Notion for Small Businesses: Running Your

• Company on One Tool Small businesses often juggle many tools: email, spreadsheets, task managers, CRMs, file drives, and more.
• Notion can help consolidate these into one central workspace .
• It’s a flexible platform where you can manage projects, clients, finances, and documentation all together .

Company on One Tool

Small businesses often juggle many tools: email, spreadsheets, task managers, CRMs, file drives, and more. Notion can help consolidate these into one central workspace . It’s a flexible platform where you can manage projects, clients, finances, and documentation all together . In fact, Notion’s “Small Business OS” templates promise a “unified system to manage projects, clients, sales, finances, and objectives in one place” . Why Notion? It’s incredibly customizable and cost-effective.

Instead of separate apps for CRM, wikis, and tasks, you use Notion’s blocks and databases to build exactly what you need. A marketing guide notes that Notion is like having a notebook, to-do list, project board, and more all in one place . Notion integrates with tools you already use (Slack, Google Drive, Zapier , etc.), which smooths your workflow . Plus, real- time collaboration means your team can work together regardless of location .

Building Your Business Dashboard

Set Up a Company Home Page. Create a top-level page (which could be your sidebar home) with your business name. This is your digital “office.” On this page, include links or embedded tables for each major area: Projects/Operations: A linked view of a “Projects” database (like in the previous article) for tracking tasks and internal initiatives. Clients/CRM: A “Clients” or “Contacts” database as your CRM. Each entry is a client or lead, with fields like Contact Person , Company , Email , Status , Next Action , and Notes . You can “track prospects and clients, manage quotes and invoices” as described by one small business template .27

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Finances: A “Finance” page or database for budgets and expenses. Notion can hold tables for income/expense tracking. For invoicing, you might embed a template or link to a Notion-based invoice generator (see [33] below). Company Info: Text sections for Mission, Goals, or an “About Us” summary. Wiki & Docs: Quick links to internal documentation (like an employee handbook or SOPs). Team Calendar: You can embed a Google Calendar or create a Notion calendar view for company events or project milestones.

Client and CRM Management. In the Clients database

Use properties like Company Name , Contact , Industry , Sales Stage , Potential Value , Last Contacted , Next Follow-Up . A Kanban view by Sales Stage can function as a sales pipeline board. The small business OS template highlights “Sales Pipeline Management” – tracking prospects, clients, quotes, and invoices . For example, add a “Quote Sent” status or a checkbox for “Signed Contract”. Link Projects to Clients: If you have client projects, relate those project entries (from your Projects database) to the client record. This ties client billing to the work done.

Project & Task Tracking. Same as any PM setup, but here for company-wide tasks

You might have an overall Projects DB (with each project or client project as entries) and a Tasks DB for sub-tasks. Views can show tasks by project, or company timeline for project deadlines. Templates: have a template for “New Client Project” that creates a project page with task list, timeline, and client link set up.

Financial Tracking.

Create an “Invoices” or “Billing” database. Fields: Invoice Number , Client (relation), Amount , Due Date , Status (Paid/Unpaid). The Notion Everything blog mentions an “Invoice Tracker & Generator” template that lets you create invoices, track payments, and set reminders . Even if you don’t generate PDFs in Notion, tracking statuses keeps invoices from slipping. A simple budget table can list expected income and costs, so you see net cash flow in Notion.

Internal Operations and Documentation.

Company Wiki: Use a Notion wiki for SOPs, policies, employee directories, etc. The Knowledge Management page says having all company info in one place makes it “easier to manage” and smooths onboarding . For example, an Onboarding page could outline new hire tasks, while Operations outlines workflows. Meeting Notes: Use a database to record meeting minutes, linked to related projects or teams.4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

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Templates: Create templates for common documents (e.g., “Press Release Template”, “Job Description”, “Project Charter”). Standardizing these in Notion saves time.

Team Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing.

Invite your team to the workspace. Give them access to the relevant pages. They can all work on the same Projects page, comment, and update tasks in real time. Use Notion’s block commenting to discuss proposals directly in documents. As part of knowledge management, you might “turn pages to wiki” for certain directories. Notion’s team wiki tools let you “assign properties to pages, view info in table or list, and enable page verification” . This ensures important docs (like “Company Handbook”) are reviewed regularly.

Advantages for Small Businesses

Reduced Tool Sprawl: By building your own CRM, project manager , and knowledge base in Notion, you cut down on multiple software subscriptions. As Notion’s product guide suggests, one workspace is a “home for all your team's work” . Customization: Your business is unique; Notion adapts to you. You add exactly the fields and pages you need. For instance, if you do retail, you might add inventory tracking. If you do services, you might emphasize client feedback loops.

Easy Onboarding: New team members get access to a Notion workspace with everything documented. As noted, this “makes onboarding seamless — they have access to everything they need on day one” . Centralized Knowledge: Notion ensures there’s “one system all teams can use and customize, fostering transparency” . Marketing, ops, and sales can each have their section, but all under the same domain.

Cost-Effective: For growing teams, the Business Plan ($15/user) is cheaper than many CRMs or project tools when you consider all functions combined .

Example: Real Small Business Setup

Imagine a small design agency: - They have a Clients page listing all clients and a status field (Lead, Active, Completed). A Kanban on “Lead Pipeline” shows new prospects. - Each Client entry links to its Projects (via a relation). The Projects DB has entries like “Website Redesign for X Co.” and “Social Media for Y Co.”. - Tasks for these projects are assigned to team members, with deadlines. Team uses a board view to track who’s working on what.

- The agency has a Knowledge Base page with sections: “Design Guidelines,” “Brand Assets,” “HR Policies.” - They track Invoices with an “Invoices” table, checking off when paid. - Whenever a new project kicks off, they use a template that creates client info, tasks, and deadlines automatically. This centralization cuts confusion. Instead of one person emailing a PDF contract, file drives separate docs, and Slack blowing up with reminders, everyone checks Notion.

They know exactly where to find proposals, who’s responsible for next steps, and what the financial status is.

Getting Started

Invite Your Team: Everyone should have a Notion account (the free tier already allows 10 guests for small teams ).23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

Set Permissions: Decide who can edit which pages. For example, all employees edit Tasks, but maybe only managers edit the Budget page. Experiment with Templates: Browse Notion’s template gallery for “Small Business” or “CRM”. Even pre-built dashboards can give you a jumpstart. By running your business in Notion, you have “one connected workspace” that grows with you . As Notion’s own site pitches, it can combine all the parts of business – CRM, project tracking, docs – into a single tool . For a small business, that means less time on tool-switching and more time on running the company.

Next step

If you want to turn this into a reusable workspace, save your best blocks as a page template, name your properties consistently, and test your setup on mobile. Small tweaks like clearer statuses, fewer views, and better naming make a template feel instantly premium.

Try the free tools to estimate time saved and plan your next build, or head back to the Articles page to keep learning.