"They always said a picture was worth a thousand words. Every office I walked into these past years had a story of its own. Allow me to share a few stories and the "lessons learned" encountered while perfecting PSD Office in a Box®."
Browse them at your leisure or click on a trade near and dear to you.
Construction Company | Medical Facility | Convenience Store | Auto Dealer | Travel Agency | Insurance Company | Retail Store
I walked in on a person who seemed to know everything about running an office. Not only did this person hate the fact that I was there, that person was angry that I was invading their space. Some bookkeepers don't like their space invaded-they are quite possessive. The only way I could do my job was to give that person paid time off with at bonus. Before that person left, everything in the office got locked up. Little did that person know that we had a crow bar waiting to be used.
When we felt the coast was clear, we proceeded to open drawers. We found the desk was a storage closet and a grocery store. We even found federal forms with levy notices stacked up in the back of one of the drawers that had never been opened. Because that person picked up the mail every day, the owner was unaware there were any problems. We continued around the office and opened up everything. We found several files with identical documents in them. Bank statements were shoved in boxes in closets- never opened. The owner didn't get financial reports because the bookkeeper was always complaining of not enough time.
With only one week to fix everything, we went to work. All the file drawers were emptied into boxes and the Small Business Pak Filing System was implemented. We transferred everything into the new peel, stick, n' drop labeled folders. We found some bills had been paid three, four and even five times. We found some bills marked paid that actually were never paid. This owner used to have a savings account and money in his checking. He's been over drafting his account and all his savings were gone.
Once we cleaned up all the files, we rearranged the office furniture into an efficient manner. We went into the bookkeeping system - what a mess that was. The chart of accounts was sixteen pages long - no wonder it was taking so long to do the books everyday. We found the bookkeeping method to be such a disaster that we decided to start the next month from scratch and implemented my chart of accounts. The owner always had someone else do his books - he accepted whatever was given to him as accurate.
After the bookkeeping was set up, I began to go back into records and found his worst nightmare - embezzlement - kind of explains why the bookkeeper locked up everything and was so edgy before leaving. This owner now spends just a few hours each day doing his own books, picking up his own mail and making his own deposits at the bank. He is using my instructional guides placed in the front of each of his drawers to learn how to run his office. He now has a place of all his documents and a method in which to handle them all. Soon he will be hiring a new bookkeeper - verifying background and experience.
Lesson Learned: Pick up your own mail and take your own deposits to the bank!
Did you ever walk into an office that had no files - no records - no nothing? I did. The bookkeeper felt that once the bills were paid you just threw them away. If the check book balances - throw the statement away. Once you paid the employees, throw the time cards away.
They only had a two drawer filing cabinet. The only thing in the cabinet was new checks, envelopes and letterhead. I think there was even a few yellow scratch pads. The doctor kept getting calls for past due bills - bookkeeper said all the bills were paid in full - didn't owe anybody anything. She picked up the mail and took care of it.
The Labor Department had notified him they were coming in a few weeks for an audit of his payroll records. The Sales Tax Division wanted to check his records for tax compliance. Insurance company was coming for income verification to determine his liability coverages. We extended all of the audits 30 days - we needed time to reconstruct his office.
We purchased a four drawer filing cabinet and implemented the Small Business Pak filing system. Of course, because we had no records, his worst nightmare was upon him. He went to the bank and borrowed money so that we could reconstruct his office. Believe me, you don't want to go through this process. It is so very expensive and time consuming. We ordered copies of everything - bank statements with copies of checks and copies of deposits, payroll reports from the Internal Revenue Service. We wrote letters to everyone he had purchased anything from or had supplied a service to him and requested a history report for the past twelve months. When everything arrived it was placed into files.
We then went into the bookkeeping system - there were only six items on the chart of accounts. Well, you guessed, we implemented my chart of accounts and re-entered every single check and deposit for the past twelve months. We matched up all the checks to the bills and payrolls paid. The payroll was re-constructed from medical records - they were keeping daily time logs for the staff.
When we were finished, the doctor received his first financial reports. It was a couple of pages long and gave him the information he needed to run his practice. The instructional guides in the front of file drawers are helping both the doctor and his staff to fulfill their record keeping requirements.
Lesson Learned: Never sign a check without first seeing the bill you are paying!
Did you ever go to work in the morning and wonder if the business you were going to was your own? Did you ever feel like everyone else knew what was going on but you? You were seeing things being purchased with your money and you didn't even know if you authorized the purchase - it seems everyone else in your business knew what was going on but you? You evidently went golfing one too many days. Did you think your business would run itself? Now the cash is disappearing and what happened to all your regular customers?
When I walked into this situation I was told by his staff to leave because they had everything in control. Unfortunately, they were told I was hired by the owner and he wanted me there to evaluate his operation. Because there was so much tension, we closed the shop for a week so that the owner could see what he had done to himself. We went through files, desks, closets, storerooms. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. His company had become their company. His customers quit coming because they felt the owner didn't care about them.
The files were in the drawer, but nothing made sense. He didn't know what half of the stuff was that he evidently bought. So we dumped all his files into boxes and proceeded with implementing the Small Business Pak Filing System. We worked for two days doing a major clean up and re-organization. Everything was refiled and organized. While we were putting things into files, we ran across items that really didn't make any sense - they weren't even related to the type of business he was running.
After we got everything into its place, we then went into his computer to see what his business was doing. For the past two months, there were no deposits, no checks written, no tickets for sales written. He thought maybe the bookkeeping was just behind. We called her in to help for an afternoon. She was quite shocked to see the changes and was also quite happy. We then learned what was going on. The boss was never around and they needed things to run the business. No one could sign a check but him. When they got cash, they would use it to get what was needed. The tickets were written, just being kept in a pile on the owners desk and she was told to leave them alone.
The bookkeeper was having difficulty with the books and understanding the full cycle, so we installed my chart of accounts into her software to help her do her job, we showed her the instruction guides in the front of each file drawer to help with the record keeping.
The bookkeeper brought us out into the shop to show us what was going on while the owner was out playing golf. The guys had basically started a business of their own, running things through his shop with his licenses. Needless to say, the trips to the golf course have been minimized during business hours and his business is back on track.
Lesson Learned: Don't expect someone else to run your company - go to work!
I walked into a brand new building with brand new everything. I sat down to visit with the happy owner of this brand new business. The first thing I heard was, "How do I set up my office? How do we schedule customers or get them to come see us?" They had borrowed almost $1,000,000 for the building and setting everything up. I have to tell you, I went into stress mode. They didn't seem concerned. They were just happy to see me because they heard I did a great job at office organization.
I didn't have to empty anything - just had to start filling up everything. We set up the Small Business Pak Filing System. All their drawers were ready for business. In the front of each drawer we placed the instruction guides to help them process each function of their office. We even set them up with the Daily Planning and Scheduling Workbook.
We set up their bookkeeping in the computer using my chart of accounts. The owner's wife was quite excited when she learned how easy the bookkeeping was going to be. She said, "it's like shopping". She now understands why we set up the file cabinets the way we did. It all fits together. Even someone with absolutely no experience can do this job. They started their business totally organized - up front. They are learning the administrative functions daily and their business is growing. I contacted some other professionals to come in and help with other areas of their business. They are doing really well and I am not in panic mode any longer.
Lesson Learned: Be prepared and knowledgeable!
I was called by a gal who was so busy making money, that her home office looked like tossed salad. I emptied all her drawers into boxes and then proceeded with the reorganization. It only took a few hours to do the transfer of her records into the Small Business Pak Filing System. I showed her how to work her files and how important it was to file everything immediately when processed - don't let things pile up.
I went into her computer and changed her chart of accounts to mine. She understands bookkeeping even better now and can't believe it is so easy. We ordered lazer checks and lazer deposit slips to make that part easy for her also.
She would get so stressed every time she would go to look for something - it would take hours and she still couldn't find what she was looking for. She called recently and invited me back to just take a peak at her office and records to make sure she was on track. She is doing awesome and even making more money than before. Her husband walks into her office and sits down to have a cup of coffee with her now - before he was afraid of what might bite him.
Lesson Learned: Take the time to put things away at the time you are finished!
I was called to go out to this large office complex. The man was about to close his doors and say they were out of business. I went through all his financial reports. I instantly found a place he could cut back. He just needed to look at things and make sure I was right.
We started a walk through of his business. No one really knew why I was there. We looked through filing cabinets, closets and desks. I spent a full day monitoring the everyday routine of his staff. I noted several items that bothered me.
- girl spending hours on the telephone with her friends and family.
- another girl polishing her finger nails and primping up her makeup.
- two others sitting on the tops of the desks swinging their legs for almost two hours while they visited about a party.
- several people coming to work late, taking extended lunch hours and leaving early.
- every body had to have copies of everything and have their own files.
- supplies being ordered when the supply closet was full.
- solitaire on the computers was a big thing for a few people.
- it took two people to go to the bank to make a deposit.
and the list goes on.
We went into the bookkeeping room and found several people doing separate things. When I looked at his chart of accounts it was a biggy. We changed it to my chart of accounts and added a few items to customize it to his particular business.
When we were all done with this project he went from thirteen four drawer filing cabinets to four, from eighteen two drawer filing cabinets to three. He went from 43 employees to 18. Once he got organized, he had a difficult time finding things for his people to do. We gave all the remaining people the Daily Planning and Scheduling Workbook to use regularly. We also gave them raises. They all got more responsibilities and new job descriptions. The filing room was equipped with Checked Out Folders, so anyone looking for a missing file would know who had it. We went from a negative cash flow to a positive cash flow within 52 days. Once again his business is flourishing. The owner was so excited that he went into tears of joy on the telephone when he was giving me a progress report six months later.
Lesson Learned: Pay attention to your company and the people that work there - is production where it should be?
Just recently I walked into a disorganized disaster. There were piles of documents all over, files stacked up on racks, in and on boxes, in corners, on the floor, on the chairs - it seemed they were everywhere you looked. When I opened a file drawer it was full of everything but file folders. This business owner allowed her bookkeepers to take her books home and when the books were returned they were piled up everywhere. You couldn't tell a current pile from an old pile. She was told every time books were returned that everything was taken care of and balanced. She couldn't understand why checks were bouncing and why she was getting really nasty threatening phone calls from vendors. The owner had no idea who owed her money, who she owed money to, when the last time her payroll and sales taxes were paid - or if they ever were paid. The only thing she knew was that everything was getting worse and she could possibly lose everything.
We rolled up our sleeves and implemented my Small Business Pak. We removed all the junk from her drawers and put it into Boxes. The drawers were wiped down and cleaned to prepare for the new files being installed. One pile at a time, we transferred all her data into new labeled folders. This was quite a learning experience for someone who had never filed documents before.
The next thing we did was set up her bookkeeping with my customized chart of accounts. She can now write a check, make a deposit, enter bills, pay bills, create an invoice, and even create statements. She knows her checking account balance anytime of the day. She can even read her profit and loss statements and understands a balance sheet. She calls my chart of accounts a shopping list - she goes shopping for what it is she needs to code her entries. The chart of accounts taught her why the numbers do what they do. She uses her reports to run her business now.
Lesson Learned: Don't expect someone to come in and do something you can't do and expect results!
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