I was having a convo with the mister on my promotional plans for next year. I was spitting out everything that I planned to do and what I didn’t plan on repeating. He got to asking me questions like:
- How many books did you sell there?
- How well-prepared were you?
- How many people were there?
- How much promoting did you do for that event?
- Were you alone?
- Were you the only author there?
My response:
My thought: my record-keeping sucks. I gotta do better.
Plan in action: put those spreadsheets to use.
The days of jotting quick notes down in the back of my calendar book are over. The days of trying to remember are over. Just as I’d opened a business account in order to keep the money separate and accounted for, I realized that it’s just as important to do the same with the records.
Spreadsheets work best for me (at least right now they do). You can make as many columns/rows/sheets as you want. The most important thing is to make sure that you get the critical information down. You can always revise later. For instance, I’m starting off doing a sheet for every year.
Microsoft Excel has a great one. You can also use MS Word or even keep a handwritten log. Whatever floats your boat. Personally, I use Google Drive. It allows you to create folders, documents, spreadsheets, forms, presentations, etc. You can also makes these documents accessible to others online. There’s no “save” button because it saves automatically AND there’s an app available for your smartphone. Yes, please!
Going forward, I will be able to better determine which outlets work best for me. I’ll know what’s worth the investment and what’s not. I’ll know the consequence of forgetting my e-mail sign-up list, or not bringing enough business cards, or trying to manage a booth at an event of over 1,000 people alone, or vending in the park in the middle of December. I’ll also know that I did very well at the XYZ conference and can do even better the following year by doing this.
Get where I’m coming from?
Yeah, the previous years can’t completely be recorded, but whatever. I quit crying over spilled milk a long time ago. Hopefully you have too. Starting now, however, I have a better footing on my business.
Do you?