Tag Archives: how-to

How to Organize Important Documents, Part 4

avalanche of paperWelcome to Part IV of How to Organize Important Documents. You can read Part I here ,  Part II here. And Part III here.

If you’ve been following the series, you’ve taken care of all your piles and pretty much now all you have left are magazine articles, newspaper clippings, recipes and hobby/craft paperwork.

Do you think you’ll ever use them?

Be honest now.

If the answer is no, just toss them and go do something fun. No guilt, no more projects that you clearly aren’t all that interested in doing hanging over your head.

Didn’t that feel good?  Now, don’t clip out any more articles. Just find them online and pin them.  Pinterest can be your virtual bulletin board/filing cabinet for all the really cool ideas and really delicious recipes you’re never going to do anything with.

But if you really must go through them, here’s how.

First, toss all the magazine articles that are more than six months old and don’t mention you or a member of your immediate family by name (you can keep those; they’re called family history. Put them in an appropriately labeled file folder and file them for future generations to marvel at). You can keep any articles less than six months old that you can get read within two weeks. They aren’t going back into your file cabinet or your to-file pile. Keep only what you know you can get to within two weeks.  And remember, you will need to allot time for sleeping, eating and working during those two weeks so be realistic.

If you are a crafty person and you actually make these crafts, you have my permission to keep your favorites. Toss everything that is no longer in fashion. If those crocheted toilet paper covers really do ever come back in style, I’m sure you will find the instructions on the internet. Do not keep things just in case. Do NOT give them to your crafty friends.  They already have too many of their own and don’t need to store yours so you won’t feel guilty.

Sort the keepers by subject. For example, file knitting patterns in one folder, tole painting projects in another and home improvement ideas (that could actually happen in your house) in their own folder. Every six months go through these folders and purge them.

After the crafts we’ll tackle the recipes. If you can’t pronounce the dish or the ingredients in it, toss it. Experience shows that most people won’t cook dishes with ingredients they can’t identify—or find at the grocery store. Before keeping any more, see if you can find the recipe online and either bookmark it or download it and store in a digital recipe file (Cook’n is great for this). I’m a recipe person—I really do make them—and I’ve started tearing recipes out of magazines, taking them to my desk and looking them up online. 90% of the time, I find them. If I don’t I pop it in the scanner and digitize it on the spot. It’s much easier finding what I want to cook on my computer than it is sorting through piles of paper (and this is from the Cookbook Queen—I have close to 100 cookbooks in their own special bookcase). Give yourself a timetable for these new recipes—add them to your monthly menu. If you try it and don’t like it, toss the recipe immediately so you don’t mistakenly make it again.

And last but certainly not least are papers relating to hobbies or interests. The biggest hobby paper tiger I can think of is family history, aka genealogy, though there are certainly any number of other hobbies that can generate reams of papers to be sorted and filed. I can’t tell you what to keep and what not to keep and if you’re avidly into your hobby, I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what’s really important.

You know; you just need to ditch the guilt along with the trash.

And in the last installment of this series—just in time for the end of the school year—we’ll look at what to do with all those “treasures” your kids bring home from school.

marie leslie media, success without stress, WordPress, Social Media

Filed Under: Steps to Success

How to Organize Important Documents, Part 3

filing billsWelcome to Part III of How to Organize Important Documents. You can read Part I here and Part II here.

At the end of Part II, I said we would talk about how to manage your current financial records, and here it is.

Organizing Current Financial Records

What  do you do with all the everyday financial records—household bills, brokerage statements, IRA records, paycheck stubs and bank statements?  Well, if you’re me, you see how many of them you can have sent to you electronically instead of in the mail. I pay as many bills as possible online and it’s a simple matter for me to store the statements by year in a “finance” file on my computer. When I need a receipt for an online payment, I save it as a PDF instead of printing it out.  I’m pretty sure I’ve saved a small forest by now, not to mention the wear and tear on my printer and shredder.

For bills that come in the mail and need to be paid the same way, I have a 3-ring binder with slip-in page protectors that I use as storage pockets. One pocket holds stamps, one holds envelopes and another holds return address labels.  The remaining pockets hold personal correspondence that needs to be addressed and business correspondence that needs to be addressed. And then there is a pocket for personal bills and one for business bills. As the bills come in the mail, the envelopes are opened, all the stuffers removed and the bill and its payment envelope go into the appropriate pocket.

On my designated bill pay day (ok, my husband’s designated bill pay day because I hate doing it), he just gets out the notebook, pulls out what he needs and pays them and the book goes back on the shelf until the next week. Once the bill is paid, it gets filed. If a document or bill will be needed for taxes at the end of the year, it either goes into a file folder marked “current taxes” in the financial drawer of my file cabinet or into a computer folder of the same name if it’s an electronic statement.

For everything else—utility bills, credit card receipts, etc.—we only keep those for six months. Every six months, I clean out the files and we start over.  Bank statements get kept for a year, as do pay stubs. Once we have a W-2, the pay stubs get shredded.  Annual brokerage and IRA statements get kept permanently.  Bills are sorted into file folders by type of expense. All credit card statements go in one folder together. All utility bills go in one folder together. All medical bills go into one folder together (medical records are filed individually by patient name–I don’t store medical bills and medical histories together).  I do keep all of my bills and financial records together in one drawer of the file cabinet. This makes both filing and retrieval much easier.  Within that section, I store the folders alphabetically.

Because I’m very lazy smart, I time my six-month purge for the month that the local shredding company has a free drop-off. I toss all my papers into a box and drop it off for them to shred. This way I don’t have to spend hours at the shredder and there’s no mess to clean up afterward.

Now that all your important papers are sorted, you can turn your attention to all those magazine articles, recipes and really great ideas you’ve clipped and saved. But this was plenty of work for one day, so I’ll cover that in my next article of the series.

How do you keep track of your bills? If you have a system that works better for you–meaning you can easily put your hands on a bill without having to hunt through all your drawers or dig through piles–I’d love to have you share it. I am always up for great new ideas, so please be sure to leave your comments and questions in the comment section below.

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marie leslie media, success without stress, WordPress, Social Media

Filed Under: Steps to Success

How to Organize Important Documents, Part 2

file cabinet, organizing documents, organizationSince you followed the instructions from my  last post on organizing documents, you now you have several tidy stacks of papers. You may think that you are now organized, but this is really just the beginning. We need to make these stacks disappear.

 

Tax Returns

First, take care of your tax returns and associated paperwork—get out a manila envelope and put each year’s tax returns & associated forms (W-2, 1099, etc.) in its own envelope and clearly label it with “tax returns” and the year. You’re going to need to keep those forever.  Well, at least seven years, but the returns themselves really should be permanent.

I keep my financial records that go with the tax returns in manila envelopes as well and store those in plastic file boxes since I have to keep them seven years.

Once you’ve archived those papers, you need to move on to things that need to be filed but still accessible.

 

Vital Records

The first important category of papers is your vital records: birth, marriage, death certificates, citizenship documents, social security cards, wills, power of attorney, advance directives and divorce decrees fall into this category.  These are called VITAL records for a reason. They are all important and must be stored safely.  Ideally, a safe deposit box is the best place for these records; a fireproof safe would be the next best place.  At the very least, give them their very own clearly labeled folder in your file cabinet so you can find them again.

Next would be vehicle titles and home ownership documents.   These should be kept for as long as you own the vehicle or property. NEVER keep a vehicle title with the vehicle. We have a separate file folder for each vehicle and we keep the title, past registrations and all the maintenance records in the folder.  Current registrations go in the car, of course. This makes it very easy when it’s time to sell your car. We do the same for our home ownership papers and keep the property tax records in the file.  Home improvements and maintenance go in a separate folder as there are usually more of those.

 

Medical Records

For medical records, each family member (and the dog) has his or her own folder where we keep immunization records, prescription records and records from each doctor or dentist visit. It’s much simpler than trying to sort through everyone’s records to find something from one person.

 

Warranties

Warranties and owner’s manuals, whether for vehicles, appliances, tools or other household goods should be filed and kept as long as you own the item.  For these, I have file folders by type of warranty, one folder for kitchen, one for major appliances, one for tools, one for electronics, etc.

Once you no longer own the item, you no longer need to own the owner’s manual.  So throw out the user guide for that TV you gave to Goodwill five years ago, ok?

Next week we’ll cover what to do with your current financial records–the ones that you need to keep track of month to month and week to week.

How do you manage your paper?  What do you most need help with? Please share your questions, comments and feedback in the comment section below.
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Feeding the Creative Soul with Tulips

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.  ~The Quran

 

It’s finally spring.  Really, truly completely spring.

I can tell because the tulips are blooming.

purple tulip, colorado photographer

Tulips are my favorite flower.  I had some planted along the front walk in my last house, but we’re just starting landscaping and planting tulips didn’t get to be at the top of my priority list last fall.

red and yellow tulip, colorado photographer

So, I had to go out and hunt for tulips.  And I found them.  In all their glorious rainbow colors.

tulips, marie leslie media

They were in the middle of a shopping mall.

pink tulip close up, marie leslie media

Other than Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, we didn’t visit any stores.

I was there for the tulips (and a caramel pecan apple).

pink tulip, colorado photographer

I was in seventh heaven.

They had beds of tulips on every corner and more surrounding the square where just a short time ago, hubby and the kids went ice skating.

red tulip, marie leslie media

The creative possibilities were endless but my memory card wasn’t.

yellow tulip, marie leslie media, colorado photographer

Definitely a tulip lover’s paradise.

small pink tulip bud, marie leslie media

I think this one is my favorite.

 

I haven’t had my fill yet.  Just last evening, I drove by the library and found a beautiful bed of long-stem red tulips.  Maybe I need to go to the library today.

 

I bet you’d like a few tips on getting really awesome flower shots.

Get close.  Flowers don’t bite.

If it’s a big bed, be sure to get some great over-all shots.  But mostly, get in close. If you have a macro lens (I don’t at the moment) or a macro setting on your camera, this is just what it is designed for. Oh, and get eye level with the tulips. If you shoot everything from a standing position, it’s pretty boring. If I can get down on my belly in the middle of a shopping center (yes, I did–it’s my hubby’s job to make sure no one trips over me or runs over me), you can do it, too.

Backlighting is good.

On this particular day, it was cloudy so the light is soft and that makes for nice images, but when the sun is out, try and get some with the sun either coming in from the side or from the back. This really highlights the flower’s texture.

Look at the background.

Move around and try to find an angle that isn’t distracting.  Bright white glare from a sidewalk, building or parked car can ruin an otherwise beautiful photograph. And no, the answer to that is not to “fix it in Photoshop.” Most of the time just moving an inch or two either way will change the background. Flowers often look best against a dark background, whether it is a deep blue sky or the foliage of other plants.

Get creative.

Try some interesting crops, positioning or grouping of flowers.  Every flower image doesn’t have to be the whole flower and stem. Many times a smaller view is more interesting and more powerful.

Remember the rule of thirds.

Don’t put your flower in the center of every picture. Bo-ring. You don’t know about the rule of thirds? Read this post about photography and the rule of thirds.

Filed Under: Photography

Six Rules for Entrepreneurial Success

This is the third in an occasional series about becoming an entrepreneur. You can find part 1 here and part 2 here.

making money in businessOnce you have your small business up and running, it is definitely not time to sit back and wait for the profits to roll in. As I have said before “build it and they will come” only worked in Field of Dreams. It is very easy once business starts picking up to begin getting so overwhelmed by the jobs that we forget to manage the business.  The goal of every small business owner should be to work ON your business and not just IN your business.

Pay Attention to the Details

Don’t get so busy that you let the little things slide.  Take the time early in your business to develop an organizational plan that can support you in your growth. As you get too busy to do everything yourself, know what you need to outsource and delegate and do it. If you are having trouble figuring out how to delegate and release control, try reading The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This is a great instruction manual for every small business owner. You should be controlling the essential functions of the business that match your strengths and that bring in the income and outsourcing those functions that are not the best use of your time and talents.

Keep Your Overhead Low

There is a great temptation for many new business owners to invest in the accoutrements, to have an office and all the trappings that give the image of a successful business. That money is always better spent giving the business a solid foundation than a pretty image.  Save your money for essentials; cut corners on the luxuries. If you can work from home in the beginning, it can save you thousands in your first year. If your existing computer, smart phone and laptop will do the job, wait to upgrade until your business has the cash. Whenever possible, adopt a pay-as-you-go policy of investment. Avoid the temptation to use credit cards to finance your business.  If you must borrow, seek out a low-interest SBA loan, but be prepared to show a solid business plan and give full financial disclosure as part of the process.

Keep Learning

When you are in business for yourself, you need to be on top of your industry. You need to know what’s happening in the business world and you need to  make sure you have the latest information available for your niche. There are many ways to keep up with the business world. Subscribe to magazines in your niche (many trade publications are free, either online or in your mailbox). Learn who the key influencers in your industry are and follow their blogs and Twitter accounts. Find out if there are industry associations for your niche, both nationally and locally, that you can join for support and learning. Budget to attend industry conferences and conventions.  You can learn more about the benefits of such training in this blog post. Read and listen to those whose advice and information you find to be worthwhile. But don’t ever be lulled into thinking you know enough.

Find a Mentor and/or Coach

Coaches and mentors aren’t just for beginners. Most CEO’s and successful business owners have coaches. Having someone to keep you accountable, to help you stay focused, to break through barriers and increase productivity are just a few of the benefits of having a coach on your business team. Coaches can provide specifically tailored individual and small-group assistance to help smooth your road to success.

Don’t Sell Yourself Short

If you do not place value on your product or service and really own that value, no one else will either. Don’t try and compete on price.  Blake Discher said, “Competing on price is a race to the bottom.” Just because you are a new business does not mean your products or services need to be cheaper than your competition’s. Your pricing needs to be based on a combination of YOUR cost of doing business (which is NOT the same as your cost of goods, but we’ll get into that in a future post) and your value.  Do not underestimate the value of your time and your expertise. You did not leave the corporate world to work for minimum wage–or less. If your job doesn’t pay as much as working in a fast-food restaurant would, you might as well go work in a fast-food restaurant and save yourself some stress. You need to make sure you are worth the price and then settle for nothing less.

Set Yourself Apart

Part of your business plan should include your branding. Branding is more than a logo, a color scheme and a tag line. Branding is how your business will be known. It includes your reputation, the way you do business and most importantly, your USP, which stands for “unique selling proposition.”

What is it that you do differently or better than anyone else? Are your widgets cooler, stronger, more flexible or prettier than anyone else’s? Do you have an amazing code in your web designs that make them stand out from everyone else’s? Do you have a way with words that just makes your client’s copy sing? Market that unique talent. Make sure that everyone knows what your business can do that sets you apart from your competition and why they want to do business with you. Oh, and while you’re at it, do it in a way that builds you up without tearing your competition down. It’s really not that hard and will make you much more successful in the long run.

What advice would you give someone going into business? And what do you wish you knew when you started?
Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.
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Framing: a Photography Technique For Impact

When we think of framing photographs, we generally think of picture frames. But there is a different type of framing in photography. It is an image technique done in the camera that draws your eye and your attention to the subject of the image.

One of the really great things about framing is that it requires no special skills and no special equipment. All you need is a little patience and practice to develop the creativity to envision framing for some of your images.

Some framing opportunities are obvious, like this image of a light hanging in a window opening.

window and light

Other images might require you to walk around and look at your subject from several different angles until you find one the one that frames your subject.

st. george lds temple

Sometimes a little bit of creativity is required to create a piece of art from what might appear to be an ordinary landscape.

silhouette and tree

Creating frames isn’t limited to landscape or to the obvious. Sometimes being observant can lead to interesting compositions with unique framing.

flags in window

Another example of using positioning to create a frame for your image.  Frames are usually more effective when they are darker than the subject of the image.  The darker colors of the frame stop the eye from moving out of the photograph and move the eye back toward the lighter subject.

country path

And sometimes, frames can be created by circumstance. The two forward balloons create a triangular frame–one of the strongest elements of photographic composition–for the balloons in the back.

balloon fiesta

This is another example of the darker frame bringing your eye back to the lighter subject, in this case the sun. You can also see more examples of framing in my photographic techniques album on Marie Leslie Media’s Facebook page here.

afternoon sun

Have you tried using framing techniques with your photographs? Are there any other photographic techniques you’d like to see here.  Please leave your comments and suggestions in the comment section below.
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Filed Under: Photography

5 Keys to Entrepreneurial Success

5 keys to business success

Photo courtesy of Brenda Starr

In this previous post, I discussed some of the basic things to think about before starting your own business.  In this post, we’ll talk a little more about some of the keys to entrepreneurial success.

Focus

If you want to go into business for yourself, the first thing you need to have is a clear focus. What is it you want to do? Do you have a product to sell? Do you have a service to offer? If you don’t know what you want to do, take the time to figure it out. This may mean meeting with a coach or a mentor, taking advantage of free small business counseling services or even taking some college courses or career workshops. After being in business for a while, your focus may change, but if you do not know what your business is about, you can hardly expect your potential customers to know. Having no focus for your business is the short road to failure.

Once you have a focus for your business, you need to develop a plan.  What are you going to do? How are you going to do it? Will you quit your job and pursue this business full-time from the beginning or will you continue at your current employment while your business gets established? If you quit your job, do you have enough to live on (a business counselor will recommend a bare minimum of 6 months in savings and strongly suggest at least a year’s worth while you get going)? How will you sell your product or service? Who is your target customer? Are you selling to consumers or to other businesses?

Take the time to do the research.

Learn who and what your competition is. Research other businesses that are selling a similar product or offering a similar service, whether they have been successful or unsuccessful (sometimes you can learn even more from a failure story than a success story).  Find out what equipment and resources you will need to run your business.

If you are manufacturing a product to sell, research the process and learn how it works. Even if you are contracting with a manufacturer, you need to understand how the process works and what’s involved in it. Find out if there are education, training and licensing requirements for your chosen profession.

And then learn to be decisive. Learn when it’s time to stop researching and begin making decisions. Successful business owners are decisive and don’t engage in either second guessing or pointless perfectionism. Do the necessary research, make a decision, own the decision and move forward with it. You’ll know soon enough if it was the right decision. If not, make another decision and go in a different direction.

Be financially wise

Finance is probably the number one hazard of small business.  Too many business owners don’t do their homework to find out what it will really cost to start their business and what it will cost to run their business. Do you really need that high-end furniture and the latest and greatest computers and electronics? How will you pay for your start-up? According to one study nearly 60% of small business owners said they used credit cards for their start-up. This is a dangerous practice. If at all possible, try to adopt a pay-as-you-go strategy.  One of the first resources you need to develop is a good accountant. If you aren’t an expert money manager, hiring someone who is might be the very best business investments you ever make. They can help you  make sure your cash flow is sufficient to cover your overhead and help you to begin setting aside a cash reserve, helping you with the various employment taxes (it’s even more complicated than personal income tax).

Learn to Market

If you’re going to be an entrepreneur, you need to learn the fine art of marketing.  “Build it and they will come” only works in the movies. You need to be able to get your product or service out there and bring in customers. A business without marketing is like a car without wheels. It’s not going anywhere. If you can’t or don’t want to develop a love for marketing, you need to hire a good marketer, but I believe it’s critical for small business owners and entrepreneurs to be able to do at least some of their own marketing. Along with  marketing, you need to learn to network–online AND in person. If you are uncomfortable in front of a crowd or making presentations, join Toastmasters or take a public speaking course. A coach can also help you learn to speak and present effectively. And yes, it can be learned. I had to do it–and if I could get over my tongue-tied shyness, so can you.

Get a Support Network

Being a solo entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to do this alone. In fact, your chances of success will increase exponentially if you don’t try to do it alone. Develop a support network.  Having a good family and supportive friends is a start, but you should also develop a network in your business community. Local business development groups, Chambers of Commerce and professional associations can all be good sources of support. Being able to talk to and share with other business owners and professionals who understand the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, who can give you advice and feedback is essential not only to the health of your business but to your personal health as well. Starting a small business can be very stressful and a strong network can help alleviate some of that stress.

When I owned a portrait studio in New Mexico, once a month I met with a group of fellow studio owners. We exchanged marketing ideas, critiqued one another’s campaigns, helped one another learn new techniques, swapped crazy client stories, celebrated successes and commiserated over flops. We were also available to back up one another in the event of an emergency or to help out when an extra set of hands were needed. We not only helped one another grow our businesses, but became great friends as well.

I also shared space for a time with the owner of a very successful DJ company. Not only were we able to cross-refer and boost one another’s businesses, but it helped to have someone to share both business ideas and expenses.

 

What advice would you give someone going into business? And what do you wish you knew when you started?
Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.
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How to Organize Important Documents, Part 1

paper clutterToday’s post was inspired by my college-student son’s frantic search over the past three days for his W-2 forms. His tax returns have been complete for a couple of months and he is even getting a tax refund. But for whatever unfathomable reason, he elected to wait until this weekend to actually file. And then he couldn’t remember what he had done with his W-2 form.

 

Document storage seems to be most people’s biggest clutter issue.  Actually, figuring out what to do with paper of any kind seems to make the top of just about everyone’s clutter lists.  I consider myself a relatively organized person, but I have to admit, I HATE filing. As a result, my “to file” bin usually ends up overflowing before I schlep it down to the dungeon where I keep the file cabinets (yes, it is plural). I have two four-drawer file cabinets: one has always been for family documents and the other is a relic from my studio days. Since I only actually use four drawers for document storage, I could probably get rid of one but that would mean dragging it up from the dungeon and I don’t see anyone at my house volunteering for the task so it’s probably down there for good. Maybe I’ll even leave it when someday it’s time to move again. And, no, we’re not going to get into what lives in the other four drawers, but they really do have a purpose and are clean and tidy—well, except maybe the one on them bottom, but I’m not going down to look, so. . . .

But I digress.  Let’s get back to figuring out what to do with all that paperwork piled up from tax season.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a file cabinet to organize important documents. There are many different filing methods and what you choose will depend on how much space you have, how much you have to store and your lifestyle. You can use a filing cabinet, a file box, accordion folders, envelopes or whatever else works for you. If you really have lots of time, you can even digitize everything and store it online, though it is best to keep paper copies of really important documents. Before deciding on the best storage method, you need to know what you are storing.

The first step in eliminating the paper clutter is just that:  Elimination.  I recommend you clear a large workspace. You can use the dining room table, the kitchen counter (just make sure it’s clean and dry) or even the living room floor. If you have a lot of papers to sort through, it may take you more than one day, so you might not want to use your bed—or the kitchen counter—as a sorting surface. You also need a trash or recycling bin and a “to shred” bin.  Some papers can just be tossed but some will need to be shredded.

Decide on some filing categories for your paperwork.  You’ll probably begin refining them after you do your initial sort, but for now general categories will do.  Trying to refine it too much is going to make this task more overwhelming than you already think it is. To start, take several blank sheets of paper and give each one a category name and arrange them on your work surface.  I suggest starting with these categories: tax-related, insurance, vital records, employment, education, finance, medical records, warranties & instruction booklets. You might also have additional categories such as recipes, correspondence or photographs.

Now that you are all set, grab that first stack of papers and let’s sort. Go through your stack and place each document on top of the appropriately named paper. As you sort, throw away trash such as envelopes, scratch paper, old grocery lists and all those magazine clippings full of “really good ideas” that you’ve never done anything with. They can easily be replaced with your Pinterest account for a lot less space. But don’t start on Pinterest until your done with sorting or these piles will still be here next tax season.

Once you have sorted through every pile of paper you have strategically placed all over the house (I bet you’d forgotten the desk was that color, didn’t you?)—and don’t forget your purse or briefcase, you are ready to move on to step two.  You are probably also ready for a break because if you’re like me, having to look at that much boring paperwork pretty much makes your eyes cross and your head hurt.

So, today I will finish off this post with some recommendations on what to keep and how long to keep it.  In my next organizing post, I’ll help you sort through those piles and figure out how to get it all filed so you can actually find something when you need it.

 

Documents

How Long to Keep Them
Completed Tax Returns, W-2, 1099, etc (IRS forms) At least 7 years, most accountants recommend keeping these permanently 
Documents used in filing your tax returns, business receipts, charitable donation records, mortgage interest, retirement plans, records for tax deductions taken 7 years. The IRS has 3 years from your filing date to audit good-faith returns & up to six years to challenge a return if it thinks you underreported your gross income by 25% or more. There is no time limit if you file fraudulently or fail to file. 
IRA/Retirement fund contribution records Permanently—keep the quarterly statements until you receive the annual one. Then you only need to keep the annual report if everything adds up properly. 
Bank Statements Keep anything needed for business documentation,  tax purposes or to document home  improvements. Non-essential documents can be disposed of after one year. 
Brokerage statements Keep as long as you own the securities. 
Bills & Receipts Keep anything needed to document large purchases or for warranty purposes for as long as you own the item. These can help prove value in the event of an insurance claim or the need for warranty service. Dispose of non-essential bill records once you have verified that the bill has been paid. 
Credit card receipts & statements Keep your credit card receipts until you get your monthly statement to make sure everything matches up.  Keep any receipts needed for tax purposes and dispose of the rest. 
Paycheck Stubs Keep each year’s pay stubs until you receive your W-2 to make sure the information matches.  If it matches, dispose of your pay stubs. If it doesn’t you’ll want to request a corrected W-2 from your employer. 
Home or Vehicle Ownership Records Keep them as long as you own the home or vehicle.  This should include records of permanent home improvements and major repairs, and everything related to buying or selling the property. You should also keep vehicle maintenance records as long as you own your vehicle. 
Insurance Documents Keep as long as the policy is in force or you have unresolved claims. It is recommended that you keep a copy of the policy for up to seven years (your agent is required to keep a copy of your expired policy for up to seven years depending on the state).  If you have medical expenses that will affect your tax returns, keep those for as long as you would other tax-related documents. 
Medical Records Permanently. These would be treatment records, diagnoses, etc., not necessarily bills and Insurance benefit statements (see above). 
Vital Records—wills, birth certificates, adoption decrees, marriage license, divorce decrees, diplomas, degrees and professional licenses  These should be kept permanently and in a safe place, such as a fireproof safe.

 

Oh, and those W-2 forms my son couldn’t find? They were in the To-File bin (where I told him to look, but he didn’t) in a manila envelope neatly labeled “2011 Tax Returns.”

Don’t forget—next week I’ll be walking you through what to do with all those neatly sorted piles you have so you can get all that paper clutter organized and out of site before next tax season.

How do you manage your paper?  What do you most need help with? Please share your questions, comments and feedback in the comment section below.
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Are you Ready to be an Entrepreneur?

jewelry, jewelerHave you come up with a killer idea that will make you millions? Do your friends and family rave about your photography/sewing/baking/artistic skills and constantly tell you that you should be getting paid for your talent? Are you thinking it’s time to start your own business?

Starting a business can be an exciting and life-changing adventure. It is not, however, for the faint of heart and it is definitely not for the uninformed. Before you quit your job and order those business cards, there are a few things you need to consider.

 

First, do your homework.

Know what’s involved in starting a business.  There are some rules and legalities that must be followed for you to be a legal business.  If you need help learning what you need to know and do to start your own business, there are many free and low-cost resources out there.  First, and my favorite, are the Small Business Development Centers, run by the SBA.  They give free business advice and many centers offer free and low-cost business development classes. Next is SCORE, who offers free small business mentoring and advice. And finally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a small business center with resources to help entrepreneurs get their business off the ground.

These organizations will do a LOT more than just help you with the legal side of business. They can help you clarify your focus and your business plan, help open your eyes to both the risks and rewards of entrepreneurship  and help you with all the questions you don’t even know you need to ask when going into business for yourself.

 

Pay close attention to the legalities of running a business.

If you are exchanging goods or services for money, you have some legal obligations to attend to. If you’re not planning to be a legal business, don’t even bother. In most states, you are required to register with your state tax board.  Different states call it by different names, but it is the entity that is responsible for overseeing the collection of sales tax. This is not an entity you want to run afoul of.  Many, many years ago I became acquainted with auditor for California’s State Board of Equalization. One of the first questions he asked me is if I was collecting, remitting and reporting my sales tax properly.  Thankfully, my answer was then and still is, yes. He told me he always asked his friends so he could warn them that tax boards have the power to seize your business for non-payment or underpayment of sales tax revenue. And generally, if they have reason to believe you aren’t compliant, they get to shut you down first and THEN investigate.

confectioner, entrepreneur

Don’t fall into the mistaken assumption that if you are only “doing it as a hobby” that you are exempt. Find out the law, before you find out the hard way. And while we’re on legalities, if you are planning to run your business out of your home, make sure you find out whether it’s permitted in your municipality. Some cities allow home businesses, some do not. Some allow signage for home businesses and some do not. And others allow certain types of businesses to be home-based, like a photography studio, but don’t allow others, like a hair salon. There’s nothing that can put crimp in your entrepreneurial dreams quicker than a grumpy neighbor who doesn’t like the extra traffic you’re generating and reports you to your city’s zoning board.

Do you have the necessary insurance for your small business? If you are working from home, call your insurance agent. Every policy does not cover every home business. Do you have sufficient liability insurance to cover the possibility that a client or delivery person might be injured while on your property? Do you have liability insurance to cover the possibility that your product might injure someone? If you are providing a service, do you have professional liability (errors and omissions) insurance? And what about your business equipment? If it’s not insured and it’s stolen or somehow damaged, you could be out of business that fast.

 

Do  you have the commitment and the integrity required to be in business for yourself?

The key to success as an entrepreneur is to be able to consistently deliver a quality product or service in a timely manner that your clients and customers believe to be of value. If you do not have the commitment to follow through on your promises, even when the work may be tedious (and much of what we entrepreneurs do is incredibly tedious) or the integrity to not promise more than you can deliver, self-employment may not be your best choice. I have seen more than a few small business owners who went out of business, and some who even ended up with legal troubles, because they did not act with integrity in their businesses.

 

And, finally, are you willing to risk failure?

There is a popular mantra that says “failure is not an option” but in the business world, you must recognize and accept that it can happen. Knowing that failure is a possibility and generally not one you want to face can help you plan for the hard realities of the business world. No one goes into business believing they will fail, but the most successful people go into business knowing they can, and making the necessary plans and preparations that will help them avoid failure.

 

Do you have any questions about starting your own business?

Please share your thoughts, questions and ideas in the comment section below.
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Read Your Way to the Top

reading

Since this week is National Library Week, I thought I would share a few favorites from my reading list with you.

I am an avid reader and generally read at least two books per week, in addition to blogs, daily newspapers and magazines (yes, I’m pretty old school–all my books are on paper, too).  I mostly read non-fiction, though I do slip in at least a couple of novels each month. My favorite non-fiction books are business, success and self-help books.

Today’s list are a few recent reads that I’ve found helpful enough that they’ve made it to my “buy” list.

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

This is my most recent book. Gay Hendricks is the president of The Hendricks Institute and is  a specialist in relationship transformation and body-mind therapies.  This book is about breaking through the internal things that hold you back from complete success. So many of us come that close to getting where we really want to be and then it’s like we’re stuck. Gay Hendricks addresses what he calls the “Upper Limit Problem” and how we can break through. I’ve only just begun working on this one, but I can already see a difference in my productivity and in my stress level.

Eat that Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

This is a great, simple motivational book full of great ideas for getting things done.  Instead of getting into all the psychology of why you should be doing these things, it just focuses on telling you how to get them done.  It is a fast read, but it’s intended to be read over and over to help you internalize the principles and develop them into habits of productivity.

 

Read their Mind by Sandi Krakowski

This is a marketing must-read. To be successful in business–and in life–you need to learn to really listen to what people need and want.  This book gives clear and straightforward instructions about how to develop that listening skill and how to apply it in your business.

 

The Gift in You by Dr. Caroline Leaf

Everyone has gifts. Everyone has skills and talents that make them unique and set them apart. Do you know what yours are? This book can help you discover them and help you overcome the blocks in your life that are keeping you from making the most of them.

 

Socialmorphosis: Transforming Your Business Through Social Media by Georgia L. McCabe

Does social media overwhelm you? Are you not sure of the how’s and why’s. Checkout this great book by Georgia McCabe to discover the benefits of social media and how to get started.  Follow the story of photographer Alexia as Georgia guides her into the world of social media.  This book is a great read for novices and more advanced users alike. Georgia clearly explains both how to use social media and how to measure its effectiveness.

So, what’s on your reading list?  Share your must-reads in the comment section below or on my Facebook page.
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