Worth setting up on day one

Somewhere client details live that is not your inbox. A repeatable quote format. A calendar with every deposit and final payment deadline on it. That is genuinely most of it.

What a CRM is really for

Not sales pipelines. Remembering that this client hates early flights, travels with their sister every second year, and has a birthday in March. That is what repeat business is made of.

Deadlines are the operational risk

A missed final payment date can cancel a booking. Whatever system you use, deadlines have to be somewhere that alerts you rather than somewhere you have to remember to check.

What can wait

A website, a logo, a newsletter, a social schedule. None of these book anything in the first year, and all of them are more fun than the things that do.