Lone Aussie Book Triumphs – Paper Flow wins Award

Written by on · Leave a Comment

Paper Flow Small Business Book Award Winner 2012

Paper Flow Small Business Book Award Winner 2012

“Paper Flow ” A Winner in 2012 Small Business Book Awards
Cleveland, OH, February 17, 2012 – “Paper Flow ” has been voted a Winner for a 2012 Small Business Book Award, in the category of Management.
The Small Business Book Awards recognize business books that were published in 2011. Small business owners often seek advice and information through books. While there are many thousands of books published each year, it’s those of interest to small businesses and entrepreneurs that the Small Business Book Awards seek to honor.
“With so many books being published each year, we wanted to recognize those that made a difference to small business owners and managers and startup entrepreneurs,” said Ivana Taylor, Book Editor at Small Business Trends, which produces the Awards. “Our annual Small Business Book Awards are a way to highlight the books that entrepreneurs are reading and learning from.”
The Awards are an honor to the authors who write books for the small business and entrepreneurial community. Says Anita Campbell, CEO of Small Business Trends, “For many of the authors, writing a book is a labor of love. Often they get up early in the morning before the rest of the family awakes, and they devote their evenings, weekends, holidays and vacations to writing. They deserve recognition.”
About the Small Business Book Awards
The Small Business Book Awards, now in its fourth year, enable the small business community to nominate, show their support for, and vote on their favorite business books. The top 10 winners will be selected by readers based on number of votes as the Best Small Business Books of 2012, while the top five vote-getters in each category become Category Winners. Voting commences February 1, 2012. In last year’s Awards, over 41,000 votes were cast by the community.
The Small Business Book Awards initiative is produced by Small Business Trends, an award-winning online publication, which along with its sister sites, serves over 4,000,000 small business owners, stakeholders and entrepreneurs annually.

New Baby Paperwork

Written by on · Leave a Comment

We just had a new grandchild and it occurred to me that this event generates quite a bit of paperwork. So I have put together a little checklist you can use if you are about to have a baby or if you recently became a parent for the first time.

  • Register the baby’s birth within 60 days
  • Place birth certificate into your important documents file (scan it for future reference as well)
  • Add baby’s name to Medicare and to your Private Health Insurance company
  • Add baby’s name to Medicare Safety Net
  • Apply for benefits like Family Tax Benefit, Baby Bonus, Paid Parental Leave, Maternity Immunisation Allowance and any other benefits to which you are entitled
  • Claim all your claimable expenses back from Medicare and Private Health Insurance
  • Set up a book to capture all the FIRST’s in your baby’s life and to write down any funny events or sayings. Just date each entry and keep as a journal of the little one’s life.
  • Create a baby reference file for baby related information, immunisations, health records, receipts etc.
  • Record gifts received on the back of gift cards so you remember who gave what – remember you will have baby brain and not much sleep in the early days.

I hope this checklist helps but most of all enjoy the new little person in your life as much as I enjoy each new addition to our family.

10 Top Travel Tips

Written by on · Leave a Comment

Holiday time is also travel time and here are MaryAnne’s 10 top travel tips!

  1. Set up two travel folders-one in a display book to carry with you and a back-up in a cloud based home to access in the case of emergency.  If you lose your information in transit, you can retrieve your information from any computer. I use Dropbox use this link to create a free account. Google Docs is also a good place to store your travel information.
  2. Create a checklist of all the documents you need to have, things like: itinerary, tickets, accommodation confirmation, insurance details, vaccination record, copy of your passport, drivers licence, visas. Make a list of your credit card numbers along with the emergency numbers to cancel your cards in the event of theft. Do not put passwords and expiry dates on your list.
  3. Create a full list of emergency contact numbers.
  4. Create a list of medications you need to take as well as a copy of your prescriptions and any letters from your medical practitioner explaining any conditions you have.
  5. Create a travel packing checklist to pack from before you leave and to check against every time you pack up and move on.
  6. Take photos of expensive items you are carrying with you along with model numbers and receipts in case of loss of theft. You can even spread all of the items to be packed on the bed and take a photo before packing them to remind you of what you took with you.
  7. Make sure you have the address of where you are staying at each port of entry as most countries require this information before you clear customs.
  8. Pack any spill-able items into a few layers of zip lock bags as liquids expand and can ooze out of their containers during flight.
  9. Pack a full change of clothes in your hand luggage in the event of lost baggage.
  10. Keep a travel diary to remind you of places you visited and create a photo album immediately upon your return.

Most of all, have fun. With a good back-up plan you will travel confidently knowing that you can access any information you need at the stroke of a few computer keys. Bon Voyage!

5 Tax Time Tips

Written by on · Leave a Comment

messy paperworkWhat is about tax time that even though it comes about every year at exactly the same time, it seems to take us by surprise? Well it is about to come around again so  follow these 5  simple tips and surprise yourself as to how easy it can be from now on:

  1. Regardless of how big a tax backlog you have, lodge this year’s return! (don’t let the backlog build up any further)
  2. Create a checklist of all items you need and note where they are located, even if it’s in the pile in the corner!
  3. Gather  the information you already have and bring it all together as a project.
  4. Request the information you are missing and add it to your project.
  5. Complete and lodge your tax return or take the project to your accountant to lodge on your behalf!

Too easy! If you have past un-lodged tax returns, then simply create a project for each year following the same instructions as above. Update your checklist and use it again next year.

For more simple ideas on organising your paperwork get your own copy of Paper Flow your ultimate guide to making paperwork easy and move from mess to success!