There are few office tasks as dreaded as filing. When I was an administrative assistant during my grad school years, filing was always, without exception, my lowest priority. And so my to-file pile grew taller and taller, and less and less stable, until finally there was nothing for it but to file it all away. Or at least enough to make the pile self-supporting again…
As a freelancer, I don't have that luxury. A misplaced file could mean a botched job or a lost client, and I like that even less than I like filing. But, of course, the filing is harder – I, alone, am every department in my little company: production, marketing, human resources, accounting, and administration. And I, alone, have to do the filing for every department.
The trick to filing is to avoid decision-making while you're filing. Ideally, you want to have a place for everything before anything needs a place, since it's the figuring out where to put things that makes filing such a chore. I've settled on a 4-part filing system that does a good job of keeping what I need most close at hand while the things I rarely need are hidden away, out of sight but easy to find when I need them.
I'm a freelance writer, but this system should adapt well to freelance designers, developers, and consultants – anyone whose work is based around doing more-or-less self-contained projects for clients. After explaining how each part works, I'll discuss a couple of pieces of gear I heartily recommend.
Active Files
The most important material I have at any given moment is everything pertaining to the projects I'm actively working on. I need this material to be immediately accessible and, since I need to be able to quickly see what's on my plate, constantly visible. Every project I'm working on gets a folder, even when I have several projects for the same client, and that folder lives in a file box within arm's reach by my desk.
Into that folder goes everything associated with the project. You never know what might prove useful down the road, so I don't want to make judgment calls about the usefulness of anything until the project is definitively closed. A typical project folder might contain the initial notes I took when discussing the job with a client, the contract or letter of agreement, interview notes if I had to interview sources for a piece, preliminary drafts, paperwork for any expenses, and the final deliverable.
It's important that active files be close to where you work so you'll actually use them. If I put them in a file drawer, they wouldn't get used – files would come out, but they wouldn't go back in, defeating the purpose and creating a mess. Since they're right here, in my working space, that's not an issue: when it's time to work on that project, I slide the folder out and get to work; when I'm done for the day, it goes back in its place. Easy, efficient, and neat.
Project Archive
The project archive is for all the material associated with a project once it's finished. These files can be out of sight, since I rarely have to use them again (but not too far away, since occasionally I do need them). Mine go into a two-drawer file cabinet in my home office's closet, arranged by client.
But first, they get processed. Expense receipts are recorded and moved to my expenses folder (under "Business", below). Drafts are discarded, unless they contain material I might use later. I keep interview notes in case a source claims I misrepresented something he or she said, as well as printouts of any communication that describes or changes the assignment's parameters. And of course I keep contracts and other legal paperwork. Basically I consider whether there's some "worst case" scenario – say, a dispute over the invoice amount – that some piece of information could resolve, and if so, I keep it. Better safe than sorry.
Business
Anything related to my freelancing business that is not part of a project gets filed in my "Business" drawer. Legal paperwork, tax returns, expense receipts, insurance information, professional association membership material, certifications – the standard stuff that accrues when running a business. Some of it I might never need to look at (I've never been audited, for example, but you're supposed to keep financial records for… a million years, I think), some of it I use fairly often (I use the expenses folder every time I have a receipt to put in it), and so I keep it accessible but not close at hand: the top drawer of a 4-drawer cabinet works perfectly.
Reference
Finally, I need a place to store all the materials I accumulate doing research for an article or getting a foothold in a new field. This material doesn't have to be regularly available, but it does have to be well-organized. These files are organized by topic, which – alas – means I need to do some thinking about each piece of research before I can file it.
The trick is to assign topics that are narrow enough that I won't stuff a hundred articles into a single folder ("programming" or "engineering" are no good) but wide enough that I'll find useful material for other projects that aren't about precisely the same thing (so "Javascript comparison operators" or "LEED Indoor Environmental Quality standard" are out). Finding that balance depends on your work – you know best how granular your file headings need to be. If I wrote extensively about sustainable architecture, I might have a dozen folders related to different LEED certification standards, but since I don't write that specifically, I might choose something like "Construction Standards", fine-toothed enough to give me a good idea of what's in there but wide enough that I might actually have more than one piece to put in there.
The Gear
Technically all you need for filing is folders and someplace to put them. However, the trick to getting yourself to do your filing consistently is to make the process as painless and easy as possible, and the trick to making your files work for you once they're filed is to make them as neat and attractive as possible. So I recommend that, in addition to a file cabinet or two, you splurge on a couple of not-strictly-necessary accessories.
First, get a label maker, an electronic one with a full keyboard and self-adhesive label tape. Your files will look a thousand times neater than if they're handwritten (meaning they'll be easier to use). Plus, there's the "gadget factor" – label makers are fun to use, so filing won't be quite the chore it is otherwise.
Second, while standard buff-colored, 100/box, cheapo file folders are fine for your file cabinet, invest in a couple dozen "designer" file folders for your active files. For one thing, since they'll be on your desk or otherwise visible, you want them to be nice to look at, not an eyesore. For another, since these are your active files, you may well find yourself carrying them to meetings with clients, and a nice-looking folder looks a lot more professional than the standard ones. Finally, the more expensive ones tend to be made of stiffer paper, meaning they'll stand up to the repeated use your active files will see.
Do you have any advice for other freelancers about managing this not-so-difficult but boring task? What works, or doesn't work, for you? Let us know in the comments!
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