Going Paperless in 2013

Going Paperless in 2013.

Having a paperless office in 2013 appeals to me for so many reason but first and foremost is the salvation of millions upon millions of trees all over our world.  Trees that scrub our polluted air and provide us all that wonderful gift of oxygen, yeah that stuff we breath.  Beside all of that paper is expensive, bulky, heavy and inevitably ends up in some landfill plus I hate paper cuts!  My office and storage are already occupied by a multitude of file cabinets filled to the brim with tired old files that for all practical purposes will never be opened again except of course to toss them into the shredder when the mandatory seven years has passed.

I have been gradually moving my office to a paperless operation.  I have a high speed scanner (a must have) to digitally store documents and files.  Of course that means I am scanning paper which defeats the whole idea but I can now digitally store that file and recycle the paper.

Whenever possible my incoming bills etc.are all delivered online to eliminate unnecessary paper and expense.  I utilize online banking to handle 99% of my transactions.  The only time I use a check is to pay a commission. I know some agencies utilize direct deposit which I will be looking into.

I still have a Fax Machine but I can't recall the last time it was actually used.  I will be switching to an eFax solution to eliminate any need to receive a paper fax then having to digitally scan.

DocuSign® has made a huge impact on my paperless goals.  I rarely sit down with a client and present a paper document,  our RANM (Realtor Association of New Mexico) forms are available online or I can download for offline storage on my drive.  The online version can be filled out right on my i-Pad or Macbook then I can export out to Docusign for digital signatures or email them to my clients or a third party for their signatures.  The time, gas money and obvious paper savings gained by using Docusign® is amazing.  I am so glad I made the small investment.  Even my Kick Butt Listing Presentation is paperless thanks to DocuSign, iPad and SlideRocket.

I have always used a written To-Do list on a Steno book but now I have Evernote which does a great job at keeping me moving towards my daily goals without paper. When I get a blog idea I save it in Evernote, need my list of office supplies it's on Evernote, my list for my upcoming camping trip..yep it's on Evernote.  Always available on any device and totally paperless!

Part of my marketing plan for years was to provide my sellers with a 6-10 page spiral bound full color home book.  I know the sellers really appreciated seeing all the great details, photos, neighborhood information and more.  But that plan just isn't going to work in my paperless office so I will build just one laminated flyer and on that flyer will be a QR code that when scanned launches the viewer into a full online property brochure complete with details, photos, tours and more.  The same principle will utilized on my yard sign and riders.  No more flyers for the neighborhood kids to steal not to mention the gas, paper and time needed to keep those tubes full.  With the incredible rise in smart-phone use across this country it just makes sense, if the buyer or agent doesn't have a scanner then the phone number on the sign or single flyer still effectively reaches me for more details.

Part of going paperless is security and availability of the documents so that when the IRS, State Commissioner or your defense Attorney needs access to your files you probably don't want to tell them your hard drive crashed, I don't have them.  Having a steadfast, DAILY backup routine to a secure drive or external server is paramount.  If you are saving that stuff only to your desktop or laptop you really need to change that practice today!  There are many online “Cloud” type backup solutions available and Carbonite® is one of them, plus you can access those files from any online device.

I look around and realize just how much more space I would have if it wasn't consumed by file cabinets, paper bins, three ring binders, manila folders, note boards and the like.  Yeah, I like this whole paperless idea and I am ready to finish implementing the challenge. Now I just need to figure out  how to eliminate junk mail.

MY PERFECT PAPERLESS OFFICE FOR 2013