WHERE TO PURCHASE YOUR OFFICE SUPPLIES

Whatever you do, DO NOT purchase your office supplies at your local drug or grocery store.  The office supplies sold here are only for people who want to write a letter back home to Mom and Dad, or to send an occasional greeting to a friend.  Businesses do not purchase their office supplies from these types of stores because of the extreme difference in price.  My mother used to always purchase her business envelopes at the grocery store.  She thought the price was very cheap when she only paid $1.29 for 50 envelopes.  Her lined writing tablet contained 100 sheets for around  $1.29 also.

However, I can drive right down the street to Staples Office Supply and purchase 500 envelopes for $4.00 - 10 times the quantity for only $2.71 more.  In addition, I can buy 500  sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" laser paper for $2.99.  So not only am I getting TWICE more the size of paper (her writing tablet was approximately a 6 x 9 area) but I also got 5 TIMES the amount of paper - and all this was only $1.70 more!  What a difference!  So don't be fooled on supposedly cheap pricing of office supplies.

If you live in a small area that does not have any office supply stores, you need to contact:  Quill Corporation, P.O. Box 94080, Palatine, IL  60094-4080 and request their latest catalog.  Since I have been in business-related situations all my life I have had to  learn how to cut corners all the time - I have found Quill to have the best mail order prices around.  Not only is everything reasonably priced - they don't have a sale and raise prices on everything else like some other companies do.  This tactic that some companies use is blatant abuse and demonstrates bold-faced greed!

What Should I Buy?

Most every small business will need the following "staple" supplies to start with:  paper (typing paper or paper for your computer printer); ink pens; tape and tape dispenser; stapler and staples; paper clips and dispenser;  1 or 2 3-ring binders; 3-hole punch; envelopes (business size #10); 8 1/2" x 11" paper trays or wire baskets for organizing the "to do" and "to do later" pile; manila file folders and labels; hanging files to fit in your file cabinet (I started out using a banker's cardboard storage box so the hanging files would fit since I didn't have the money to afford a metal file cabinet); ruler; scissors; staple puller; rubber bands; glue stick or other paper glue; highlighter markers; scrap note paper or post-it note pad (get in a habit of writing everything down so you can follow-up effectively); rolodex or address book.  This should be enough to set up any basic office.  Your filing system is the most important thing to your business right now.  If you start it out right you can keep up with it.   Neglecting to set it up correctly in the beginning will start a pattern that is very hard to break later on - and can eventually destroy your business.  Let's take a couple of minutes to discuss some basic accounting procedures so you can set your files up correctly from the very beginning.

The Next Step

As soon as you get your beginning office supplies, before you do any business by mail you need to get a letterhead and envelope.  People will not take you seriously until you do.  One simple and easy way to get these two items is to type your name, address and phone number at the top of a piece of white paper.  Either print it out on the laser printer of your computer or have a competent typesetter like Graphico Publishing, P.O. Box 488, Bluff City, TN 37618 do it for you.  (The cost is around $5.)

You then purchase some nice letterhead stationery at your office supply store and copy your letterhead onto the paper.  Letterhead stationery is not expensive either and the best grade only runs about $7 for 250 sheets.  It's money well spent.

To obtain your business envelope, check with mail order printers.  Prices normally are $24 per 1,000.