How do you quantify the value of the time and money you invest in keeping organized like this?

Great question. Sometimes I feel like a hoarder, just gathering stuff for no reason.

But I have ~3,000 contacts with some level of tagging and information around them.

I would argue with better tools this should only become a more valuable resource. If I ask you right now to find 6 people in your contacts that program in Ruby on Rails, could you find them quickly and easily?

I think you need to have this become a habit. And a habit at a time investment / cycle that makes sense for you.

So, maybe you review, tag, and clean up your contacts once a quarter, along with catching up with people.

Maybe you do it weekly as part of your cycle of doing work, reflecting on the week ahead, and other communications.

I think that you can’t have this be extra work. That’s why a tool that works for you, your work style, and your needs is so important. For sales teams and mainly direct leads, that’s why sales CRMs cost so much. The payoff is big. For me, I can’t quite quantify it, but I feel more organized and it helps me review and reflect on people I know and the communications I have with them.

Hope that helps answer your question. Thanks for promoting me about it!