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August 5, 2008

Getting organized with Nancy Black

By Mike Stucka

BEVERLY — After 25 years as a professional organizer, Nancy Black doesn't hear, "You're a what?" nearly as often as she used to. Skepticism toward professional organization services has decreased as the piles of papers beside computer printers and fax machines grow, she said.

The founder of Organization Plus recently shared insights and tips, which she said could give busy executives more time with their families or recreation.

What do you do? "I help businesspeople analyze where their time goes and then I recommend resources, whether it's a computer specialist or they need an assistant for a brief amount of time. I really help people think through the process of what they need to do. If they have a pile of papers, we go through that pile of papers, whether it's (for) an action file, a record file or the trash can."

How has technology changed your business and your customers' businesses? "In 1983, the primary problem people had with paper pileup was snail mail. They'd make two copies of things. ... Then faxes became more popular and faxes started to pile up. And 2008, it's the e-mail. That's all exacerbated by people thinking they need to be available 24-7."

So how should we get through e-mail? Get a good spam filter and use e-mail programs' rules to sort messages into folders. "Part of their problem is people check their e-mail too often. They should have times they check their e-mail, maybe three times a day. ... When you check it, delete whatever you can delete, immediately forward whatever you can forward and respond as soon as you can."

Why should someone consider hiring a professional organizer? "It is not cost effective for companies to send people to seminars on time management, because they come back with a pile of papers to add to their pile of papers."

How have people changed through your 25 years? "Veterans, baby boomers and generation-Xers have different thought processes. Veterans and early baby boomers are used to not being able to retrieve something after it's tossed out."

Any hope for a paperless society? "It's never going to happen, but more companies are scanning documents, particularly in law firms and insurance offices."

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