It’s back (and dare we say better than ever?), welcome to the Best Planners for Solopreneurs List - 2021 Edition!
After a rollercoaster year where our 2020 planners laid dusty and dormant for weeks on end, (and let’s be real, a couple of months), we were itching to dig into the 2021 planner round-up.
Not only are we excited for a fresh start, but the reflection that this year has brought really illuminated the need for more than just a calendar.
Yes, planning out your week is critical for making your goals a reality and ensuring that work/home balance is a real, tangible part of your life, but planning is so much more than a date-based practice.
In the 2021 list of Best Planners for Solopreneurs, you’ll find “planners,” but also journals, guide books, and methodologies baked right into the pages of these planners so you can make 2021 a year that, no matter what curveballs the world and life throws our way, we can ensure is filled with intentionality, purpose, and joy.
And with that, our top recommended planners for solopreneurs for 2021 include…
( P.S. - There’s an epic Ultimate Planner Package giveaway for one lucky winner at the end of this post, so make sure to read the details and enter to win!)
Solopreneur Success Journal by Sarah Morgan
While the Solopreneur Success Journal isn’t your typical planner --you won't be tracking your to-dos or planning content on these pages -- it’s an incredible tool for helping you to grow your business, acknowledge your challenges, and shift your mindset.
With journaling and reflection being a critical piece of the planning and visioning process in your business, the Solopreneur Success Journal is the perfect piece to work on in tandem with your traditional calendar to identify your potential.
Even if you’ve never fancied yourself a journaler, there are plenty of prompts to get the creative juices flowing, which we’ve found are helpful for allowing certain themes to emerge that we can then take clearer, guided action on.
Best Day Guide by Shunta Grant
Can we just take a minute and say that Shunta Grant is one of our favorite people to follow on Instagram? Her account is like a straight shot of espresso full of inspiration and encouragement on routines, building a business, and motherhood that will kick your butt into gear.
We’ve purchased her other habit-teaching courses and found them to be so helpful that when we saw Shunta was releasing the Best Day Guide, we knew it belonged on the Best Planners for Solopreneurs list!
The Best Day Guide is also not a traditional planner OR a journal, but can work in tandem with your favorite calendar.
Inside, you’ll find a three step practice, which includes a weekly preview (one of my most favorite productivity strategies!), a practice on planning each day the night before, and a morning practice that could tie-together or encompass a journaling exercise.
We’ve found that this practice is a great way to focus on moving forward and the results and accomplishments you experience, and not a long list of distracting to-dos.
Plus, The Best Day Guide is also undated, which is perfect for those who need fresh slate before or well after January 1!
Modern Women’s Business Planner
The Modern Women’s Business Planner is designed for women entrepreneurs who want to plan content, organize projects and manage client details in one place. It’s a beautiful planner full of smart and helpful content that will help anyone who prefers paper and pen to focus on their business and keep everything in a central hub.
We love the Modern Women’s Business Planner because you can see your month at a glance, make a weekly schedule, plan your social media content and content creation, analyze your competitors and more - all in one beautiful planner.
And because it’s undated, you can pick it up and use it at any time. We love the combination of beauty and usefulness you’ll find in this planner!
Cloth & Paper
Cloth & Paper prides themselves on their luxe minimalistic look, and clean, classic offerings - and, personally, we love the fact you can use your cover for years to come and just change out the inserts.
Cloth & Paper offers a wide array of options for layouts and designs for the inserts, so you can choose something that will work for your business and life based on your preferred styles and planner needs. We also love their super chic stickers that you can add on, and many of their labels made us laugh and smile (who doesn’t want to use a “Mulah” tab for their business finances section?!).
We also love that they offer a monthly subscription that contains beautiful and practical planning goodies, because we all know that trying new planning items and accessories is a love language all of its own. We could lose ourselves for hours on their site browsing pens and pencils, accessories, planner inserts and all the extra goodies that they offer. << Hello, the perfect gift for the paper love in your life! (Or a little hint, hint to your gift-givers!)
Agendio
Agendio is Chrissy’s go-to favorite planner, and has been for years! It’s 100% customizable and they are always adding new options to make your planning systems even more simple and streamlined.
If you’re a hardcore planner and you’ve struggled to find something that’s perfect for your individual needs, Agendio is a great option since you can design your own including tons of layout options and customizable details, which allows users to choose everything (including colors) and even add pre-printed reminders right on their pages - like cleaning schedules, birthdays or anniversaries.
The only drawback that we’ve found with Agendio is that some people may find that all the options can be overwhelming- especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with a variety of planners and aren’t 100% sure what you’d like to use in a planner.
Simple Grind Digital Planner
If you’re already managing your business digitally, or you’re just not much of a hand-written planner type, we love the Simple Grind’s comprehensive digital planner for freelancers!
This is a gorgeous and practically designed planner, and it’s full of everything a business owner would want to plan, track or manage - monthly and weekly spreads, social media management, project pages, and more.
The best part of a digital planner is that everything is linked, so there’s no flipping to find notes or other information that’s stored on a separate page. We love how easy and eco-friendly this is, and if you have an iPad or another device that you frequently have at your fingertips, this planner is a great use of that device!
Keep an eye out for the 2021 date version to be added to the shop soon!
The Rainbow Vision
For those who love a little (or a lot of) woo, we think you’ll love the look and layout of The Rainbow Vision’s planners!
With beautiful cover designs showcasing natural imagery like florals, the moon, and a Seeing Eye design, among others, the pages are interspersed with inspiring mantras and playful art, goal-planning sheets, and self-discovery journaling pages alongside their monthly calendar view and week-by-week pages.
In essence, it’s a little bit of everything wrapped into one planner. And with styles offering 12-month plans, 6-months, and undated, there’s a planning style to suit everyone’s needs.
Visionary Journal by Keep Chasing The Stars
This one’s for the color lovers! With a gorgeous galactic design The Visionary Journal has the look and the format to help you achieve your biggest goals. A self-proclaimed “day planner, goal setting guide and vision board,” the Visionary Journal is part planner, part daily life tool that features quarterly, monthly, and weekly breakdowns so you never get overwhelmed with making strides toward your ultimate vision and biggest dreams.
In addition to the Visionary Journal, the creator-in-chief, Monique, has also created must-have sticker sets, especially those for time-blocking!
Do Less Planner by Kate Northrup
We heard rumblings of this planner on Kate’s podcast right after we published the 2020 Best Planners for Solopreneurs list and immediately added it to our 2021 brainstorm board!
Coinciding with her book, “Do Less - A Revolutionary Approach to Time Management for Ambitious Women” the Do Less Planner is all about how to plan for the life you crave that doesn’t include rushing, being addicted to busyness, or cramming every piece of available space with something more.
If the concept of time is one you’ve grappled hard with, this planner may take a little more inner work to make “work,” but it’ll be worth it!
Planner Pad
More of your classic planner style, Planner Pad isn’t for the color and design lovers, but for those who crave function and a proven system (a 40-year established system to be exact), you’ll love Planner Pad’s funneling method approach that ensures that nothing slips through the cracks.
Using a three step system of categorizing, prioritizing, and scheduling, you’ll move through your week being able to see everything that needs to be accomplished without feeling overwhelmed on how you’re going to get it all done.
It’s crisp, clean pages are made with the method in mind and is the perfect launch pad for making sure that every facet of your life and business that you want to attend to gets a spot on your schedule.
Content Creators Planner
“How would you feel if you knew your content marketing was driving traffic and sales?”
This is the question you see at the top of the Content Creators Planner website, and we’d venture to guess the answer is, “pretty damn good!”
Creating content consistently across a variety of channels is no easy feat, but the Content Creators Planner is flipping that notion on its head by providing the essential planner for any solopreneur who wants a home to map out their goals, plan your goal-aligning content strategy, plot it on a calendar, and measure the results.
Whether you’re a writer, podcaster, YouTuber, or blogger, the Content Creators Planner works for all types of content creators including its variety of planner formats - print, digital, or a Trello board option (our personal favorite!).
The Ultimate Life Binder by Secret Owl Society
If you feel like your whole life needs to get in order, may we introduce you to The Ultimate Life Binder!
The breadth of this planner really can’t be captured in it’s entirety in a short paragraph, so you’ll need to go check it out for yourself, but if you need a hub for your project planning, finances, health (mental and physical), travel, business, content, goals, and oh yes, your day-to-day schedule, The Ultimate Life Binder has every area you need covered.
The best part is that it’s completely customizable, so take the sections and templates you need, when you need them, and start taking action immediately (this planner is delivered digitally with printable options, so whatever format works for you).
As the creator, Michelle, explains, creating this planner out of need for herself 10 years ago is what has allowed her to take 100% responsibility for her own life and as a result, make each year 10 times better than the last.
Now for the 2021 Best Planners for Solopreneurs Giveaway!
This year, we're thrilled to be able to give away an ultimate planner prize package to one lucky winner!
The 2021 Best Planners for Solopreneur Winner will receive:
- Your choice of any planner from the round-up or a shop credit of $60 to spend for one of the customizable planner creators.
We love the simplicity of these pads. Each day, you write down your top 3 things that you need to accomplish that day and post it somewhere that you’ll see it. It’s a great way to stay focused on the important things each day.
These adorable candles are some of the best scented candles we’ve found, and are locally made. The winner will get a Birch, Please scented candle and a Champagne Toast (celebrate a year well done!).
- A One year subscription to Todoist Premium (a $36 value)
Even if you love a good planner, having a digital to-do list that you can update on the go. Todoist holds my whole life (Chrissy) from reminding me to change smoke alarm batteries and run a washing machine cycle to to-dos for work.
- This adorable set of succulent planner clips from InspiredFlower
All winners will be randomly selected. Enter with multiple entries below for your chance to win!
Still want to consider other planner options? We’re not judging, we take planning seriously, too. ????
Take a look at our past “Best Planners for Solopreneurs” posts in 2019.
This post for the Best Planners for Solopreneurs contains affiliate links. As always, we only include affiliate links for products + services we personally recommend and think might benefit you and your business.
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