Keep a Business Journal

I can’t tell you how beneficial keeping a business journal has been. I probably should, though, since that’s the point of this post.

What does a business journal look like?

It really doesn’t matter what you use for a business journal. I used a physical blank book when I started my first business over 25 years ago. Without getting into the gritty details of my past, I switched my journal from physical to digital around 2015 and have never regretted it. Specifically speaking about journal writing, I have a space in my system that is just for this kind of information. Regardless of what you use, there are a few criteria it should meet:

1. It should be readily available whenever you feel the need to use it. Your system and business journal should never force you to remember things for later.
2. Reviewing past entries should be simple. By this, I mean more than just reading those entries. It would be best if you had little trouble gleaning insights from them. This could be as simple as highlighting things so they stand out the next time you read that page. If your business journal is digital, searching it should be easy and return relevant results.
3. Your business journal should ideally allow the capture and tracking of the inevitable tasks you’ll think of while writing and reading it. If you’re in a totally paper system, like perhaps a business bullet journal, having a bookmark at the place where you enter/track tasks and one at the journal page while writing will help you quickly flip back and forth so you don’t miss out. If you have a digital system, there’s a good chance you can have one app open for the journal and another open for tasks simultaneously. In my system, I can add the tasks to the journal entry itself, inline as I write, and they show up in my task lists as expected elsewhere without any additional work. My system gets out of my way.

Is there really a benefit to writing in a business journal?

As I wrote above, writing in your journal is a great way to discover tasks you want to accomplish. Just ensure you’re capturing them in a timely manner so you don’t lose them. It’s tricky not to lose your writing train of thought when shifting to capture a task, but it works well with a bit of practice.

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Another benefit when you keep a business journal is thinking through the steps of a process. Whether that’s as literal as thinking through a new process you’re developing for making art or something as mundane as generating a packing list for art shows that require travel and overnight stays. I’ve found great benefits in thinking of many of these things as part of journal writing rather than just approaching it as a list-building exercise. Perhaps it comes from the fact that when I write, my brain is dictating the words and sentences in my head, which leads to a solid train of thought.

In much the same vein, writing in your business journal can spark a lot of productive brainstorming for things like new series of works, a list of local galleries to approach for representation or even a list of businesses that might have interest in murals for empty walls inside and outside their locations. I can’t tell you how many times a good brainstorming session has come from what I thought would be a short, basic journal entry. It shows that making this writing a habit, even when you don’t think you have anything of value to jot down, can lead to beautiful discoveries for the future of your art business.

How often should you write in your business journal?

When I first started keeping a business journal, I planned on writing once a week as part of my Sunday admin tasks. Within four or five months, I noticed that while keeping this habit, I was also jotting down things in the week to add to the “official” journal entry on Sundays. Paying attention to your habits is the best way to ensure you have the proper habits for your goals. Those extra notes told me I wasn’t writing in my journal often enough. As is my way, however, I over-corrected at first and made writing business journal entries part of my daily evening tasks. When doing this, I found that I didn’t always have something of value to contribute. This played with my head a bit and made me question my productivity (perhaps I wasn’t doing enough for my business if I didn’t have something to write every day). It made me question my overall system (how can I trust this system to work when I can’t even maintain one simple daily habit?)

Upon reflection, another part of my weekly admin/habits/tasks, I recognized that neither of those negative thoughts was accurate. They showed me that many parts of my art business outside of making art could directly impact my mental health positively and negatively. That, in turn, can affect my artwork, so I needed to address and fix it. Ultimately, I decided to fold my business journal writing into my regular daily journal, but only when I had something to write. It may seem obvious to you reading this, but as I’m sure you know, you don’t always see the solutions to the thing when you’re in the middle of the thing.

What kinds of information to write in a business journal?

It’s tough to figure out a conclusive list of everything you should capture in your business journal entries. Don’t try to create a rigid list. It should adapt to your needs whenever they change. Here is a partial list of things I have in some business journal entries over the years. I don’t try to add these to every entry; I don’t have a list of “must include” items. I write with the intention of capturing what I think is important now and what I suspect will be important perhaps six months later. Based on how often I’ve looked through business journal entries from 2000, or 2005, I know there are plenty of things I won’t care about even two years from now. If in doubt, capture more than you think you need, and then look back in three months and see if it feels relevant. If not, you know you don’t need that information moving forward.

1. Budget concerns. Have I noticed I’m spending more than expected in a category or noticed a category I want to track better?
2. Lessons about specific venues. It could be notes on navigation, parking, management, fees, location, or even the town it’s in.
3. Notes on the weather for an event.
4. Income. While I keep all my financial info in a bookkeeping application, sometimes I note how much a particular market or day made.
5. An idea for a new series of paintings
6. Ideas for potential new shops to sell my work in
7. Reviewing parts of my system that aren’t working as well as I’d like. Perhaps identifying opportunities for automation or outsourcing.
8. Things customers and people walking by my booth say about my artwork, positive and negative, and whether they said it to me or didn’t know I could hear them. I usually share the negative stuff with an eye-roll emoji to my maker friends on social media so we can all laugh. I also share the positive stuff with them, but I highlight the positive in my journal, so I keep seeing it in reviews of past entries.
9. Failures and victories when trying out new techniques and mediums. These entries often also have pictures of the “experiments,” so I can see what I’m talking about.
10. Weekly entries where I answer a motivational/thought-provoking question to uncover insights about my business or art.

Do you keep a business journal? Did I miss anything you think we could all benefit from tracking this way? Let me know in the comments!