If you’re starting a business or working to grow your existing business, you are going to HAVE to change some of your systems and process… and how you handle task management is one of them. 

When you’re running a business while working a 9-5, when you’re a solopreneur, and when you’re scaling a business… pen and paper lists just aren’t going to cut it. 

One of the BEST things I did for my business, and honestly my life in general, was to start using a task management tool. First I tried Trello, then I used Asana, and then I found my current and IMO, the best task management tool, ClickUp. 

I put EVERYTHING into ClickUp. I know you might be thinking taking the time to add tasks into a tool is going to take more time, but it allows you to look in one place and know exactly what needs to get done and what you need to prioritize.

Being able to look in ClickUp and instantly know what I need to work on that day saves me time and cuts down on decision making, so therefore I can focus on executing the most important tasks for that day that will drive my business forward. 

Effectively using a tool like ClickUp takes discipline. You have to get into the habit of making sure everything is added so that you can get the most out of the organizational powerhouse that is ClickUp. But I PROMISE you that you will not regret it. 

If you’re not already using a task management system, start as soon as possible. It will completely change your productivity level and how you run your business. 

Getting Started

The first step is to just GET STARTED. I’ve heard from a lot of people who are waiting to start using a task management system until they have time to sit down and get it set up. ClickUp is a feature-rich tool and it can feel overwhelming at first. But it’s SO easy to make changes and updates once you’ve created your account, you can always change the setup later. Just get started!

ClickUp is organized in a hierarchy so all of your racks will be housed in a “workspace.” You can have more than one workspace but if you want to be able to see everything in a single view, stick with one workspace to start.

Within your workspace you will have different “spaces” that can either be a list or a folder that has multiple lists nested within that folder. For example, within my workspace, each of my digital marketing agency clients has their own folder with lists for social media, email marketing, website, etc within the folder for that client. 

When you create a new task, you assign a due date, assign it to someone, and save it to a specific list. ClickUp makes it easy to create new spaces, folders, and lists AND you can bulk edit or move tasks which is why I encourage my clients to start using ClickUp, because you can always re-arrange it later as you get more comfortable with all the features ClickUp has to offer. 

ClickUp for Recurring Tasks

One of my favorite things about ClickUp is the recurring task feature. You KNOW I’m a fan of setting up systems and processes in your business ESPECIALLY when you’re still working a 9-5 or if you’re a solopreneur looking to grow your business. 

Anything you find yourself doing more than once, should be a recurring task in ClickUp.  When you create a recurring task, you can set it to re-create that task after specific intervals of time have passed or on specific dates. You can set recurring tasks for specific days of the week, or certain dates in the month, and you can set them to recur after certain intervals of time have passed. 

Recurring tasks have saved me SO MUCH time and brain space because I can set them once and not worry about remembering to do something because I know ClickUp will remember for me.

Here are some recurring tasks I have in my ClickUp workspace:

• Schedule social content (recurs every Wednesday)

• Pay estimated taxes for previous month (1st day of each month)

• Follow-up with open leads (every Friday)

• Add recent Instagram stories to relevant highlights (3rd Thursday of each month)

That means I never have to remember to add those things back onto my calendar or my to-do list. As soon as I mark the task as completed, I know it will automatically create a task for the next time I need to complete that task. 

Using Clickup for your Clients

I also use ClickUp for my clients. This is a decision you’ll need to make for yourself based on your client workflow and the type of clients you typically work with. 

For clients who aren’t tech savvy and aren’t very organized or disciplined, ClickUp is probably not going to work. If you think a client won’t make the effort to get familiar with the tool then I would say just use it for yourself to manage the work you’re doing for them. 

But if you have a client who is engaged and agrees that a single platform to house all task and project management, files, and most communication is a good idea, then ClickUp can make client management much easier!

When you add a client to a space or folder in ClickUp, you will both be able to create new tasks, assign them to someone, and give the task a due date. You can both see the progress and priority assigned to the task and any relevant notes or attachments. You can also communicate about the task all within ClickUp. This gets rid of the need for time wasting status calls and emails back and forth. It also allows you both to see the progress that’s been made and tasks that have been completed.

Using ClickUp with clients is not for everyone but it can be a GAME CHANGER when it comes to client communication and management. 

Using ClickUp with your Team

Many entrepreneurs struggle to update their systems and processes as they scale their business. But by using a task management tool while you’re still a solopreneur, you can be ready to EASILY start growing a team when you’re ready. 

My virtual assistant and my online business manager both work within my ClickUp workspace so that we all know what we’re working on at any given time. It also allows me to quickly track their progress on tasks.

We can all create tasks, assign them to ourselves or others on the team, add a due date, set a priority, and include additional information or attachments right in the task. We can also tag each other within a task if there’s a question or someone needs feedback. 

ClickUp also lets you set custom statuses so I know if they are working on a task or if it needs my approval, then I can update the task status to approved when it’s ready to be scheduled or go live.

I used task management systems as a solopreneur for about 3 years before hiring my first team member. And because I had developed an efficient system for tracking tasks, they were able to immediately jump in which drastically cut down on the amount of time they spend onboarding and getting familiar with my business.

Does the thought of using ClickUp or even just getting started just completely overwhelm you? Click here to purchase my course specifically on ClickUp that will show you EXACTLY how to set up and use ClickUp for your business. Sign up for ClickUp here.