Capture work, align on strategy, execute efficiently, and continuously improve your small business.

Capture and prioritize work

Capture everything your business is working on and let ClickUp AI help you prioritize it.

Set up your Workspace

Create a meaningful structure in your Workspace, using Spaces, Folders, and Lists.

• Create or choose a Space for your small business operations. For example, Operations or Client Work.
• Create Lists for the main work streams you manage, such as Customer Requests, Orders & Inventory, and Ideas & Improvements.

Use Forms to capture incoming work

Enable customers and your team to create tasks with rich detail using Forms.

1. Add a Form view to Lists where external requests or submissions should land. For example, to collect customer inquiries or supply orders.
2. Design your Forms so that each submission creates a task with key details like requester, urgency, request type, and due date. Use Custom Fields to store specific types of information from the Form.

Start with a single "Intake" List and one Form if you’re unsure of your ideal structure. You can split it into more specialized Lists later as you see patterns in your incoming work.

Create tasks for ad hoc work

You can always create tasks from anywhere in ClickUp. 

• Encourage your team to create tasks directly from views or their Inbox for ad‑hoc work that doesn’t come through a Form.
• Create tasks from anywhere using the AI Command Bar.

Keep track of action items from meetings

Make meeting super productive.

• Use recurring tasks and Docs to run effective meetings.
• Use AI Notetaker during customer calls or internal meetings so decisions, follow‑ups, and next steps are captured automatically.

Align strategy and goals with OKRs

Connect your day-to-day work with your small business' goals and strategic objectives.

1. Create high‑level business goals in a dedicated List. For example: Increase monthly recurring revenue or Reduce order fulfillment time.
2. Break each goal into measurable targets. 
   • Use Custom Fields such as number, currency, or checkbox Custom Fields to capture simple targets. 
   • Use subtasks to plan and execute on more detailed targets.
3. Create Relationships to connect work in other locations to your goals.
4. Build a Super Agent or use Brain to draft vision Docs that explain each goal, why it matters, and how team members contribute.
5. Share these Docs in your main Space or Folder and pin them in views so people can quickly reference the strategy.
6. Create Dashboards to visualize goal progress with widgets for task completion, workload, and key metrics.
7. Use Workload views to balance assignments across your team, adjusting task owners or due dates when someone is overloaded.

Dashboards work best when tasks are consistently updated. Make it part of your team’s routine to keep statuses, dates, and time tracked current so reports reflect reality.

Collaborate, execute, and automate

Centralize collaboration and use Automation and ClickUp AI so your team can move faster.

1. For each major workflow (for example, Customer Support or Order Fulfillment), create a List or Folder where all related tasks, Docs, and views live together.
2. Use task comments, @mentions, and attached Docs to keep discussions and decisions tied directly to each work item.
3. Add Chat Channels for ongoing conversations, like #customer‑support or #ops‑war‑room, and link important threads to tasks.
4. Schedule regular SyncUps using tasks or Calendar views, and use AI Notetaker so meeting notes and action items are stored in ClickUp.
5. Configure Automations to handle routine updates, such as changing a task’s status when a Form is submitted or assigning a task when it moves to a new stage.
6. Build Super Agents to automate work including status updates, follow ups, and progress reports based on your instructions.
7. Use AI summaries in tasks and Docs to quickly catch up on long threads, then decide what to do next without reading every comment.

Start with a small set of Automations (for example, assignment and status changes) before layering in Super Agents. This keeps the system easy to understand while you validate your process.

Capture knowledge and scale what works

Turn successful workflows into reusable templates and knowledge so your business can grow consistently.

1. Identify processes that you repeat often, such as client onboarding, monthly reporting, or new hire setup.
2. Turn the best version of each process into a task template, Doc template, or a combination of both.
3. Store templates in a dedicated Folder or Space so you can quickly update the version in the Template Center.
4. Use Docs to write simple SOPs that describe when to use each template and what “done” looks like.
5. Use Dashboards to see which workflows save the most time or drive the most revenue.
6. When you find a successful variation of a workflow, update your templates and SOPs so improvements become standard.

Revisit your templates regularly. As your business grows, you may need different fields, views, or Automations to match new products, services, or team structures.

Report, learn, and continuously improve

Use unified reporting and ClickUp AI to monitor performance and drive ongoing improvements.

1. Build Dashboards that bring together metrics such as task completion rates, overdue work, sales pipeline, and support volume.
2. Add AI Cards or AI‑powered summaries to your Dashboards to generate quick standups, weekly updates, or executive views.
3. Use filters on Task List cards to highlight overdue tasks, bottlenecks by assignee or status, and trends across Lists or Spaces.
4. Schedule a recurring review meeting where you open these Dashboards, discuss insights, and capture action items as tasks.
5. As you make changes based on insights, update your goals, templates, and Automations so the system reflects your latest operating model.

Keep your reporting simple at first. Focus on a small set of metrics that clearly show whether your business is healthier this month than last, then expand as you get more comfortable with Dashboards and AI reporting.