Small Business Saturday: How The Canon MX340 Improved My Workflow

Today’s Small Business Saturday post comes directly from an experience I had with my own business. I found a way to dramatically improve my efficiency by purchasing a printer that was better suited to the specific tasks I do the most. While this may seem like a simple change it’s identifying the problem that can sometimes be the most difficult. Here’s how I first realized that I had a problem.

A majority of what I use a printer for is to scan and sign contracts. My contracts for brokerage and development are between 5-7 pages. Well three years ago I bought a printer that I thought would meet my needs, it could print and scan – there, two devices in one, problem solved right?

It did work – I have been able to print, sign, and scan all of my contracts – but the process takes forever. Why? I have to load each page by hand which means realistically it takes about 10-15 minutes for each contract. Now suppose there’s a small change to a contract, I have to go through the entire process again. At the same time I was noticing my ink prices continuing to climb, at $40/cartridge for black ink I found myself spending over $200/year just on ink.

So I finally decided I had to solve the two problems I was having – I needed:

  • Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) that could scan my contracts for me
  • Lower-priced ink
  • Bonus feature – wireless printing (since I use 5+ computers)

I went to Office Depot and quickly found the Canon MX340 – it has an ADF, the ink is half the price of my previous printer, and it offers wireless printing. The best part was the price – $99 – less than half the cost of my yearly ink purchases.

I brought the printer home and have already used it to scan three contracts – the process now takes under a minute and I don’t have to move cables between computers thanks to wireless printing. It’s little things like this that can go a long way! My life is unbelievably busy so anything that can save 10-15 minutes of time goes a long way – especially for tasks I do frequently. As a small business owner you should always be looking for ways to cut your costs and improve your efficiency – the amazing thing is that sometimes you’re just $99-away from a solution!

If you’d like to learn more about the printer you can read all about it on Amazon – I just noticed they have it on sale for $79!


Please note the above is an affiliate link which means I get paid if you purchase a product. If you don’t want to use this affiliate link simply go to Amazon.com and search for “canon mx340” and you can cut me out of the equation.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton