If you’re a founder, this will sound familiar.
You work all week.
You’re constantly thinking ahead.
You solve problems other people don’t even notice.
And yet, by Friday, there’s a quiet feeling that you didn’t do enough.
That guilt is confusing, because you weren’t lazy. You didn’t waste time. You worked nonstop.
So why does it still feel like you’re behind?
If you’re running a small business, these are the mistakes that quietly cost the most money, time, and momentum.
Most small businesses don’t fail because of one big error.
They struggle because small, common mistakes compound over time.
This guide breaks down 30 of the most common small business mistakes, explains why they happen, and shows how to fix them in practical, realistic ways.
Many business owners work hard, care deeply, and still feel stuck.
The problem is rarely effort. It’s usually lack of clarity around money, priorities, and systems.
These mistakes are common because they feel reasonable in the moment.
They only become painful later.
January has a way of making people rush.
New goals. New habits. Big plans. Fresh starts. And within days, the year already feels heavy.
Not because you are doing anything wrong, but because January pressure convinces people that everything needs fixing at once.
The result is usually the same. An overloaded plan, unrealistic expectations, and by March, a quiet sense of falling behind.
But here’s the truth most people miss.
You do not need to rush at the beginning of the year. You need to be strategic and intentional.
Most people don’t fail at goals.
They fail at designing the days those goals have to live inside.
That’s why January plans often collapse by February.
Not because you are lazy.
Not because you lack willpower.
But because the plan doesn’t match the life.
And life always wins.
Planning a new year can feel heavy, especially when you are running a business and juggling everything else life brings with it. Most people do not struggle because they are lazy or unmotivated. They struggle because they are carrying too many decisions in their head with no clear system to hold them.
That is exactly why planning on paper still works so well. A printed planner gives you space to think, a clear overview of your time, and a simple structure you can return to every day. It helps you make decisions once, write them down, and stop rethinking everything all week.
In this guide and video, I will walk you through a realistic step-by-step way to plan your entire 2026 using a printed planner, so you can move into the year with direction, structure, and a plan you can actually stick to.
If you want to plan on paper with a clear system, you can use a [printed business planner] that is designed to take you from yearly direction to monthly planning, weekly priorities, and daily focus.
Running a business means juggling ideas, tasks, clients, finances, and plans, often all in your head. Notion can be a powerful tool for organising your business, but only if it’s set up in a way that actually supports how you work.
This guide explains how to use Notion for business in a simple, practical way, without overcomplicating things or turning it into another system you never check.
Notion works well for business because it brings everything into one place. Instead of using separate tools for planning, notes, projects, and tracking, Notion lets you connect everything together.
Used properly, Notion can help you:
reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Pro are designed for people who think better when they write things down. They remove distractions and give you space to plan, think, and focus.
But once you move beyond basic note-taking, many people run into the same issue. They have lots of notes, ideas scattered across notebooks, and no clear structure for their days or weeks.
Planning on reMarkable works best when you use a clear, repeatable planning system, rather than starting from blank pages every time.
Some people choose to use a structured digital planner PDF, such as the MY PA planner, which is designed to work well on paper-like tablets including reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Pro.
And when everything lives in your head, the year disappears into firefighting, constant context switching and always “catching up”. The businesses that grow consistently have one thing most others don’t…
a real system.
If you want to plan your best 2026, you need more than a pretty dashboard or a list of resolutions. You need a workspace that holds your vision, your business plan, your projects, your finances, your regular actions and your weekly rhythm all in one place.
That’s exactly what the MY PA Business Hub was built for.
In this walkthrough we’ll look at how to set up your full 2026 planning system inside Notion, using the exact structure real founders use to bring order to their year.
If you are preparing for growth in 2026, one of the best things you can give your business is a clear, realistic and focused business plan.
Not a 40 page academic document.
Not a generic template that leaves you more overwhelmed than when you started.
You need a practical plan that helps you understand where your business is today, where you want it to be in 12 months, and most importantly, the steps you need to take to get there.
A good plan creates clarity.
A great plan creates momentum.
In this guide, you will see what to include in your 2026 business plan template, how to structure it, and how to use it throughout the year without getting lost in detail. You can start all of this on one page, then expand it into a fuller plan whenever you are ready.
Start simple. Build clarity. Then turn it into a real plan.
Running a business is overwhelming enough. Planning it shouldn’t be.
This free one-page business plan template helps you organise your thoughts, get clear on your idea and build confidence before you move into the full plan.
Think of this as Step 1 — the warm-up before the real work.
Once your one-page plan is complete, you can expand it into a professional, investor-ready business plan using the MY PA Business Starter Kit, which includes the full multi-page template, step-by-step guidance, examples, financial tools and more.
Running a small business means juggling ideas, clients, planning, content, invoices, projects, goals… and often doing it all alone.
Notion is one of the best tools to bring everything together, but only if you use the right templates.
In this guide, you’ll discover the best Notion business templates for 2026, what each one is for, and how to choose the right system depending on where you are in your business.
Whether you’re a solopreneur, coach, creator, freelancer, or small business owner, this guide will help you build a business that feels clear, organised, and calm.
Most business owners don’t struggle because they’re disorganised.
They struggle because their business is scattered:
projects in one app
content in another
invoices in a spreadsheet
ideas in Apple Notes
reminders in their head
Notion fixes this — if you have the right setup.
A good template helps you:
See your entire business in one place
Reduce overwhelm
Focus on what matters this week
Stay consistent with clients
Track money clearly
Grow without chaos
The templates below are the ones that genuinely help you run your business like a business, not a guessing game.
A Notion planner is perfect if you want structure in your week without bringing the whole business into Notion yet.
The best planner templates include:
daily, weekly, monthly and yearly planning
goals linked to projects
weekly focus
a content planner
space for ideas and notes
Who this is for:
Early-stage founders, creators, solopreneurs, or anyone who wants clarity without managing clients or finances in Notion.
If you work with clients or deliver services, you need a simple way to see:
what’s active
what’s overdue
what’s waiting for the client
what’s coming next
The best project templates include:
task timelines
status tracking
links to clients
priority views
“this week” views
notes and deliverables
This keeps delivery clean and stops things slipping through the cracks.
A CRM doesn’t need to be complicated.
You just need a simple way to track:
enquiries
leads
follow-ups
client status
meetings
notes
Most small business owners lose money because they forget to follow up.
The right template fixes this.
👉 Internal link here:
Link to MY PA Business Hub page (this is where the CRM lives).
Your finances don’t need to be complicated. The best templates include:
income tracking
expenses
subscriptions
invoices
upcoming payments
simple profit view
due dates
A good Notion finance system won’t replace accounting software,
but it will help you stay in control week by week.
If you create content, this is a must.
Look for:
ideas list
posts by platform
schedule for the week
brand assets
messaging
hooks and captions
launch timelines
The key is consistency — a good content planner helps you show up without burning out.
This is the template for business owners who want everything in one organised system.
A real Business Hub should include:
Planner (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)
Projects
Tasks
Goals
Content
Leads & CRM
Client delivery
Finance
Systems
Documents
Recurring actions
A dashboard that shows “This Week” clearly
Most templates only do one piece.
A Business Hub brings everything together.
Here’s the simplest way to decide:
Perfect if your biggest problem is clarity, focus, routines, or weekly planning.
This includes the full planner plus:
CRM
Projects
Finance
Delivery
Content
Documents
Systems
It’s for anyone who wants everything in one home inside Notion.
Notion can transform how you run your business, but only with the right setup.
You don’t need 20 templates.
You just need one system that brings the important pieces together.
If you want to get organised quickly, the MY PA templates give you:
clarity
structure
weekly focus
all your business in one place
a calm, clean workspace
Most small business owners are not struggling because they’re disorganised.
They’re struggling because their business is scattered everywhere.
Projects in one app, content in another, money tracked somewhere else, client notes in a notebook, screenshots saved in your photos, reminders in your head.
It feels heavy because it is heavy.
And no one can run a business with clarity like that.
This post is for the business owners who are doing everything alone and carrying all the mental weight. If it feels messy, slow, or overwhelming, there is nothing wrong with you. You just don’t have a central system holding everything for you.
On the outside it looked like “planner season as usual.” Orders going out. Emails coming in. Social posts. Real life.
On the inside, every spare hour was being poured into one question:
How do I take what MY PA does on paper and turn it into a proper business system that lives in Notion.
I thought it would be simple. A few databases. Some views. A nice dashboard.
It wasn't simple.
At several points I seriously considered walking away from it and pretending I never started.
For years, I have watched customers use the MY PA Planner as their weekly control centre. They plan their goals, block their time, review their weeks and actually move things forward.
But there was always this gap.
They were still running the business in their head. Leads. Client work. Invoices. Content. Ideas. To-dos. All in mental tabs.
Most small business owners do one of two things for the new year:
They write a big plan, then never look at it again.
Or they wing it week to week and hope it somehow adds up.
Neither really works.
The truth is, you need both:
A clear big plan for 2026.
A simple way to bring that plan into your months, weeks and days.
Running a business can feel intense, overwhelming and chaotic, especially when you carry everything in your head. If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel clear, organised and in control, you need a simple survival system.
This checklist gives you the essentials every entrepreneur needs to stay steady and focused all year. Think of it as your foundation for a successful 2026.
The end of the year can feel heavy for many small business owners. You look back at everything you wanted to do, everything you pushed aside and the goals that are still waiting for you. It is easy to feel frustrated or behind, especially if the year felt messy or chaotic.
A proper year end reset gives you clarity, confidence and a clean slate. You can close 2025 in a calm, intentional way and step into 2026 with focus instead of pressure.
Here is a simple reset guide to help you finish strong and build a better year ahead.
Goal setting is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business, yet most entrepreneurs approach it in a way that guarantees frustration. They set too many goals, choose vague targets or rely on motivation to carry them through the year. By February, everything feels overwhelming again.
If you want 2026 to be the year you actually move forward, your goals need to be simple, focused and supported by a planning structure that makes follow through easy.
Here is how to set goals that work for real business owners.
Most entrepreneurs do not struggle because they are lazy or unmotivated. They struggle because they are overwhelmed, carrying everything in their head and reacting to whatever comes in. When planning your year, the smallest mistakes create the biggest stress later.
If you want 2026 to feel more organised, calm and consistent, here are the 10 common planning mistakes and how to avoid them.
