A Day In The Life of Montana Records Management, LLP Owner Sherri Ohs-Mosley

It’s not a job that gets promoted in elementary school but the owners of these companies are the lifeblood to keeping confidential records stored securely or destroyed in a manner that protects the privacy of nearly every individual in the country. If you’ve been to a doctor there are confidential files on you, if you have a social security number there are files on you, there is a million different ways you give out confidential information without realizing it. So how does that information stay safe or get destroyed?

The United States has very strict rules for companies about how confidential material is handled including laws about storage of these files and their destruction. Usually companies will turn to a secure document storage facility or a shredding company to assist with these needs and complying with federal and state regulations. Now that you know a little bit about the importance of this industry; it is now time to take you through a day in the life of Sherri Ohs-Mosley, Owner of Montana Records Management, LLP in Helena, Montana.

I start my day by meeting Sherri on her ten acre mini farm where I am met by horses, chickens, geese and a turkey. As she takes care of some work in the pastures and tends to some of her flower gardens we learn that the state of Montana is the fourth largest state in the union but has a population of only one million residents. After the work on the farm is completed, Sherri gets ready and heads to Montana Records Management, LLP’s state-of-the-art secure storage facility.

As we enter the building I learn that Montana Records Management, LLP is nearing eighty percent capacity in terms of its file storage and that number is consistently rising. Sherri then takes us on her first piece of business that she completes everyday; I am taken around to meet and greet all of her employees that are working on this day. I found the staff to be very welcoming and enthusiastic, a great thing to see. Next it is off to Sherri’s office where she typically spends most of her time taking care of emails and other important issues that need her attention.

While on a typical day Sherri tells me that most of her day is spent at her desk, I am lucky to have picked a great day to follow Sherri around. About an hour before lunch Sherri takes me on one of her weekly walks through the storage facility. The staff is rearranging some of the racking in order to maximize storage space while still meeting all the fire code requirements. It is quite a sight to see as the racking is quite large. During the walk through Sherri kept her eyes open for leaks in the ceiling, dents in the racking, dust/debris accumulation and if any boxes have been left on the floor and not on pallets. She informed me that leaving boxes on the floor and not on skids or racking is a major thing not to do in this industry. If you’re touring a secure storage facility and deciding if it is right for your company make sure to keep an eye out for that!

Afterwards, Sherri and I returned to her office for lunch. She normally eats at her desk and continues to work because she comes in to work a little bit later than the rest of her staff. Usually one day a week Sherri will work late into the evening to get more work done because there are fewer distractions than during the day. During lunch the phone was ringing off the hook and it was nice to see that despite being the owner of the business and having employees working, Sherri was not too busy to set aside her meal and answer the phone to help out her Operations Manager who was dealing with another call.

In the afternoon, Sherri took me out to a site visit at a lawyer’s office where she offered them guidance and suggestions in regards to their records storage needs and document imaging options for their vast number of files. While it was not a traditional sales call, Sherri says she, “will do whatever it takes to answer a question or see what the client has for storage, shredding or scanning needs. “ It is this attitude among other things that has helped Montana Records Management, LLP turn itself from a floundering business when Sherri and her husband purchased the company in 2004 to a successful and well-known company throughout the state of Montana.

Back at the office the day was coming to a close but I had a few more questions for Sherri. We sat down to have a chat and here’s what transpired…

Nathan:
In a typical month, how many boxes come in for storage?

Sherri:
We try to grow the warehouse storage at a rate of 500 boxes a month. We are a sparsely populated state at 1,000,000 people or less in the fourth largest state of the union. So we feel 500 boxes is a healthy growth rate.

Nathan:
What makes you love coming back to work every day?

Sherri:
It has been a great business financially – fairly recession proof, the employees love their jobs – I have created a positive work environment – we have lots of fun here, and it is ever changing. I like the fact that it is never boring or stagnant – we are constantly having to adapt to the new laws and legal climate, we spend a good deal of time educating the public about the FACTA Law. I am free to do what I want as far as direction of growth I want to pursue and the job is flexible. If I want to take time to spend with my grown children and grandchildren I do it!

Nathan:
Anything else you might feel you want to include in the article?

Sherri:
What I offer here at Montana Records Management, LLP is unique and very valuable to the businesses in the state. I work very closely with state government as Helena is the capital city of Montana and that has presented my business with many opportunities for growth that similar organizations in the state do not have. I love being fair minded and honest and watching how that mindset has come back to bless me time and time again. MRM was a floundering business when my (now deceased) husband and I purchased it so we could work together in 2004. Karl died of brain cancer just 3 years after we bought it. He was sick for a year before he died and neither of us spent much time here working the business and yet it grew with the employees that I still have and the business model we created. It has continued to grow and flourish under my tutelage at an even greater pace than before. I have learned so much while growing the business and loved meeting all the folks on the east coast who have gone before the rest of us fledgling records managers/owners and created the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID) and PRISM, International for records centers. I have attended several NAID conferences and keep in weekly touch with PRISM through emails to learn more about the problems and solutions shredding and storage operations can have.

Nathan:
Thank you very much for sharing that Sherri, it’s been quite a day and you definitely have your hands full but that doesn’t seem to be slowing you down at all. Thanks again for letting me follow you around for the day!

After saying goodbye to Sherri and leaving Montana Records Management, LLP I felt I learned a lot of new information and not necessarily just about Sherri’s daily routine but about the shredding and storage industry as a whole. It’s truly remarkable how valuable shredding services and secure document storage facilities really are to nearly every single business in operation. If you are in Montana and are not sure if you are meeting FACTA or other federal and state regulations be sure to educate yourself. If you are not sure where to start educating yourself read this article again, the answer is in there!