Planning for success - Free planning templates

By: Drew Sauveur

So as we all know, as a small business owner, planning your day/week/month etc. becomes vitally important. Even the best planned days can be upended when the phone rings, and a customer needs something NOW.

So the question remains: What planner do you use? That’s a big question, and the answer depends on a lot of factors. Some people prefer old school, using a paper planner and handwriting appointments, goals, tasks, etc. And that may work for some people who are in the field a lot, and need something that they aren’t concerned may get lost, or damaged.

Increasingly however, online, on handheld, or on iPad is the predominant form of taking a daily planner on the go.

I’ve found a few free templates that are very effective, and certainly there are too many iPad or iPhone apps to describe here, but I’ll include some that I’ve used, and what has worked for me.

If you’re looking for printable online templates, I can suggest www.scatteredsquirrel.com , and www.printableplanners.net, they both have a wide variety of printable versions that you can download. MS Office has a number of word document downloadable planners that are fairly useful as well.

If iPad is your go to, Planner Pro is a free planner that can send you emails reminders for events and appointments, 2Do is another free app that worked fairly well for me, (I would not suggest paying for the upgrade, it’s not worth it).

Finally, if Android is your go to, Planner Pro also has a free Android app, as well as Schedule Planner Classic. They are both interactive with your email, and are decent as a free option.

Whatever you use, be sure to plan movement/exercise time, as well as downtime. Both are the key to small business success! Good luck.