Pro Tip: Don’t Rely On Your Memory

This week I want to talk about the importance of documentation. I know, very much not an exciting topic. But so, so important, especially as you grow.

When you’re a small business, with one or two clients, you may be able to remember what flowers you planted and how long it took. But what happens when you have four clients on Saturday, five on Sunday, and you visit the garden center sometime in the middle?

And for me, even with one headstone cleaning client, I can’t remember the dates I cleaned. If I don’t have it written down, I struggle to remember if I visited twice already or three times!

So, why is it important to track this at all? Off the top of my head: Exact dates and locations are needed for mileage reimbursement. The flowers are used in your client’s invoice and to determine the cost of supplies for planting, not to mention as guidance for what to plant next year.

My advice is to take just a few minutes to jot down where, when, and what. It doesn’t need to be fancy or official. I write my day’s route in a monthly calendar because it’s an easy visual that helps me quickly transfer the stops into my milage calculator online.

I also take a Before and After photo of the gravesite every visit, even if I’m just dropping off a flower arrangement. This tells me how much time I spent there, as well as when during the day. Finally, having multiple methods of documentation, like a calendar and photos, can be a lifesaver if you get busy and forget to do one of them! 😊