Behind the Business of Paperless Environments with Seth Dawson

In 2001, Seth Dawson was the CFO of a large industrial contractor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when he was hit with the problem of managing the large volumes of paperwork associated with running a self-performing construction company. As revenues climbed, so did the cost and burden of filing, routing, reviewing and storing the associated documents. Logically, he decided to seek out a solution from leading imaging and document workflow technology softwares. What he found were expensive solutions that only solved part of the problem.

So he went to work developing his own solution and in 2005, Paperless Environments was born. Today, Paperless Environments is in the top tier in several categories of the well-respected, CFMA Information Technology Survey offering customers a best-of-class solution with expert engineering and support to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of handling paper documents.

So how does someone with the drive to create a solution to problems larger than himself operate? We asked him some simple questions to get a small peek into his everyday workflow.

Name: Seth Dawson

Business: Paperless Environments

Title: President/CEO/Founder

Current mobile device: iPhone 7S

PC or Mac? PC

Can't leave the house without: Backpack holding my laptop and accessories

What does your everyday routine look like? Wake up at 6:00 am. Immediately make coffee!! Check and answer emails. Help my wife get kids ready for school. Work till 6:30. Home for supper. Watch TV and then read a book until sleeping at 10:30. Do it all over again!

What's one app you can't live without? iPhone Maps

How do you stay organized? Outlook for email and calendar. MS OneNote for notes. pVault for all paperwork.

What are you reading right now? The Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell

What's the best book you've ever read? It's not what you sell. It's what you stand for. by Roy Spence Jr.

What do you listen to while you work? Nothing. Music distracts me. Outside of work, I listen to everything from the current pop hits to country.

What food/drink fuels your workday? Coffee!

Morning Person or Night Owl? Night Owl

On average, how many hours of sleep do you get? 8 hours

What time of day do you get the most done? 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM

If you had to give one piece of business advice to entrepreneurs, what would it be? Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. But if you have a vision that makes sense, you make a good plan, you love what you do, you have a support system (wife/husband) that supports that dream, and you are willing to give whatever time it takes to make that vision a reality, then in the end, it's the best sense of accomplishment that you can ever have.

Where do you go to recharge? For the past 2 years, my wife of 28 years and I have gone to the Turks and Caicos islands. Wonderful place.

What's your favorite weekend activity? Working in my yard