What Records I keep as an ASL Interpreter

Most people dread this, but I love it. Let's explore the different things we need to keep organized.

1. Assignments

I keep them all on a spreadsheet. I categorize them broadly (educational, medical, community, etc) and then more specifically (K12, Primary Care, Meeting, etc). I do this so that if I want to, I can run off stats that I did X% of community jobs and X% of medical interpreting. There's a column for gas mileage as well. My spreadsheet syncs to my calendar and also automatically calculates how much I'll make from the job. I'm hoping to work on being able to generate an invoice from the same document as well.

2. Finances

I have a spreadsheet that has a column for tax write-offs, how much I've made each month, who to expect 1099s and W2s from, etc. I keep all the 1099s and W2s in a folder once tax season is over. I also have a folder for receipts from the tax write-offs.

3. Volunteer Work

I have a spreadsheet for all my volunteer gigs I've done. This is once again so I can pull stats and easily figure out what my experience has been.

4. CEUs

I have a speadsheet that has the name of the workshop or course, name of the presenter(s), category (ethics, medical, educational, etc), and number of CEUs earned. Speaking of CEUs, I keep a folder with all the certificates.

5. Other Kinds of Tax Records

Square footage of my home so I can measure my office space for the home office deduction, phone bill with the business calls marked to figure what percentage of my phone use was for business (just one month of the year or so). You know how it is, proof of all the things you did.

Man, if I had a dollar for every time I said "I have a spreadsheet for". A lot of times, I just snap a picture of the receipt or download a PDF of the receipts. I don't have time for paper files.

6. Job Vouchers

Okay, this is the one kind of paperwork that actually annoys me. I don't really save these, I just send them. But oh my goodness, I need to make a folder on my email to save these to, so I can find them when the time comes that I need to have one signed. It's so embarassing asking admin to send me the voucher again because I lost it in my email!

7. Invoices

This is something that really needs to be automated with some kind of software. No one wants to do this manually if they don't have to. But you absolutely need a system. I send mine out every two weeks with a due date a month out from the send date. It's just the way I do it. I highlight jobs on my spreadsheet once they've been invoiced.

So are you organized, or do you dread the paperwork? I know some interpreters have virtual assistants to do this for them. I feel like I could have had a career in virtual assistance if I wanted to, because I don't know, I just love organization.

Photo Credit: Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash