Paul Lagasse is a freelance writer who began his career working in archival services and found a niche as a researcher and writer. His writing services span the spectrum from fiction to technical writing, from creating advertising copy to providing manuscript editing. When Paul heard about our return, he sent an encouraging email and told us a little bit about how he uses Ultimate Office’s Jotz refillable notebooks to keep clients and projects organized. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn more about what our customers like, use and need, and Paul agreed to tell us.
We called him in his Annapolis, Maryland office and had an enlightening conversation about why he started using Jotz notebooks, how he uses them now and what he’d like to see in the future. Read more to find out if Paul’s ideas can help you get more organized and for an exclusive sneak peek into the future of Jotz.
Jotz refillable notebooks can organize your documents and serve as a uniquely flexible note-taking system. Simply insert and remove the specially punched pages as you need them. Your notes can be moved from one notbook to another for easy organization. The colored rings are removable and interchangeable.
Ultimate Office: Thanks for taking time to talk with us, we appreciate your feedback and can’t wait to hear how Jotz notebooks work for you. But before we get to that, we want to know a little more about what you do. It says on your web site that you have a degree in American History and Archival Studies. That seems like quite a leap to becoming a writer. How did that happen?
Paul: My background is in the history of science and technology. I worked in archival services after graduating college and found that I really enjoyed the research side more than the business side. I write feature articles on non-profit and science topics, and also do quite a bit of editing work for federal contractors.
Ultimate Office: So your focus is on technical and science writing?
Paul: Currently I do a lot of that, including editing for scientific manuscripts and writing technical content on medical and biotechnology topics. Some of my writing focuses on marketing and communications, like professional interviews and business profiles.
Besides being a great place to organize notes and materials, the finger rings also give you a place to grip if you're using the notebook while you're out in the field or taking notes on the fly.
Ultimate Office: That’s a pretty diverse client list. You must take a whole lot of notes.
Paul: I do. One of my clients has teams that meet once or twice per month and I act as note-taker so they can turn the notes into summaries for their research. I need to keep my notes well organized so I can respond to the teams if they have questions. I also need to be able to find what I need quickly so that I can respond quickly when clients need something.
Ultimate Office: So you’re a busy guy with a big client list and a lot of notes. How do you keep it all organized?
Paul: My writing business is based on the Rollabind system of refillable notebooks, particularly Ultimate Office’s Jotz refillable notebooks that use Rollabind rings. My clients are color-coded, and I use the Jotz notebook’s removable finger rings to organize project folders according to the color coding.
A Rollabind ring lets you insert and remove pages without tearing or hassling with a binder closure.
Ultimate Office: You’re an organizing pro, but for those who aren’t familiar with Rollabind, it’s a system of special rings that lets you open bound materials flat and also lets you add, move and remove specially punched pages without damaging or tearing them. Paul, what made you decide to use Jotz instead of another solution?
Paul: Two parallel things bumped into each other at roughly the same time. One, I was looking for a pocket notebook to take into the field so I could easily jot notes. Being a writer you’re never without a pen and something to write on. At first, I used 3 x 5 index cards with a binder clip, and then I thought, what if I put Rollabind rings on the 3 x 5 cards instead of the clip? I could punch the cards and swap cards in and out. So I bought a set of Rollabind rings. That proved to be so useful that I ended up carrying it everywhere and it became a standard tool.
With a Rollabind punch, you can insert just about anything into a Jotz notebook - CD sleeves, index cards, tabbed dividers - whatever your organizational needs require.
Then I had a bunch of rings left over which led to part two… since college I’ve been a regular user of legal pads. I go through a stack of legal pads in no time. But I needed a good notebook to put a legal pad in that I could fold open so the cover was out of the way. There are two kinds of legal pad covers: vinyl and leather. If you fold them over too many times, they crack, so you go out there and spend all this money and they end up wearing out 6 months, a year later. So I was on a quest to find the perfect fold-over notebook.
Ultimate Office: And lucky for us, that quest led you to Jotz notebooks.
Jotz notebooks are part of the PortaFile™ family. The design and color coded rings are uniform across file folders, project boxes, binders and magazine files so all of your pieces are functionally and visually compatible.
Paul: It turned out to be a stroke of perfect timing. I’m on a lot of catalog lists, always planning ahead and looking for new ideas. One of the catalogs I received just at the time that I was searching was the Ultimate Office catalog. As I was flipping through the catalog I saw the refillable Jotz notebooks and I thought ok, this looks too good to be true, I’ve got to try this.
I was also interested in using a color coding system for organizing clients and Jotz had the color rings which were perfect.
Ultimate Office: We love happy customers! Are you still using Jotz now?
Paul: I’ve tried just about everything out there but about 4 years ago I converted my project files over to Jotz and Rollabind exclusively. Everything I’ve bought from Ultimate Office is well built, well-engineered, and well thought out. And they’re much more affordable than other high-end products, like the leather notebooks.
Ultimate Office: Thanks for appreciating that – we always say we provide “Ultimate” solutions but the proof is hearing it from customers like you. Now that you’re a Jotz fan, are you on any other quests for “the perfect solution”?
Paul found a creative way to store Jotz notebooks by creating a hanging file "hack" - a self-designed system of hanging notebooks - proof that Ultimate Office products can fit into any work style and that our customers are just as Ultimate as our products. (Photo used with permission from Paul Lagasse.)
Paul: Any kind of devices that could fit inside the notebooks to use with the Rollabind rings – color coded divider tabs for example, that match the rings.
There are also two things that I’ve created a “hack” for which have gotten a lot of attention and been useful, and it would be nice to see a good solution for them. The first is a hanging folder hack. I use hanging folders to keep non-current projects because I like to keep old files for 6 months for future reference, and I need a way to sort files out of the way, out of my regular file cabinets.
So I thought, I’ve got notes, I’ve got all these punched paper edges. Ok, I’ll make folders that use Rollabind rings, too. But the files hang lower because of the rings, so you need to pull the bottom out of the cabinet or use a rack without a bottom. It would be great to have some kind of hanging folder that can store the notebooks with rings.
And the second hack is a stand made out of a coat hanger and Rollabind rings that holds 3 x 5 index cards so you can read them on your desk while you’re using them.
Ultimate Office: That last hack sounds an awful lot like our T-card system. Do you know about that?
Paul: I don’t think so. What does it do?
A Jotz "mini" is a palm-sized notebook that you can use just about anywhere that you need to jot notes. The pages are easily transferred into a full sized Jotz notebook for storage and organization.
Ultimate Office: It’s very much like what you described. They are cards with a “T” top that can be inserted into special portfolios, pocket folders, desk stands and wall units so you can jot notes on the card and write a headline on the “T” top that is always visible. They’re color coded so you can organize them by project or task and easily move them around when you need to.
Paul: That sounds like an interesting idea. I’ll have to look into it. What appealed to me about Rollabind early on was that it was a great solution in search of a problem. When I find interesting ideas like the T-cards, I think, “I hope I have a problem someday so I can try that solution.” The trick is to spot a good solution and keep it in mind so when there’s a need floating around in the back of your head, you can grab it and try it.
Having a T-card holder with removable cards that can go into the Rollabind binders would be really great.
T-cards are a great alternative to index cards. They fit neatly into specially designed portfolios, wall pockets and other organizing accessories. T-cards for Jotz notebooks come pre-punched and can go easily between Jotz notebooks and other T-card pockets in binders, folders, organizers or wall accessories.
Ultimate Office: Paul, you must be prescient. As we speak, our engineer Walt Watanabe is designing a palm-sized Jotz notebook that holds punched T-cards. He’s also working on a punched page that holds T-cards and fits into the full sized Jotz notebook, plus a half-page “sheet lifter” that holds T-cards and can act as a divider between notebook sections. Maybe this will be the solution to your next problem! Until then, we’d like to thank you again for talking with us. It’s great to hear how our products are used and loved in the real world and we really appreciate your time and enthusiasm. We’ll be looking forward to hearing about your future quests and solutions!
For more about Paul, visit his web site.
Are you an Ultimate Office fan?
Do you have a favorite solution and a creative way to use it? We want to hear from you! Drop us a comment and let us know if you’d like to chat with us!
For more information or to buy these products:
Jotz refillable notebooks (coming soon!)
T-cards and T-card portfolios (coming soon!)
About Ultimate Office
Ultimate Office provides innovative organization and storage solutions for your business and home office. Our passion is for taking the ordinary and making it not just extraordinary, but Ultimate.
