SektorCepte · 2026-10-26
A Plain Privacy Notice for a One-Person Shop
Write what you keep, why you keep it, and how long, in three short sentences. It should be a counter note, not a legal essay.
A person who writes a name and a phone number into a form wonders where that information goes. A long legal page does not settle the wonder. In a small shop, three sentences are enough. What you keep, why you keep it, and how long. If those three are written honestly and short, the notice does its job. A swollen list of clauses looks copied in a one-person business, and nobody reads it. An unread notice is like a notice that was never written.
1. Name what you actually keep
Write the thing you truly hold. Name, phone, neighbourhood, a short description of the job. Sometimes a photo of the job, sometimes a measure. Do not add to the list what you do not hold. If you do not take a card number, do not write card. If you do not track location, do not write location. The list should match the chat on your phone and the box the form falls into. A photo that sits in the chat and is missing from the notice means the notice is short. A tracking line that sits in the notice and is missing from your phone means the notice is false. Both lower trust. If the same chat also sits on an apprentice's phone, say that too. If the information sits on two phones, writing one phone leaves a gap.
2. Tie the reason to the job
The reason is to do the job and to write a reply. To hold the appointment, to cut the material right, to carry the delivery to the right address. If there is no other reason, do not write another reason. If you do not build an advertising list, do not write advertising. If you do not sell it to anyone else, put the sentence "I do not sell it" in the open. That sentence is the place people actually ask about. Inventing a purpose they did not ask about makes the notice look doubtful. Separate why you keep a photo as well. If it is to show when the job is finished, write it that way. If you want to put it in the window, ask that on its own and do not hang it without a yes. The yes should not disappear inside the general notice. The yes sits in the message of that job.
3. Tie the time to the end of the job
Do not invent how long you keep it from a calendar you copied. When the job is finished, and for a short while after in case of a complaint, then delete. You choose the length and you say it in the notice. Apply the length you chose. Writing it and not applying it looks worse than not writing a length at all. The invoice and the slip are your commercial record. Keep them apart from the chat. A measure photo in the chat does not have to stay on your phone once the job is closed. Once a month, look at old chats. Delete the photo of a job that is finished and whose complaint is closed. Deleting is cleaning. Piling up is a drawer that was forgotten.
4. Let the notice stand beside the form
The privacy notice should be a link under the form. When the link opens, three sentences appear. Do not make a person read a letter before sending the form. The three sentences can also sit on the same page as the form. The person should see where it goes. Your name and the shop's name should be inside the notice. A notice with no name does not say who is holding the information. Point to the way of contact that already stands on the site. Do not open a new hidden address. Read the notice once a year. If you added a new field to the form, that field should be in the notice too. Adding a new question to a notice that does not mention it leaves the page old.
5. Give a plain answer to the person who asks
Someone writes: delete my information. If the job is finished and something remains outside the commercial record, delete it and write shortly that you deleted it. If the job is still going, say you will delete it when the job ends, and why you are holding it now. Do not enter an argument. Do not send a long string of clause numbers. If your notice is three sentences, your answer can stay three sentences too. If you gave the information to someone else, say who. If you did not, say you did not. Do not answer by guess. A guess later turns out false. Teach the apprentice the same answer. The apprentice should not say something longer and different from you.
This evening, write three sentences under the form. What, why, how long. See whether what you hold on your phone is inside those three sentences. If it is not, add it. The person who fills the form tomorrow should see, on that page, where the information goes.