Boy am I glad that I spent some time with Quickbooks before I got this job. I love that program, and Elena said that she was so relieved that I already knew it because she had never quite gotten the hang of it. We ran through their list of contract clients - they have several apartment complexes that they handle the entire "turning" process for that involves not just painting, but also maiding and maintenance when the occupants move out - that we bill every month in various volumes.

Next, we went through the process of entering new clients into the system. I suggested that we should probably add in some type of follow-up with new clients to see if they want additional services, are happy with the results, etc. Landers mentioned that they have a lot of referral clients, and I think that we could probably increase that number by rewarding the people who refer business to us. I learned about that about that in an internet marketing course I took, and Elena encouraged me to lay out some ideas for Landers next week at our meeting, which we may do over the phone since yesterday was kind of a disaster and it was clear both of us would have been happier in our own homes.

I enlisted our elderly neighbor, who Jake loves, to entertain him during our phone meeting. I am thinking of asking her to do that once a week during my calls with Landers in the future, but I wonder how much is too much before I need to start compensating her in some way.

I'm really glad that they thought my ideas about email follow-up and referral rewards were good ones, and I'm relieved that the billing is going to be as simple as I had hoped. I can't wait to get started, and I just wish I had some serious, dedicated time to devote to developing the ideas Elena and I talked about today.