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All small business owners should regularly review contracts and sensitive documents. Such documents include agendas,
marketing plans, and strategy papers for trade association meetings. Doing so will prevent the wrong messages from being sent.
A prime example of a company not reviewing their documents is the Microsoft trial. Many email messages were sent and not viewed as humorous or inappropriate by Microsoft employees. If Microsoft has taught small business owners anything, they have taught them to never joke about violating rules and laws. A rule of thumb for small business owners is to never say or write anything that you would be too embarrassed to have printed on a national newspaper.
To make sure that all files stay current, within antitrust laws, and appropriate, small business owners can develop a document retention plan. This plan will only work, however, if the staff is encouraged to follow it.
