It has recently been called to my attention that the address I have posted for submitting a dispute to one’s credit report for the Experian agency is no longer valid.

I went to the Experian website to get the new address and found the “How to Dispute” page. Basically, they want everything done online. You must have a credit report number (from a report that is less than 90 days old) in order to file a dispute. If you don’t have one, you can buy one for $10.

I do hereby dispute their claim that, “Requesting a dispute online is easy and fast!” That I have to pay them to review my file to dispute erroneous information is a scandal in my book. I can’t even check out the online dispute form without a report number.

Unfortunately, keeping tabs on your credit report these days is incredibly important. The amount of fraud and identity theft happening daily requires this to be the case. And until we have a better system for “judging ones risk factor in paying off debt” in this debt laden society, we have to keep it clean.

From my seat at Java John’s this morning, I saw this bumper sticker:

When the Power of Love
overcomes the Love of Power

the world will know Peace

Right on! Who wrote/said this? (assuming it has a life beyond the bumper sticker)

Have you ever done a smile meditation? Relax, close your eyes, let your jaw muscles release, let the tension melt from your forehead. Then, without moving your lips, SMILE BIG! Think thoughts that bring you joy. Recall a super special occasion when you felt fantastic. Smile with the power of the sun… and remember, your lips don’t move.

Tomorrow, when faced with any type of challenge, alone or in the presence of others, whether you feel like it or not, smile this enormous smile (ok, you can move your lips if you want). Let it tickle your entire being and feel your spirits lift. Try it, it’s like magic!

Come back and ‘comment’ your experience!

Yesterday’s post was about the sometimes frustratingly elusive empty email Inbox. To summarize, one way to keep the emails flowing out of your Inbox almost as quickly as they flow in, develop the habit of quick action decisions: delete it, take immediate action, archive it, defer it for later, or generate an action from it. Let’s do a quick run down by action.

Delete the email
Be bold! Be strong! Be courageous clicking that delete button!

Take immediate action
General rule of thumb, if you can respond and be done with it in 2 minutes or less, just do it. Then that email gets to be deleted or moved to the Pending folder (for more about this folder, read on).

Archive the email
First point on saving emails for future reference: if you can’t easily find it, it does no good to save it. Your email folder system is just as important as your (computer) desktop filing system and your hard copy filing cabinet system.

The simplest set up of your email folders is to mimic your desktop file system which mimics your filing cabinet system which is organized by… you guessed it, Roles! (This concept deserves many words in its own right, which will be forthcoming in another post.) If your email folder system is already set up then moving your inbox emails to them is intuitive and quick. If it isn’t set up, keep an eye open for new posts to the Roles series published on this site periodically.

Defer email for later
In addition to the Roles folders, there are several email folders that supplement “filing by Roles” and this is what I will write about here.

I use Entourage, which is basically the Mac version of Microsoft’s Outlook. Folders that are already set up in the program include: Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, Sent Items, Deleted items, Junk Email, and maybe a couple of others. The first ones to add are:

• Pending
• Take Action
• Ready to send

Use Pending (your action is done and you are waiting for an action from someone else to conclude the communication) and Take Action (remember to set weekly time to actually take action on the items placed in here!) to defer emails for later.

Generate an action from email
Incorporate action/project to be done into your weekly planning system.

Recognizing that an email inbox with hundreds or even thousands of messages stored in it is a bigger psychological drain than we’d care to admit, developing quick action habits are good practice. In her blog the other day, online business marketing consultant B.L. Ochman caught my interest with a quote she took from 43 Folders (one man’s blog about personal productivity and simple ways to make your life a little better):

“Just remember that every email you read, re-read, and re-re-re-re-re-read as it sits in that big dumb pile is actually incurring mental debt on your behalf. The interest you pay on email you’re reluctant to deal with is compounded every day and, in all likelihood, it’s what’s led you to feeling like such a useless slacker today.”

Wondering if Merlin Mann of 43 Folders had practical advice to back up his insightful observation of the email inbox overload syndrome, I found the following advice in his blog from last year:

Processing determines as quickly as possible what, if anything, to do with each piece (in ascending order of urgency and importance):

• delete it
• archive it
• defer it for later response
• generate an action from it
• respond to it immediately (if it—literally—will take less than 2 minutes or is so Earth-shattering that it just can’t wait)

Then as often as time allows, I return to the response and action folders and crank through as many replies and complete (or generate) as many todos as I can—usually in 5-email sprints.

The critical point, as ever, is to focus on action and not on the administration and housekeeping.

I especially like that last point…another way to say keep your priorities in mind! What is important? The core of your business. Is all the administration necessary? Yes. But it is up to you to decide how much and how often and to what extent you allow administration to rule your world.

Years ago when I was learning bookkeeping skills from then Accountant (now Realtor) Kalia Rork, I remember asking her how often I should back up the work I was doing for a client. Her response: If you don’t want to redo it, back it up. Great advice, Kalia!

[Side note: I’d highly recommend working with a Realtor who has a financial background. Years after my bookkeeping days with Kalia were over, I worked with her in her new profession and was amazed at how easily she could explain mortgage possibilities after quick tappings on her calculator. She could also financially explore ideas such as buying a more expensive property because it had additional rental potential. I appreciated getting the info while we were out looking at properties rather than waiting to talk with a mortgage broker. End side note.]

When I go to a client’s office for the first time, the visit is often preceded by warnings, “You are going to be appalled by my mess!” or “My place is so scary you’re going to freak out!” Really, it’s hard to shock me–I’ve seen a lot of messy offices.

What does shock me without fail, is an answer I sometimes receive during the intake process:

Question: How often do you backup?
Answer: Uhh, I’ve never backed up.

That answer is just about the only thing you can tell me that will cause my hand to twitch. My response will squeak out, “Never?”

While there isn’t a hard and fast rule dictating your backup frequency, one month is usually the longest span you should consider. Other factors include how easily replaceable your data is, the reliability and age of your computer, are there other backups happening more regularly of super sensitive data (for example sync-ing with your palm pilot) and so on.

We are still in 2005 bookkeeping wrap-up mode, and April 15th is rapidly approaching. If you still don’t have all of your data gathered and ready to be entered on a tax return, you might consider filing an “application for extension of time to file” (Form 4868). To do so, here is the IRS’s pdf download of the form. You do not have to explain why you are asking for an extension. The IRS will notify you if your request is denied. Otherwise, you have another 6 months.

Note the following regarding payment of tax owed (taken directly from the IRS form instructions, page 2):
Although you are not required to make a payment of the tax you estimate as due, Form 4868 does not extend the time to pay taxes. If you do not pay the amount due by the regular due date, you will owe interest. You may also be charged penalties. For more details, see Interest and Late Payment Penalty on this page (see page 2 of the instructions on form 4868). Any remittance you make with your application for extension will be treated as a payment of tax.

Observing the state of affairs of some folks’ receipts and statements reminds me how much easier it is to keep up with statement reconciliations monthly rather than leave it all until the end of the year. If you don’t hand off your record keeping to a bookkeeper (an easy chunck of your business to delegate!!) entering receipts, payments, and deposits usually only takes a couple of hours per month.

Here is a handy pad of payment info slips to use when you don’t get a receipt for something. The most important ones to remember to use these for are cash payments, but I also use them for other payments for which I don’t get a receipt.