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.