Best Planners for Small Business Owners: 2019 Edition

It's no secret. I love planners. I love using them, shopping for them and talking about them. Over the last few years, I've been writing about the best planners for business owners, freelancers and solopreneurs. Because I've been doing this for a while, in this year's edition of The Best Planners for Small Business Owners, I wanted to highlight some of the great new planners I've found. Most of them are super affordable and all of them can be easily purchased online. Let's dive right in and get to the good stuff, shall we?

Note, some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you fall in love with and buy any of these planners.

Monthly Planners

The Next 12 Months: Monthly Planner

This planner is the straight forward, no fluff monthly planner in my own collection. This planner is best for a few different kinds of people:

• Those who don't want to write in a planner everyday, but DO like jotting things down on paper to capture the big picture.
• People using another planner for their day-to-day personal lives that want something separate for their business, without creating a lot of overwhelm or duplicating their efforts (why write your daily schedule down in two places?).
• Those who want a simple tool for tracking their goals and business growth throughout the year.

This is a simplified version of my flagship Weekly Planner. One of my customers – another planner addict – was already using a daily planner but wanted something dedicated to her online shop and product launches.

Features:

• monthly planning pages
• stats tracking pages
• sales and expense tracking pages
• monthly and annual review pages
• 100 note pages
• Undated. Start using it any time!

Sizes: Paperback –  5.5″ x 8.5″ or 8.5″ x 11″. Digital download (PDF) – 8.5″x 11″

Weekly Planners

The Next 12 Months: Weekly Planner

Ah, my heart and soul. The Next 12 Months: Weekly Planner is the first planner in my collection, and is still the best seller in its 4th season. This planner is ideal for solopreneurs and small business owners who wear a lot of hats – running their business AND managing their marketing, for example. This planners offers one place to track your goals, plans, priorities, marketing metrics and your marketing efforts. Stop keeping track of things in your head (you know you'll forget!) and keep track of them in this planner instead. Consider it your new business brain.

Features:

• 12 monthly calendar pages
• Weekly planning pages
• Weekly marketing tracker pages
• Monthly & annual stats tracker
• Sales & expense tracker
• Note pages
• Undated. Start using it any time!

Sizes: Paperback: 5.5″ x 8.5″ or 8.5″ x 11″. Digital download (PDF) – 8.5″x 11″

Unbound Planner

I love this planner! I found out about it when the Unbound Planner team reached out to me. This is the only planner on this list that I didn't purchase (or create) – I was sent a copy for review. It's beautifully made. The cover is sturdy and the pages have the kind of simple clean design that I appreciate. There are four pages for each week – the first two cover your weekly notes, focus, things to do, goals and habits. The next two are for your daily plans and gratitude. I got the planner mid-year, when I was already set with my own choices for the year, so I can't say what its like to actually use this layout on a daily basis. On one hand, four pages for one week seems like overkill BUT it on the other hand, it means you have plenty of space for those to-dos and notes. Also, this is one of the few planners on the the list that's made in the USA, which I also appreciate. I've worked to keep the production of my own line here in the states and I love seeing this company has done the same and they've done it beautifully.

Features:

• Self-reflection pages throughout the year
• Pages for yearly goals and timelines
• Dreams & future goals page
• Project planning pages
• Monthly calendars with a goals section
• 4 pages for weekly planning
• 15 blank pages for notes
• 280 pages
• Lay-flat binding
• Covers January – December 2019
• Weekly spreads begin on Monday and end Sunday

Size: 6″ x 8.5″ x 0.9″

Smart Planner Pro

Smart Planner Pro is one of the new planners I discovered this year. This planner is undated, which I like. The monthly pages have space for goals, notes and brainstorming. The weekly pages have REALLY small writing slots, which bugs me, but doesn't seem to bother most people (its layout it similar to that of Passion Planner). There's space for habit tracking and reviewing your week. This planner made the list for me because few planners of this style actually have 12 months worth of planning pages in them (some you'll read about further down). I STRONGLY prefer buying one planner for the year so that's one of the main things I look for.

Features:

• 160 pages
• Undated
• 12 month format-covers an entire year
• Monthly planning pages
• Brainstorm & Notes Pages (59 Blank Pages)
• Weekly planning pages
• Tracking systems for habits and daily priorities
• Area for daily schedules
• Track gratitude with a daily gratitude area
• Weekly review-Identify areas to improve each week

Size: 8.6″ x 5.7″

Daily Planners

The Next 12 Months: 90 Day Planner

This planner is one of the new ones in my collection. I wanted to create a planner for the entrepreneur who wants a daily planner and some of those practical features found in my Weekly Planner. So, if I prefer planners that last a whole year, like I mentioned above, why did I create this one?

• Not everyone wants what I want
• This planner is great if you're working on a 90 day plan, a launch or working on creating a new habit
• This planner (and the others that only last 2-3 months), are great for people who like to use lots of different planners. You don't need to commit to one thing for the entire year. Or, if you love it, you buy more!

I actually DID find myself using this planner for the first time this year as I planned out Q4 of 2018. I wanted to zero in on a few key initiatives, separate from everything else going on in my life, so I pulled the mini version of this off my shelf and got to work!

Features:

• Daily planning pages – track your schedule, priorities, daily wins, and more!
• 3 monthly calendar pages
• 90-day goal planning page
• Marketing and stats tracking pages
• Monthly and quarterly review pages
• Note pages
• Undated. Start using it any time!

Size: Paperback: 5.5″ x 8.5″ or 8.5″ x 11″. Digital download (PDF) – 8.5″x 11″

Tempus Planner

Oh boy, I love this one too! (Honestly, one of the hardest parts of doing this post each year is figuring out which planners *I'll* be using) The Tempus planner comes in a beautiful bright blue (one of my brand colors) and totally fits my aesthetic. Clean gorgeous design. Right up front there's space to track the books you want to read (shout out to the bibliophiles out there). There's space for mind mapping and the daily pages help you focus on your Top 3 Tasks. I really need something with room to track more on a day to day basis, so its likely I'll use this planner in tandem with my Weekly Planner or 90 Day Planner. There's space for weekly review, but one drawback for me is that there aren't any monthly planning pages. Again, this isn't a drawback for me since I'll be using another planner. But I really recommend that all business owners do monthly planning and reviews. So, if you grab this planner, please make sure you're doing your reviews somewhere. At the back of the planner, you'll find 4 project planning pages and a few lined and unlined note pages. This really feels incomplete without monthly pages (and still not enough pages to get you through an entire year), but the design really won me over. I might use this for my personal life, not my professional one.

Features:

• Monday-Sunday weekly spreads
• Undated
• Yearly overview pages
• Mind mapping pages
• Project planning pages
• 236 pages
• Includes 6 months of planning
• Daily tasks lists & weekly review
• Lay flat binding

Size: 6″ x 8.5″

Progress Planner

The Progress Planner does a great job of walking you through how to use the planner, which can be nice if you're trying to build a planning habit and need some guidance. There's info on creating your 10 year vision, crafting 90 day goals and SMART goals and more. The monthly planning pages have minimal space to write in (seriously, you can barely fit anything in there), but there's enough space elsewhere, so its not a dealbreaker. This planner gets you through six months and features pages for planning your week, reviewing your week and tracking your daily schedule, to-dos and wins. As I've talked about many times on my blog and in my webinars, I plan my day every day and I like breaking it down by hour. The hourly breakdown covers 6am to 9pm which, let's face it, I often need.

Features:

• Two 90 day planning periods. Designed for 6 months of planning.
• 279 pages
• Undated
• Daily planning & goals
• Hour by hour planning
• Track habits
• Weekly review pages
• Monthly calendar pages

Size: 8″ x 5″

Priori Planner

This is a fun planner I discovered when I was almost burned out. 10 planners made this list (and are stacked on my desk), but there were several others I bought and returned because they didn't make the cut. Something told me to keep searching and I'm glad I did. This was a great find! The Priori Planner has tips on how to doing monthly, weekly and daily planning, has a nice design, and motivational quotes. The monthly planning pages feature space for goal setting review and notes/brainstorming. Weekly pages give you space to review the previous week, set goals and action steps for the current week and set goals and intentions for your work and personal life. For me, this gets into a lot of wasted space. For better or worse, I'm not thinking about my love life, health and family business on a daily basis such that I'd need to track it in my planner. I want alllll my space for my work and goals. But, I know a lot of people want one planner and these other areas of your life are undoubtedly important, so if you don't mind the mix of work and play in one place, this could be the planner for you. There are also daily planning pages that help you track your priorities and schedule (6am-9pm again, yay!). I will admit – planners like this, Progress Planner and Smart Planner Pro aren't my favorite in terms of layout because all the monthly pages are separate from weekly and daily pages. I prefer to have my month pages followed immediately by the weekly and/or daily pages for that month. That said, if you tend to not use a planner consistently, having the weekly and daily pages in their own section is nice, because if you slack off, you just pick right up where you left off. There are also note pages, a pen loop and a handy pocket in the back.

Features:

• 6 month planning period
• Undated
• Includes daily, weekly, and monthly calendars
• Hardcover planner with 2 pockets
• Track daily schedule, priorities, and goals
• Weekly review pages
• 3 Bookmarks
• Track gratitude, habits, and goals

Size: 5″ x 8″

Life & Apples

Why is it called Life & Apples? Honestly, I can't tell you. But I bought it and liked it more than several other things. Like a few of the other planners, there are tips on how to use the planner and set goals. Like Priori, it covers life in general – work plus health, family, etc. The goal setting pages allow you to pick the area your're focused on, set a few goals for that area and set a time frame for achieving it. While there's space for a schedule, the hours aren't printed. This is nice because maybe your day isn't 6am-9pm. Maybe its 5am-2pm or 10am-7pm. You can write in what works for you. There's also space on the daily pages for gratitude, ideas and reflection. Like the Tempus Planner, there's no monthly pages (what's up with that?), but there is space for review and planning for the week ahead. There are also note pages, a pen loop and a handy pocket in the back.

Features:

• Undated
• Life & Apples sells multiple planner versions for specific areas (growth, wellness, healthy living)
• Hardcover with a pocket
• 240 pages
• 6 month planner
• Daily layouts with to do, schedule, goals, note, & gratitude section
• Includes a weekly review
• Blank note pages
• Includes inspirational quotes & mind mapping pages

Size: 5.5″ x 8.2″

5 Second Journal

This one's a little different, but worthy of being featured. I first learned about Mel Robbins through her CreativeLive class and regularly read her newsletters that align with her “5 second rule.” It's coil-bound with a hard cover that seems pretty sturdy. This journal/planner is designed to help motivate you to “get sh*t done” (Mel's words) and be productive. For each day, there's space to track how you feel (and why), your top project, brain dumps, daily planning and daily challenges. Part of me, again, doesn't want to use up valuable space in a planner tracking how I feel – but looking back, it would probably be great intel when I'm gauging what worked and what didn't. Why some days were amazing and others were hard. I like the idea of a daily challenge, but I'm not sure how I feel about them all being chosen for me. That said, if I had to rely on myself to push my boundaries, I probably wouldn't. There are several white pages at the back that I wish were more planning pages instead and I do think this is a little pricey to only last a couple of months and have no monthly or yearly planning or review pages. That said, if you often get stuck in your own head and just need to GET THINGS DONE, this might be the planner you're looking for.

Features:

• Journal is set up to help you keep focus on your long-term goals and to guide you toward a more meaningful life
• Guides you to focus on what's important rather than menial tasks
• 168 pages
• Hardcover
• Daily guide for focus on important projects

Size: 6″ x 1″ x 8″

Other Planners

Goal Getter

This little productivity journal makes the list because its a great little tool for go-getters that may not be sold on planners. There's no planning pages of any kind. Just a page for each day that highlights your top goal, most important tasks and your other to-do's. Great for list makers and those who JUST want to track goals. Instead of having to-do lists spread across multiple apps, notebooks and Post-Its, you can keep your lists in this handy book. It's not quite pocket sized, but it would fit easily into any purse, backpack or briefcase.

Features:

• 114 pages
• Paperback
• Daily schedule with room for priority tasks, to-dos, and affirmations

Size: 5.2″ x .3″ x 8″

So, which planner will you use in 2019? I'd love to hear which one you choose or if there's any others I should know about it! Leave a comment or contact me.