General business and office organization when starting out

[Brian H.]

Hey folks,

I have been thinking about this a little bit lately and felt like it was just a general topic that could be useful in this sub forum.

While having an entire office, even at home, when you are just starting out is obviously a little over the top, what are some really useful habits, techniques, accessories / supplies, and apps/software that some of you more experienced investors used at the beginning and maybe even still use now that could be helpful for those of us just getting started? Or perhaps that you developed or started using later and wish you had been using from the beginning? I always love the "If I had known this when I got started" advice!

I feel like getting behind in regards to organization, filing, planning, etc. could really come back to haunt us even a year or two down the road. So, I've been trying to figure out the best way to get organized from the beginning. I'm not right at the beginning but still new enough that I'm not getting too cluttered up or anything. Just want to make sure I have my ducks in a row from here forward and feel like this advice from you guys could also help anybody else coming into this forum.

Thanks everyone!!

[Michael Seeker]

@Brian H. - When I first started out, I had a filing cabinet with folders for each of my properties.  All docs related to each property went in their respective folder.  After a couple flips and rental properties, I had a stack of paperwork that was pretty much impossible to find anything needed.  A couple years ago I went completely paperless and scan anything needed.  One thing that has made this tremendously easy is an app called ScanBot.  I use this app to scan anything and everything and it automatically loads scanned items to a Google Drive folder which I then sort once every couple weeks.

Having Google Drive set up with folders for each property has been tremendously helpful and more efficient.  Whenever I need something I can pull it up from anywhere within a few seconds.

Hope this helps!