I meet with my friend Pete for lunch every so often.
He's a business consultant and each of us enjoys the
idea exchange and inspiration for better business
practice over a no-martini long lunch.
Pete is good note taker. He captures ideas on paper
before they dissolve from memory.
I noticed at one of our lunch meetings that he was
using a three ring binder to take notes in and refer to
for information. He explained to me he uses three
ring binders/notebooks to manage his projects. He
puts in dividers with colored tabs to designate
sections, makes a table of contents and puts in those
funny looking plastic page lifters.
What a nerd, who's got time for all of
that, I judged at first.
But, soon after my internal voice of experience told
me, "Hold your horses and your shallow thinking
for a minute." Peter's got his information:
collected, cross tied and organized by subject in a tool
that always boots and can be found with minimal
searching in even the messiest office."
I decided at that moment I wanted to be a nerd,
too.
Just like you, I used three ring, finger pinching binders
all through my school years. Maybe like you too, my
binders were always a little on the messy side and I
lost points since neatness counted.
Over
time in my
career, file folders replaced binders as my information
storage system. Eventually, I started to keep some
things electronically, too. You know," paperless office"
of the future stuff. Pardon the Yogiism, but a
paperless office looks good on paper only.
The three ring binder notebook for project
management is still one of the best office tools for
your business. Consider these advantages:
- Binders have color for easy identification in the
messiest offices
- They allow for easy insertion of tabbed dividers to
organize by subject or chapter
- Portability to barn, arena, horse show
- No loose papers to fall out
- Always boot, no batteries and quick information
retrieval
- Give a project status and make you feel on top of
things
- Low cost to assemble
- Multiple manual copies can be made easily to
share
I've created binders for copy writing ideas, business
strategy, marketing plans, building construction
projects and a manual for the house with wall paint
colors, appliance manuals and even the septic
system location.
Three ring binders can help you in your business
with:
- Breed registration papers
- Health certificates and records
- Lesson program worksheets and student
information
- Operations manuals for feeding, mucking,
turnouts, customer relations, emergency, equipment
operation, general employee conduct
- Journal of ideas for business development
- Horse show manual for entries, placing records,
checklists, hotel reservations
You may also want to start loose-leaf binders
for:
- Marketing ideas, advertising samples, marketing
strategy calendar
- Sales Prospects for horses, boarders,
students
- Vision and mission statements
- Financials-Profit and loss, balance sheets,
depreciation schedules
- Breed Organizations, Horse Council, Farm
Bureau, Riding Clubs, Cooperative Extension
committees or boards you serve on.
As you move through this busy Holiday Season, get
organized for better profitability in 2008 with low
tech binders that can be easily located and
updated for high value results.
