I would like to know how everbody handles their quotes, sales, invoices, reciepts (supplies/expenses), and the various other "paper work" matters. How do you file? Do you use a finance program? Do you have lists of all your vendors, customers, and contractors?

We are really making an attempt to get some kind of orginzation going in our office. I often find myself wasting so much time looking for that business card or vendors number, or finding that certain comp. file for a customer. among other things.

I'm not asking for each of you to solve all my problems but I do think that some of you have discovered a way or procedure to handle certain task that have saved you alot of hassle.

I get the feeling many of us could benefit from some help on this subject.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts.

thanks
john

Later.

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-Slashin' Vinyl by the big lake-
Brian Ooms for
CVD -Custom Vinyl Designs ....New to it all, but tryin'!
Zigman or Vinylslasher On Mirc
ICQ 124334 ziggy@netnitco.net

VENDORS cardfile is a list of vendors and a brief description of what they sell. It cross-references with a PRODUCTS cardfile which is a list of products and the vendors who provide those products. Both of these cross-file with the paper version which is in the file cabinet in alphabetical order by Vendor name.

TIPS AND TRICKS cardfile is a list of tips and tricks I have picked up over the years from my own experience and from others at Letterhead meets etc. When I want to look up the recipe for Smalt Base I got from Bill Hueg, I look in the TIPS AND TRICKS cardfile. It also comes in handy when doing something I have not done for awhile, to avoid previous pitfalls (like DON'T PAINT STYRENE WITH KRYLON) etc.

JOBS cardfile is a list of the jobs in house and what needs to be done to each, including invoicing. It cross references a board on the front of the job-ticket file, which has post-it-notes of each job and it's due date. This post it note can be moved back and forth across the board to indicate who is the next person to have to do something about the job, and to prioritize work based on the due dates.

We use Quickbooks to handle our invoicing and accounts receivable and also our expense tracking, but we don't keep track of payables that way. Maris keeps a big Calendar hanging on the wall and puts small post-it-notes on the dates he needs to pay certain bills or vendors. When paid, he just moves the post-it-note to the same date on the next month.

We send our Quickboooks out for final work to an accountant, who makes the adjustments for depreciation and stuff like that. He also helps trouble shoot throughout the year, and does the payroll related paperwork. Even tho' Maris is the only employee, it still gets kind of confusing, and our accountant keeps us on our toes for ALL our taxes due, including property taxes, sales tax, withholding, etc.

Our customer files are filed by name, with this year's in one drawer and last year's in another in alphabetical order. Older years are in those cardboard file boxes you can buy. Those are stored on top of the file cabinets, and are referred to at least once a week. Older than 5 years are tucked away, and older than 10 years are thrown out.

Customer's artwork is arranged on the big hard drive in alphabetical order, each letter of the alphabet has its own directory, and some of the customers have their own sub-directory in the alphabetized directories. I back up regularly. Clip art for jobs are kept on the hard drive with other clip art, sorted by type. Some is on commercial CDs, but usually if I use it for a job I move a copy of it to the hard drive. I no longer compress any of the art and job files, since hard drives are so big now.

I have been called the "Queen of Organization", "anal retentive", and as Cal from AlleyCat signs told me at the Muster last August: "You're too tightly wound." But I will say, I can put my fingers on just about anything I need to, and pretty darn fast too.

Hope this helps.

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SIGN STATION
Andover, Minnesota
www.signstation.com
maris@signstation.com

I've honed my system so it works pretty well for me. I believe in paper info rather than computer info for most stuff.
Rolodex cards for all repeat customers-with phone & fax #'s, who to contact, billing address, etc.

I use YELLOW 8.5 x 11 index card stock ( nice and heavy ) job cards to staple all misc. info to. I also do my invoices in triplicate ( carbonless ) so a copy of the invoice gets stapled to the job card. Makes it easy to see what was charged on past jobs.

Once I have done two or more jobs for the same customer, I make up a file folder and keep all job cards for that customer together.

There is also a file folder for one-time jobs with the job cards going inside ( name in pencil on outside ) untill they warrant their own folder.

I hand write most invoices, as I find it a lot faster than screwing with the computer- using window envelopes you do not have to write the address twice. I enclose a self addressed envelope and find that most folks use them.

Hope some of this helps...

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Tom Rose
1938 Model Sign Dude

Quotes
When a reg customer calls for a quote, I open a premade template on the puter, and quote accordingly. I print out the quote and fax. I place the waiting quote in a Quotes Waiting file where it's in front of me at all times. If approved, I attach a work order to the quote and get to work. When job is complete, the works gets a copy of the invoice on top of this, and gets placed in their own file folder.

For misc customers, I have a MISC file folder. (those ordering once, or hard to find, etc.)

Purchases & paid bills
Each month has a folder, one for cash, one for visa; ie: January Cash 1999, January Visa 1999, etc. Everytime I make a purchase that's paid, it gets put in the appropriate folder for the bookeeper.

Bills not paid
Each bill not paid goes in the Bills Not Paid folder, which I go through every few days.

Customers
I have a roledex that holds biz cards. If I don't have a biz card of someone, I write one up. All my very current vendors/customers are here for easy and immediate access.

My customers are also entered into my MYOB program, under Cards. Each customer gets a card with their biz name, contact person, phone/fax, address, etc. Once you've entered this stuff, you can print out labels in a snap as well. Great for around christmas time and for vendors.

Ordering Supplies
I have a binder with tabs, naming each vendor I use and one tab called misc. Each tab has the phone number of the vendors. Once the order has arrived, I photo copy the bill and it gets placed behind the order form in this binder for pricing and recieving reference. The original bill goes into my monthly folders after I know I've paid.

Prices
I have a binder with each vendor I use with copies of their price lists for the supplies I order most often. In front of the binder, I've created a table of contents of sorts; ie; Premasks - call ABC Premask Ltd, best prices, etc.

Customer Sales
I set up MYOB for all my invoicing, designing my own invoice template with logo, etc. and placing address info so it works with window envelopes. Invoicing has NEVER been easier! No more looking up addresses, handwriting, adding taxes manually, etc.

Invoices
I have a file box in alphabetical order for unpaid invoices. When I send a bill in the mail, a copy gets placed in this file so I know who hasn't paid.

When paid, the invoice gets moved to another file box in alphabetical order for paid invoices.

Customer Payments
I have a binder for payments. In columns, the title bar reads: date, company, invoice #, cheque #, amount of payment, Bank, account number on cheque, how it's paid (mail, in person) I manually enter the info when the cheques come in. Each time I make a bank deposit, I highlight a line under the last entry chosen, total it up, date it, and start over again.

When a customer pays me, I pull their invoice out of the Outstanding File Box, and place it in the Paid File Box with cheque info written on it.

Balance sheets
At the end of each month after everything's entered in the puter, my bookeeper prints out what I made for the month, supplies I ordered, taxes I paid, etc. I always know how good or how bad I'm doing.

Writing Cheques
I'm still stuck in the old world of pen and paper here. I'm wanting to change this soon. Puter generated cheques look so darn professional.

A Bookeeper
Once a week my bookeeper comes in and enters what needs to be entered into the puter. She prints out my monthly statements due so I can fax them to my customers. This makes me keep my invoicing very current. At month end, I always get caught up because the sooner I fax that statement, the sooner I get paid.

I know I can do the bookeeper part myself, however my expertise isn't required here, it's needed more for productive shop work. I choose to hire someone that knows what they're doing, knows how to fill out all those stupid govt. forms, knows so many ins and outs on what's right or wrong, you know, general accountant type lingo stuff.

Did I miss anything?

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Graphic Impact
Beautiful BC Canada
proud $upporter of this site
gisigns@sprint.ca

Donna, you are the first person i've found that uses MYOB. We also use that program but not very effectively it seems. Would you mind if I e-mailed you with questions about MYOB?

thanks y'all
john

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--Scooter

Michael "Scooter" Marriner
scooterx@psn.net
San Francisco
415 679-0118

Thanks!
Tony B

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Best advise received: Don't take any wooden nickels......if you do...burn'em!

I don't mind at all if you have questions on MYOB. However, I must prewarn you, I don't know how to set accounts up or the fine workings of the program. That's my bookeeper's job. I myself enter data for invoicing, leaving the rest for her. I'll try and help if I can though.

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Graphic Impact
Beautiful BC Canada
proud $upporter of this site
gisigns@sprint.ca

Working in a small oilfield town in northern Alberta, I get a lot of job orders when I'm out and about... on everything from napkins to business cards. As we do printing as well as signs, I've found the best way to organize all these little bits of paper is with Dockets. 9" x 12" envelopes, printed on the front left side with: Cust. Name, Address, Contact, Phone, Fax, Description of Job, Qty, Colors, Sizes, Checkboxes for different kinds of signage (pickup doors, 4'x8' 1/2" crezon, coroplast, magnetic, xtra cab windows, etc.), and any other relevant information (including file name). On the right side of the docket I include a docket number (we just use stickers with consecutive numbers that the bookkeeper applies to the docket when she invoices), customer authorization line (get their signature, just in case), Deposit, PO#, Sub Total, Tax, Total.

Once the docket is filled out, and all relative material is enclosed, we put it into one of five file boxes: Quote Required, Quote Provided, Job Approved, Process Job or Holding. When my staff arrive in the morning, they check their box and perform their duty. Once the quote is provided, if the customer agrees, the docket moves to Job Approved. If we have to wait for something (artwork, authorization from higher up, etc.), the docket moves to the Holding file. From the Job Approved file, layout is done, proofs are given to the customer, and details are worked out. At this point, if the customer is waiting for final approval, or we're waiting for a better copy of their logo, etc., the job moves into the Holding file. Once the proof is approved, the docket moves to Process Job.

We use Quickbooks, Cardfile.exe (but we have a central paper file with vendors names, address, contacts, phones, etc., for those employees without computers). All dockets are filed alphabetically after the bookkeeper does her invoicing.

Talk to a local printer about printing dockets, it really is a great way to look after all the papers associated with a job. We charge approximately $85 Canadian to print 500 dockets, and the blank back of the docket is great for rough sketches, ideas, etc.

Hope this helps!