Create Your Business Emergency Binder & Thumb Drive (Digital Version)
Create Your Business Emergency Binder & Thumb Drive (Digital Version)
You may your critical documents and records set up for your home and family. But, what about your business? A Quick Reference Emergency Business Binder is just as important. This should include all of your important business documents and resources.
HOW TO CREATE A QUICK REFERENCE EMERGENCY BUSINESS BINDER
The Quick Reference Emergency Business Binder holds all of your important documents and resources in one portable spot. In the case of an emergency, it’s much quicker to grab a binder than rifle through piles, files, bins, and boxes.
SUPPLIES NEEDED TO CREATE A QUICK REFERENCE EMERGENCY BUSINESS BINDER
There are a few supplies required to create your Quick Reference Emergency Business Binder, but you likely have most of them at home.
You’ll need:
- A Three-Ring Binder
- Sheet Protectors
- Tab Dividers with Pockets
- Hole Punch
- Your important business documents (see below)
- A Computer & Portable External Hard Drive (Thumb Drive)
Round up all of these items in one place and move on to step #2!
GATHER YOUR IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
Now, we’re going to gather our important documents. These will vary depending on your business.
Here are some examples to get you thinking:
- Emergency Plan
- Business Systems
- Income & Expenses (link to biz receipts?)
- Insurance Documents
- Client Contact Information
- Client Files
- Business Documents
- Important Phone Numbers & Emails
- Resume
- Contracts
- Business License
- Tax Information
- Business Account Information
- Usernames & Passwords
- Business Inventory
- Business Cards
- Tax Returns
- Legal Documents
- Local Emergency Numbers
We’re gathering these in case we need them while we’re evacuated, but also to keep them safe in case of damage to our home offices.
The great thing about starting this process before an emergency occurs is that we can add, subtract, and reorganize our Quick Reference Emergency Business Binder over time, as needed.
ADD DOCUMENTS TO QUICK REFERENCE EMERGENCY BUSINESS BINDER & THUMBDRIVE
Now that you have all of your documents gathered, start adding them to your Quick Reference Emergency Business Binder.
Categorized all your documents before you started adding them to my binder, so that you have some sort of organizational system in place. Consider using a few of the items listed above as your categories: client files, business documents, business systems, legal documents, and tax information, along with a few categories for my blog files (social media, style guide, etc.).
Once categorized and sorted, use your tab dividers to create a place for each category.
You may need to make copies of documents, so you have one to reference, then file the original in your binder. After making copies, add them to your Quick Reference Emergency Business Binder.
If you don’t want to hole punch your document, you can place it in a clear page protector, then add the page protector to your Grab and Go Business Binder.
CREATE A QUICK REFERENCE EMERGENCY BUSINESS BINDER INVENTORY
You should type up an inventory of your documents and placed it at the front of your binder. Periodically, check and update the contents of your binder to add new items or remove outdated items.
Hopefully, you will never need this. But, as they say, “hope for the best and prepare for the worst”.
If you need assistance with any area of Business Law, contact the experts at Brown & Charbonneau, LLP for a consultation: 714-505-3000