Get Your Hands Dirty

Grab a few boxes, a dust mop, vacuum, furniture cleaner, and your paper shredder. Removing all non-work items from your office instantly makes the room feel bigger and more organized. Go through files, those piles under your desk or on top of your printer and decide what to keep and what to toss. Use your paper shredder to shred non-important documents that still contain personal info.

Use boxes to organize documents into categories. Decide how to store these documents – there are many options from filing paper docs in a file cabinet to investing in scanning programs to creating a cloud environment for digital storage. Choose the best option for your business.

If that’s not enough, consider rearranging furniture, painting the room and adding more storage. Finally, give the room a thorough cleaning – from removing coffee stains to vacuuming up that large dust pile growing in the corner.

Organize Your Inbox

Receive lots of email during the day? Take some time to go through your inbox and delete any unnecessary bits of mail. This should be a no-brainer, but many people don’t do this – Create files for all clients, vendors, customers, etc. so you can quickly move important emails from your inbox. Do the same with snail mail, faxes, print offs, and other information needed to run your business.

For more great ideas about storing electronic docs, read this article from Small Business Trends.

Consult a Tax Professional

Now that you have a handle on business paperwork, compile all documents you will need to file your tax returns. If unsure about which docs you’ll need (this can be stressful if you’re a new small business owner), contact your bookkeeper or CPA and they will gladly help.

To reduce stress around tax time, make sure you balance business books often. Hire a bookkeeper to manage this task for you or learn to use a software program that makes inputting receipts, invoices, bills, and other paperwork quick and easy.