I've been shopping for over 3 years, and I don't feel like a newbie anymore. I'm always looking for ways to expand how much I do at a consistant and reasonable rate. Ideas for streamlining job selection and data entry are my main areas for growth right now. Also, I'm always on the lookout for new quality companies!

Welcome to the Board!

Yeah, there is a lot of spam on this forum. Is it usually like this?

Spammers are very determined in their efforts to steal ad space. Unfortunately, they waste our time as we read and share.

Jacob will delete.

anstar Wrote:
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> I've been shopping for over 3 years, and I don't
> feel like a newbie anymore. I'm always looking
> for ways to expand how much I do at a consistant
> and reasonable rate. Ideas for streamlining job
> selection and data entry are my main areas for
> growth right now. Also, I'm always on the lookout
> for new quality companies!


Hi! Nice to meet another experienced shopper! I have just started but am learning fast. I am an obsessive (almost) organized person (but I don't freak out if something does not get organized right a way or properly).

I have found I can do "short shops (concenience stores, banks is large groups. I did 6 conenience shops in one day, I did 4 banks in one day.

I have already lerned that I take the shops that will be "fun" for me, or that pays the most. There are sooo many shops out there, and my companies are calling me and emailing me to do their shops for them.

My filing system is set u by frist company name, then by job number. What kind of data entry are you speaking aout? If keeping track of the jobs, Qucikbooks is the best for this tye of business (samll) and you can use it fo your personal income and expenses as well. Plus at the end of the year you will be able to do a one button tak return! I have owned my own businesses for years and used to be an accountant.
Thanks for your imput.

Hi Tumbleweed!

I also have accounting background and found that for many, many people neither Quickbooks nor Quicken is the simple setup needed to deal with shops. That, frankly, was why I went the route of just a simple Excel spreadsheet with your month laid out and all visible on the single page. I found that Excel was easier for most folks to 'get the hang of' than trying to set up accounts in accounting software. I even played with a full rebate full version of Peachtree Accounting software to see if it could be prepped for shops intuitively and found too many entries needed in too many areas.

As for filing system, I just keep stuff by month. If I kept a folder for each company I would have 200+ folders, some of which would grow to 2-8" thick per year while some remain woefully empty. My spreadsheet has job dates and payment dates. My monthly folder is 'most recent in front' so is in reverse chrono sequence. You want to know about job 73586? Spreadsheet tells me I performed the work on 10/16/2009 and I was paid on 12/2/2009. The paperwork will be in the 10/2009 folder, probably about half way from the top, after work from 10/17 and before work from 10/15. The check stub (if I was paid by check with a stub) will be close to the bottom of the 12/2009 work folder. I keep the most recent 6 months out and easily available. Older work gets bundled by quarters and put into those wonderful Tyvek envelopes that FedEx and others supply for shipping and then stashed away until it is 5 years old and can be trashed. Spreadsheets for the year are kept in hard copy with the tax return and forever on the computer. While Excel goes through changes with each Office version, as long as they are saved in .xls format they will always reopen with Office, Open Office or any other software coming down the pike that uses the universal standard.

Awesome! I will give excel a try. I have used it before. I can see how the jobs could add up fast, but I only keep files on companies that I do shops for.

Why are you looking for new ways, it sounds to me like you have a very good handle on things!

Thanks for sharing!
Tumbleweed

I am always looking for ways to be more efficient, keep better track easier and things that overall make my time doing paperwork less.

One nice change over the past year is that my bank now prints copies of checks on my receipt when I use the ATM. This has cut out the need for an itemized list of what went into a particular deposit.

(Example: My records show I have not been paid for a particular job. Before I accuse the company of not having paid me, I go through my deposits on the vague chance that somehow I failed to record the check on my spreadsheet and/or that the check had no check stub. When a check is part of a 5 check deposit, I need some sort of breakdown of what all was in that deposit. With the itemized deposit receipt, I now can simply keep these on file and check to verify that I didn't deposit the check and somehow forget to record it.)

Anstar,

BARE International has some evaluations in your area as well as Mandan and Minot. If you are interested please contact me and I can tell you what is available.

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you.

Jason Bare
Project Manager
BARE International
800.296.6699 x 3158
703.995.3158 (local)
888-313-6861 Fax
www.bareinternational.com