: It works for Windows, Mac, and even Palm OS.
Connie: And the purchased version has even more cool features.
Alan: Since I live by email, I have the paid version, and can't say enough about it!
Alan: Connie.... I knew I liked you!
Moderator: Audience member says: "Is it very expensive."
Connie: I've been contemplating the paid version, but I'm still too cheap.
Connie: Of course, it's only $49.95.
Moderator: Audience member says: "If I saved everything for 3-7 years like that 1st list said, I would need a storage room. By switching to the computer, I have really created a mess now. I've got more bookmarks and can't find anything when I need it. HELP! I should have stuck with paper"
Connie: Organizing your computer is just like organizing your desktop. Create folders for everything and "file" them in places you'll remember.
Connie: Each of my customers has a folder. Designs are stored alphabetically and then by date.
Connie: Most computer files are much worse than paper files.
Connie: People aren't as concerned with their computer files - so things get lost.
Connie: There's a free software that you can get from CNet's download.com site that keeps a perpetual search of your desktop.
Connie: Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of it.
Connie: But your Windows find function will do the same if you manipulate it correctly.
Connie: Personally, I find files on my computer much faster than I find them in my file system - but then, I've been told that I'm not normal....
Moderator: Audience member says: "I'm just a paper person I guess but where do I begin to clean up the computer?"
Connie: Do you store all of your designs in one folder? What about your documents?
Connie: Start by making your documents folder look like your paper file folders (assuming they're in order, of course.)
Connie: You can't color code them, but you can label and sort everything the same way.
Moderator: Audience member says: "Where do I start if I am totally unorganized, 15 minutes a day won't even keep me current!"
Connie: 15 minutes a day will begin to make a dent in the piles you're battling without getting overwhelmed.
Connie: If you think you need more time, schedule two or three 15 minute intervals each day.
Connie: Spread them out. I get distracted easily and lose myself in making one thing perfect while everything else goes to pieces.
Connie: By taking small bites of an area, I gradually get through everything on my agenda.
Connie: If you're really knee (or neck) deep in paperwork, you're not going to see a change the first day.
Moderator: Audience member says: "How long did it take you to get well organized?"
Connie: By repetition, you will get faster at processing everything, and you will see improvement.
Alan: You were probably born organized!
Connie: LOL - my family would find that very amusing!
Connie: I'm not organized yet.
Connie: I have some good tendancies, but all of them were forced to work for me.
Connie: I had to force myself to do each task until it became a habit.
Connie: Like sorting the mail.
Connie: I used to bring it in from the mailbox and put it on the coffee table.
Connie: Never mind that we have a mail holder just inside the door.
Connie: Or, if I was distracted by the phone, it could end up in the dining room or kitchen.
Connie: It took nearly a month of forcing myself to sort it immediately to finally stop losing my bills.
Connie: I mentioned last week - it takes 21 days to create a habit. For me it takes 28.
Connie: I'm not organized - I'm just drawn that way.
Moderator: Audience member says: "What goals do you still need to accomplish before you are organized Connie?"
Connie: Lots of things.
Connie: My computer desk is buried right now (a habit gone bad).
Connie: It's a constant battle - made more challenging with a 2-year-old.
Moderator: Audience member says: "How do you organize phone numbers and addresses? Rolodex or do you use the computer also?"
Connie: I live by my PDA.
Connie: No other way has worked successfully for me.
Connie: Although I used to maintain a fairly messy Rolodex before PDAs were affordable.
Connie: For some, the paper organizer works best. For me, it's too big and ungainly.
Connie: Any other questions?
Moderator: Audience member says: "What IS PDA?"
Connie: Palm Pilot or similar.
Moderator: Audience member says: "The problem I have is remembering to log things on my calendar....I guess the main message here is get into the "habit" of doing this"
Connie: Definitely.
Moderator: Audience member says: "Are you in a store front or home business and how long?"
Connie: I'm in a home business, and just started in January of last year.
Connie: But I've been in document management for about a decade before that.
Connie: Organizing isn't much different in any business - except for the traffic in a store front.
Connie: That's why small steps are important.
Alan: Well once again that time has arrived to bring this portion of the event to a close.
Alan: If you would like to contact Connie,
her email is:
Alan: admin@wyvernproductions.com
Alan: Or through her website at:
Slide show URL sent -> http://www.wyvernproductions.com
Alan: Connie, thanks for being with us tonight.
Connie: Thanks for having me. It's been a pleasure.
Alan: That is the conclusion of tonight's event, a transcript will be posted to the Embroidery Industry Calendar within the hour.
Alan: Hope to see everyone next week for part 3 of this series on "Organizing Your Business" - "Office design and layouts, Ergonomics".
Alan: Thank you for everyone's support of the EmbroideryMall.
Alan: Now everyone back to Latte's
The PalacePresents event "Organizing Your Business - Part 2 -- File Systmes, Storage and Supply Management" is over.
Thank you for attending.

Closing Log (April 20, 2004 10:49:43PM)

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