If you have ever looked back in time at your creative business and wondered why your efforts haven’t yielded as much success as you anticipated, or looked forward to the future overwhelmed by the sheer volume of to-dos for your business, a bullet journal is for you. I’ll give you more than 11 examples of bullet journal spreads you can use to help organize your creative business and work effectively towards your goals. You can plan and write task lists all you want, but if you don’t prepare intentionally to succeed at your goals, you will not see as much success or gain as much fulfillment from your efforts.
What is Bullet Journaling?
The Bullet Journal (or BuJo for short) is a method for organizing, planning, and tracking Information designed by Ryder Carroll to help individuals live more intentionally. It is “described as a mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system” (bulletjournal.com) so that you can pare down to what really matters and make it happen. It’s as much a methodology as it is a physical means to organize.
To me, bullet journaling allows someone to truly craft the perfect planner for what they need. In Ryder Carroll’s book, he said that bullet journaling is “flexible, forgiving, and most importantly, practical” (p 15). If a certain layout isn’t helping, you shouldn’t keep it in your BuJo. This methodology allows for creativity to shape the way you do things to find the most productive format for you and your needs. I have used a BuJo in my personal and work life for over a year, and I had a hard time finding effective bullet journaling spreads to use as I transitioned into my creative business. Here are my favorites to help get you started.
1: My Why
It’s important to understand your “why” behind your creative business. If you don’t establish your ultimate purpose, you will waste a lot of time doing things that don’t fulfill your passion or contribute to your business. In the earlier pages of The Bullet Journal Method, Carroll says that, “leading an intentional life is about keeping your actions aligned with your beliefs,“ (p 33). It’s impossible to do that if you don’t clarify what your convictions are. You may have an idea of what is important to you already, but going through Carroll’s exercise of delineating: a) what you are working on, b) what you should be working on, and c) what you want to be working on, will help you understand your own desires and goals better. This is a great place to start because you will evaluate whether something is worth the amount of time you are spending, or if something else is more worthwhile.
2: Goals
Now that you have an idea of what will truly contribute to your creative business, you can set some concrete goals to help you fulfill that purpose. This spread is so much more than just writing down some resolutions that you’ll forget about in a month; take the time to thoughtfully evaluate your short-, mid-, and long-term goals for your business. SMART goals, or goals that are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound, are essential to make these goals actually happen. Set a couple short-term goals to get done in the next few weeks. Aim for a few mid-term goals to complete within a couple of months. And write down your big goals that will take a year or longer to accomplish. Don’t write too many goals, but make sure they have differing timelines so that you can always be working on something current or for the future.
3: Project Timeline/Kanban Board
This spread originates from a project management technique used in lean manufacturing, but can easily be applied to a BuJo spread if you have multiple “projects” to keep track of in your creative business. Essentially, a Kanban board includes multiple columns to represent different phases your projects may be in- planning, in progress, completed, etc. You put each project on a sticky note with a start date and an anticipated completion date (so you can easily tell how long the project has been on your board). You move each sticky note between the columns as you work on the projects so that you have a visual aid to track all the projects on your plate. A Kanban board is especially helpful if you have many tasks on your to-do list at any given time, such as multiple blog posts or YouTube videos in production.
4: Finances
For me, one of the least interesting parts of my small business is keeping track of finances. However, it is very necessary to keep a diligent record of the money coming into and out of the business. There are many different finance-based spreads you can use for your business BuJo. You can have a Spending spread to track your expenses, or an Income spread for your profits- or combine the two to reflect your bank account. If inventory is important to your business (and not too large), you can keep track of your stock so that you know if you are running low on any of your products.
5: Invoices
This spread is particularly helpful to me. I take custom orders, and I need to track my process of fulfilling that order and getting paid for completing it. This is a great way to track any open orders I have and where I am on the spectrum of finishing it. My invoices page has space to write the date I received an order, the item description, who made the order, and the anticipated deadline. I also have room to check off different steps of the order fulfillment, including a prototype for the item created, a final quote for the order, a confirmation from the customer, when payment was received, and if the order has shipped.
6: Calendars
A typical BuJo has a future log or calendar to record special dates and events, but for a creative business a calendar has so many more purposes! It is definitely still a tool to keep track of holidays and special events, which can alert you to opportunities for certain projects (Spring cleaning in March and Christmas decor after Thanksgiving) or sales you should have (25% off everything in my store for my 25th birthday!). You can also use a calendar to plan content creation or product production. This is especially helpful for planning social media posts, YouTube video uploads, and blog posts, which allows you to be aware of what you have coming up rather than just working towards what is scheduled for tomorrow. It’s way more efficient and way less stressful!
7: Brain Dump
A Brain Dump spread is a great way to designate an empty space for whatever you need to just put on paper. If you have a lot of ideas or tasks in your mind for your creative business, this page will give you the space you need to put everything before you have a chance to organize it. Personally, I love doing a brain dump because I can unload my mind and declutter my thoughts, which helps me move forward with my ideas rather than just let them ruminate forever. Brainstorming in general is a really helpful thing to open your mind to other ideas, so a Brain Dump page is a great space for this!
8: Post Checklist
This checklist is a great idea if you have a set list of things you want to do every time you publish a blog post/make a new product/upload a video/etc. For me, every time I post on this blog I want to make sure I post on Instagram, make some Pinterest pins, and do other task-related things to really flush out the sharing of my post and bring in viewers. A checklist helps make sure that you complete your entire routine and helps you remember everything that you can do for your content.
9: Key Info
This page has been a lifesaver in both my work and personal life. This is the spread you use for any important information that you don’t want to spend 15 minutes tracking down in your emails. This can include any login information for your business (what gets me- is my username an email address or a name?). It’s not a good idea to write down your passwords, but if you have any cryptic hints to help you remember them you may think about including those here. You can also include details regarding brand deals or stipulations for a specific affiliate program in which you are participating. This is a great spread for information that you could potentially lose track of but you know you will need to reference later.
10: Reflections
This BuJo spread isn’t just for your creative business; having a dedicated space to reflect can be beneficial for your personal life as well. Having a Reflections page every so often (say, once a quarter) can remind you of what successes you are having as well as help you evaluate potential areas for growth. This isn’t a place to bash yourself or wonder why you haven’t come as far as you want to. Take the time to truly think about milestones you have reached, successes you have had recently, things you want to improve, and even some short-term goals you want to work on before your next reflection. It takes time and thought to do this appropriately, but it is well worth it to do a regular check in on how your creative business is doing.
11: Trackers
Trackers are also a really versatile type of spread to help you organize your creative business. This can include a page where you track behaviors or other habits you want to implement for your business. Examples include posting at certain intervals, making time for product innovation- you name it! This kind of tool helps you become more aware of tasks that you may want to accomplish for your business. Another tracker you can set up relates to your business growth. This can be your followers on social media, your subscribers on YouTube, or your total sales for the year. The cool thing about a Tracker spread is that you can use it to measure anything you want that would contribute to you understanding and implementing your business better.
Ultimately, what you do with a bullet journal is up to you- make it your own! Try out a spread, and if it’s not working, change it or do something else. Carroll tells of how your bullet journal should be a tool in your toolkit of productivity, so make it help you the best way it can. I hope these BuJo spread ideas got you thinking about what kind of pages can contribute to your small business. If you use any of these spreads or have other BuJo ideas for a creative business, let me know in the comments below or share with me on Instagram by tagging me @crowchetcreations.
XO, Emily
