Imagine combining your notebook, to-do list, project management board, and much more all in one place. That's what Notion can do for your small business.
And it appears to be working quite well for many. In less than 5 years, Notion has grown from 1 million users in 2019 to 35 million today.
At POWR, we use Notion everyday primarily to map various projects, strategic planning, and notetaking our market research. Also, collaborating between the engineering and marketing teams is super simple.
By the end of this guide, you'll know how to sign up and set up your Notion workspace, discover essential templates, tips, tricks, and to streamline your overall small business operations. Let’s get started!
Article Shortcuts:
Notion is an all-in-one workspace to help you organize your work and life. It's like a digital notebook on steroids.
It lets you create notes, manage tasks, build databases, schedule your calendar, and much more, all in one place.
Unlike other tools that are good at just one thing, Notion is like a super tool that can adapt to whatever you need.
For example, while Trello is great for project management and Evernote for note-taking, Notion combines these functionalities, giving you a seamless and integrated experience.
So, why should you care about Notion? First, it's an incredibly flexible tool. You can tailor it to fit your specific needs, whether managing a project, tracking client interactions, handling your finances, or all of the above.
Second, it integrates smoothly with popular tools like Google Drive, Slack, Zapier, and of course, POWR apps, making your workflow even more efficient.
Third, collaboration is a breeze with Notion—you and your team can work on the same page in real-time, which is a game-changer for communication and productivity.
Let’s not forget that it’s cost-effective and offers great value for small businesses. We’ll review plans and pricing in the next section.
Here, YouTube creator Edward Lee shows you how he organizes his entire business with Notion:
You'll need to set up an account to get started with Notion. Head to Notion’s website, sign up, and you’re in!
Notion uses a block-based system, which means every piece of content—be it text, image, or task—is a block that can be easily moved around and customized.
This flexibility allows you to create a unique workspace that truly works for you.
Notion offers several pricing plans to suit different needs, from individuals to large teams. Here's a breakdown of the plans:
To choose the right plan for your needs, consider the size of your team, the amount of storage you need, and whether you require advanced features like single sign-on and dedicated support.
By understanding Notion’s plans and pricing, you can make an informed decision and select the option that best fits your business requirements.
Once you've chosen a plan, you can dive into creating and customizing your workspace, making Notion an integral part of your business operations.
Setting up your workspace in Notion is like organizing your office. You want it neat, functional, and tailored to your needs. Start by creating a main page for your business overview.
From there, you can add sub-pages for your business, such as project management, client information, and financial tracking.
Notion’s database feature is particularly powerful—you can use it to manage tasks, track inventory, or maintain a business contacts list.
Think of it as creating a digital filing cabinet where everything is easy to find and use.
Notion comes with a variety of templates to help you get started quickly. Here are some must-have templates for small business owners:
Using these templates, you can hit the ground running and customize them as needed to fit your specific requirements.
Customization is where Notion really shines. You can create your templates from scratch to fit your exact needs.
For instance, if you have a unique process for tracking sales leads, you can design a template with all the relevant information and steps.
Notion’s advanced features, such as relations and rollups, allow you to connect different databases and perform calculations on related data.
For example, you could link a client database with a project database to see which clients are associated with which projects and then use rollups to calculate each client's project total value.
Embedding content from other tools, like Google Maps for client locations or YouTube videos for training materials, further enhances your Notion workspace.
For example, let’s look at how easy it is to embed a POWR app in Notion.
Quite simply, if you know how to copy and paste, you can embed a POWR app in Notion. Here are the steps to embed a POWR app in Notion.
To make the most of Notion, here are three quick tips and tricks:
Let’s compare Notion to five popular alternatives: Airtable, ClickUp, Asana, Evernote, and Trello. Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, and I’ll explain how they compare to Notion.
Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid primarily used for data organization and project management. It has customizable tables, multiple views (grid, calendar, Kanban), and strong collaboration tools.
Choose If:
ClickUp is a comprehensive project management and productivity tool that includes tasks, documents, goals, time tracking, and customizable workflows.
Choose If:
Asana primarily focuses on project and task management, with features such as task lists, timelines, calendars, milestones, and workload management.
Choose If:
Evernote is primarily a note-taking tool with features like rich-text notes, web clipping, notebooks, tags, and document scanning.
Choose If:
Trello is a project management tool based on Kanban boards. It features cards, lists, checklists, due dates, and labels.
Choose If:
I have personally used all of these tools at one time or another, and I must say that although each presents a solid case, for me, Notion answered the call and fit the price I needed.
Notion is a powerful, flexible tool to help small business owners manage their operations more effectively.
By following this guide, you can set up a Notion workspace that suits your needs, collaborate with your team seamlessly, and boost your productivity.
Remember, the key to mastering Notion is to start simple and gradually explore its more advanced features over time. So, dive in, experiment, and make Notion work for you!
Hey, it's Mick and I'm the Growth Marketing Manager at POWR. My marketing career spans two decades, primarily in growth marketing in the healthcare space, with stints in broadcast television, advertising and copy editing.
I've been a Notion user since 2019, and I love how simple it is to use, and I've lost count of how much time it has saved me, my team, and my company.
I went to the College of Journalism at the University of Louisiana - Monroe and a storyteller at my core. My wife Elizabeth, son Gavin, and pup Jolene currently call Lafayette, Louisiana home.
Follow me on LinkedIn.