Crafty Business: Organizing Contacts

I think most of us are beyond the world of Rolodex, but there is something nice about having all the physical contact info at your finger tips. When I go to craft fairs, craft shops, meet random people, I pick up their post cards, fliers, and business cards. While I always say, “Oh yeah, I’ll get back to you about x,y,z when I get back home,” without a designated home for all that paper, it usually gets shuffled into a drawer, or even worse, the recycling bin because I’ve forgotten what it was all about in the first place.

I started processing business contact paper (because sometimes it’s just a scrap of paper with a name and email, not even a business card) in a new way.

First, I wanted a way to make them all a standard size. I tried putting everything into a little box, but the big pieces of paper crowded out the little Moo cards.

Index cards were the right solution for me–index cards and a stapler actually.

Every time someone hands me a piece of paper with their info, I immediate write what to follow up with directly on it. So for instance someone says, “Hi, I’m so and so, I think you should sell your zine in my shop/feature me on your blog/have a booth at our craft fair.” I take their card and write, “Email about wholesale/interview/craft booth by xx date.”

Then when I empty out my wallet, I take that little scrap, staple it to an index card and put it in my “file” which is an old recipe box.

When I follow up with them, I’ll write it on the index card that I did indeed do what I was supposed to.

It’s pretty simple, but it’s really helped me keep track of things, especially after the whirlwind of a big festival. For instance, after the Maker Faire last year, I was such a mess that I still haven’t contacted all the people I said I would. It’s only since I started using this little filing system that I’ve started keeping up on my post-craft-trip contacts.

How to do you keep track of all the business cards/contact info that flows through your office?

Happy crafting!
Kristin