How To Start Your Own Planner Business (First Steps)

Starting your own planner business is a great way to earn some extra income, even if you are working from a small space or home office. Before you get started, here are the first steps and important tasks you will need to do in order to ensure that your hard work pays off when you start a planner business.

Research Before You Start A Planner Business

It can be easy to watch a Tiktok video about someone making lots of money by selling planners, but before you jump into it head first it is important to carry out some crucial research and make it the very first thing on your to-do list – before you even create your first planner.

There are going to be a lot of business decisions to make, so during this period of researching you are going to need to cover a variety of topics before you get on to doing great things.

Identify Your Target Audience

First things first, when it comes to researching your planner business is to identify your target audience – you need to know who your potential customers are before you start to create anything or spend any money on your new business.

There are so many planners that you could sell, so it is important to decide whether you are going to niche down, or offer a wide variety of planners. Do you want to be known to offer the best household management planner out there, or the biggest range of planners out there?

You will also want to know if your target audience want physical planners, digital planners, or a mixture of both. Perhaps they want to purchase a planner digitally and print it off so that they can use it straight away, or perhaps they want a paper planner with a cute snap binder delivered to them in beautiful packaging. There are plenty of different ways to deliver your planners, whether you decide to offer a digital planner vs physical planners.

You also want to think about the amount of money that your target audience has to buy planners. If you are marketing towards people who are frugal and want to save money then you want to be able to provide the planners are cheap as possible; whereas if your target audience is made up of people with a higher disposable income then they might want to spend more on receiving a beautifully made planner.

Completing thorough market research will help you to compete with other small businesses offering planners.

Research the costs associated with running your own planner business

You could start a planner business for free or spend as much money as you want to, however it is important to research the costs associated with starting your own business selling planners.

This is a great time to think about one off costs, monthly subscriptions as well as the cost of materials and marketing. You might also need to hire a graphic designer if you aren’t confident creating the planners yourself, or purchase templates. You might want to take some online training courses to learn more about making planners or running your own business.

As well as those costs, think about on-going costs that you may incur, such as payment processing fees, packaging prices and postage costs.

Also think about how you will manage expansion. Will you need to rent out office space, or pay for employees as the business grows?

As well as researching the costs of running your planner business, think about financial projections – when are you likely to sell more planners, for example, towards the start of a new calendar year or a new academic year.

Filling out a budget sheet can really help you to get a clear idea of the profit margins that you will be working with.

Research the business side of things

Another vital part of your research before starting your planner business is to think about your business set up.

As well as choosing a business name, this also means considering whether you will register as a new business, or could you add it on to any existing business you may already be running. For example, a food blogger could easily add meal planners to their existing business.

You might also want to consider registering your business with Companies House and becoming a Limited Liability Company.

Your online presence

When it comes to your online presence there is still plenty to research.

You want to ensure that the business name you have chosen is still available as a domain name, and decide whether you want a .co.uk domain name to make it clear that you are based in the United Kingdom, or do you want to have a .com domain name if potential customers are able to buy digital planners or have your planned shipped world wide.

When choosing an online store provider there are so many options to choose from. Using something like Shopify comes with a hefty monthly price tag that could really eat into your profits, especially in those early days; whereas using something like Woocommerce on a WordPress website could be difficult to set up yourself if you have never done it before.

See What Else Is Out There Before You Start A Planner Business

Another vital step whilst researching your planner business is to see what different options are out there.

When bringing your own product to the market, you want to know what other product offerings are out there.

This isn’t done in order to copy what others are doing, but rather to help you to see how other small businesses are raising their brand awareness, what big things they are doing, if they are offering other valuable resources and just getting an idea of what is out there.

The Types Of Planners That You Could Sell

There are so many fantastic ideas for planners, here are just some of the ones that you could consider selling to your target market.

Personal and Lifestyle Planners

1. Daily Planner: For organizing daily tasks, appointments, and activities.
2. Weekly Planner: For planning out the week, including appointments, tasks, and goals.
3. Monthly Planner: For a broader overview of the month, including important dates and deadlines.
4. Yearly Planner: For annual goal setting, tracking long-term projects, and important yearly events.
5. Life Planner: For setting and achieving long-term personal goals and milestones.
6. Wellness Planner: Focuses on health and wellness goals, including exercise and self-care routines.
7. Fitness Planner: For tracking workout schedules, fitness goals, and progress.
8. Travel Planner: For organizing travel itineraries, packing lists, and sightseeing plans.
9. Meal Planner: For planning meals, grocery lists, and tracking nutrition.
10. Diet Planner: Focused on specific dietary goals, meal tracking, and nutritional intake.

Professional and Business Planners

1. Business Planner: For setting business goals, project management, and meeting schedules.
2. Project Planner: For planning and tracking project timelines, tasks, and milestones.
3. Entrepreneur Planner: Designed for business owners to track business growth, marketing strategies, and financial goals.
4. Meeting Planner: For organizing and scheduling meetings, including agendas and minutes.
5. Content Planner: For scheduling and managing content creation, such as blog posts, social media, and editorial calendars.
6. Marketing Planner: Focused on planning marketing campaigns, strategies, and goals.
7. Social Media Planner: For scheduling social media posts, tracking engagement, and planning content.
8. Editorial Planner: For writers and editors to organize content production and publication schedules.

Academic Planners

1. Student Planner: For tracking class schedules, assignments, exams, and study plans.
2. Teacher Planner: For lesson planning, grading, and classroom management.
3. Academic Year Planner: Aligns with the academic calendar for planning school-related activities and deadlines.
4. Homework Planner: Focused on tracking homework assignments and study schedules.

Financial Planners

1. Budget Planner: For managing personal or household budgets, tracking income and expenses.
2. Expense Tracker: For keeping a detailed record of daily expenditures.
3. Financial Goals Planner: For setting and tracking financial goals, savings plans, and investments.
4. Debt Payoff Planner: For planning and tracking debt repayment strategies.

Specialized Planners

1. Wedding Planner: For organizing wedding details, from guest lists to vendor contracts.
2. Party Planner: For planning and organizing parties and events.
3. Gardening Planner: For planning garden layouts, planting schedules, and maintenance tasks.
4. Home Renovation Planner: For planning and tracking home improvement projects.
5. Pet Care Planner: For scheduling pet care routines, veterinary appointments, and training plans.

Hobby and Interest Planners

1. Crafting Planner: For organizing crafting projects, supplies, and schedules.
2. Photography Planner: For planning photo shoots, tracking projects, and organizing equipment.
3. Reading Planner: For tracking reading lists, book reviews, and reading goals.
4. Music Practice Planner: For scheduling music practice sessions and tracking progress.
5. Language Learning Planner: For setting and tracking language learning goals and study sessions.

Family and Home Planners

1. Family Planner: For coordinating family schedules, activities, and chores.
2. Home Management Planner: For organizing household tasks, maintenance, and cleaning schedules.
3. Parenting Planner: For tracking children’s schedules, activities, and developmental milestones.

Creative Planners

1. Art Planner: For scheduling art projects, tracking supplies, and planning exhibitions.
2. Writing Planner: For organizing writing projects, deadlines, and editing schedules.
3. Journal Planner: For journaling prompts, personal reflections, and creative writing.

Coming Up With A Marketing Strategy When You Start a Planner Business

Creating fantastic planners is a great first step, however if you don’t have a great marketing strategy then all your hard work could be for nothing.

Your marketing strategies could be both free and paid. It is important to make use of social media platforms – just be sure to have good time management or you could end up spending too much time consuming content from other businesses and comparing your own small business instead of making progress. You could choose to run paid adverts on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, or send out planners to influencers as marketing.

You might also want to consider how you can stand out from other small businesses. You could do this by offering different things. Some examples include:

Offering a comprehensive guide to using your planners. This could be in the form of video content to really showcase your products and offer an interactive approach to marketing.

Offer a free download – if you are marketing wedding planners then perhaps you could offer a free PDF showing happy couples when each stage of their wedding planning needs to be completed. This offers potential buyers something specific to their needs, and creates trust with you and your planner business. Offering valuable resources like this is a great addition to what you can offer.

You could also think about how you can provide items that compliment your planners. There are so many ways to do this, from offering additional products such as pens, highlighters and stickers to creating communities around your planners.

If someone buys a new planner to help them to arrange their wedding then they may also want to be part of a community of engaged couples, chatting about their plans and asking questions in a Facebook group.

Another example could be a Facebook group to help members track goals – this could align really well with selling a productivity planner.

Think about the specific needs of your potential customers and the value you can add to them – not just with a planner but also anything that would work well alongside the planners.

Other tools that you could utilise are an email marketing tool and business cards to hand out at networking events, fayres and more.

Having a detailed plan for your marketing strategy including how to raise your brand awareness will help you to have competitive advantages over other planner businesses.

At the end of the day, nothing will replace excellent customer service, so make sure that this is paramount in your planner business.

Creating Your Planners

Now comes the fun part, creating your planners.

There are so many options available to you, from creating your own product line with various planner designs to buying templates, as well as hiring a graphic designer to create your planners. There are some great digital tools including Canva (with both a free version an upgraded monthly subscription option) and Adobe Indesign to help you to create designs to bring to the planner market.

If this is your first time creating anything then you might want to consider online courses or reading blog posts about how to create a planner.

Another great option is to use planner templates that have been created by graphic designers. These can be found at a variety of price points to suit smaller budgets as well as fancy pants budgets. Many of the planner templates also offer step-by-step guidance to help you to customise the templates before you sell them.

When creating a successful planner, it’s essential to consider several critical factors. First, think about what elements make a planner truly effective and user-friendly. Is there a unique feature or innovative addition you could incorporate into a daily planner to enhance its functionality and appeal? For example, could you include sections for goal tracking, motivational quotes, or habit trackers that set your planner apart from the rest?

Next, consider how you will infuse your brand identity into the design of your planner. This involves more than just slapping a logo on the cover; it’s about creating a cohesive and recognizable aesthetic that reflects your brand’s values and style. Your brand identity should shine through every aspect of the planner, from the color scheme and typography to the layout and packaging.

Furthermore, the importance of clean and professional design work cannot be overstated. A well-designed planner should be visually appealing, easy to navigate, and free of clutter. Clean design helps users focus on their planning tasks without distractions, making the planner a pleasure to use. Consider hiring a graphic designer if needed or investing time in learning design principles to ensure your planner is not only functional but also beautiful and aligned with your brand’s vision.

Start A Planner Business Conclusion

Starting your own planner business can be a rewarding way to earn extra income and sometimes even passive income, but it requires careful planning and research to succeed. By thoroughly understanding your target audience, researching costs, and exploring the competitive landscape, you can make informed decisions that will set your business up for success.

Identifying whether to offer physical or digital planners, setting a realistic budget, and crafting a solid business strategy are crucial steps in your journey.

Additionally, a well-thought-out marketing strategy and excellent customer service will help you stand out in the market.

Whether you decide to create planners yourself, hire a designer, or use pre-made templates, the key is to provide value and meet the needs of your customers. By staying organized, creative, and customer-focused, you can turn your passion for planners into a thriving business.