Applicom

Avoid paper. At all costs. Even if it means scanning everything

Get some scales. Now, measure how much 700 sheets of paper weigh. That's quite a bit. Now put a lighter next to them. Let the flame touch the paper. Once the fire brigades are finished with your house, come back here and read the rest of this long chapter. Get some scales. Now, measure how much 500Mb weigh. That's hardly anything, especially if they are on a USB key. Now, put a lighter next to those 500Mb. It probably won't catch fire. The good news is that your house is safe. The even better news is that even if you were so smart you just destroyed a $5 memory stick, you still have that information available somewhere, on your hard disk (if you don't, and you burned the only copy you had, you shouldn't be running a business anyway). The moral of the story: avoid paper. Always. At all costs. Any utility bill you get, ask them to switch to electronic billing and get electronic files instead. Give the file a decent name -- bill1-today.pdf won't be quite as good as 31-7-2010_telstra_240.pdf . If somebody refuses to send you electronic bills, scan them and shred the original -- yes, it might take ages to scan a 10 page bill, but it's worth it. The only paper in your office should be used for those idiots who still want you to post letters to them, and aren't happy with an email. Every sheet of paper is a defeat for you and for your sanity. Paper weighs a lot. It's basically impossible to backup. It's hard to store it. It perishes quickly. Data has no weight. It's easy to backup. It's even easier to store. It doesn't perish. You pick which way you want to go. It's an IQ test. Good luck.