Bullet journaling works because it is flexible. You draw the layout you need this week, and next week you draw a different one. The problem is that drawing layouts takes time, and the people who love the system most are often the ones with the least of it.
The idea: a set of customizable bullet journal templates in Google Sheets, for task tracking, goal setting, meal planning, habit tracking, and whatever else your audience journals about. It is number 19 on my list of 100 business ideas in Google Sheets.
Grid paper and a grid of cells are not so different. Sheets just happens to count for you.
The idea
Build a collection of bullet journal templates designed for a variety of purposes: a daily log, a weekly spread, a monthly overview, a habit tracker, a goal page, a meal planner, a reading log, a gratitude page. Each one lives on its own tab, looks clean, and is easy to adapt.
Google Sheets makes the mechanics easy. Templates can be copied to a new sheet in one click, or a single tab can be copied into a sheet the user already has. That last part matters. Bullet journalers build one journal over time, and they want to add a new spread to it, not start over in a new file.
The thing to understand about this audience is that they are not looking for a productivity app. They already tried those and came back to paper. What they want from a digital version is the same feeling: a page they own, a layout that matches how they think, and no notifications. Keep the templates quiet. Muted colors, generous whitespace, cells sized like dot grid squares.
Where Sheets beats paper is in the small automations. A habit tracker that counts your streak. A monthly spread that pulls the tasks you did not finish last month. A goal page that shows a percentage. These are the things people draw in a paper journal every month by hand, and a formula does it once and forever.
Where you can make it yours is in the theme. A bullet journal set for nurses working shifts. For students by semester. For people managing a chronic illness who track symptoms and medication. Every one of those groups already journals, and a template set made for their specific pages, with their vocabulary, sells better than a generic one.
How to build it in Google Sheets
- Index tab. A list of every template with a one-line description and a link to its tab, plus a short "how to copy a tab into your own sheet" note. Bullet journals always start with an index.
- Daily log tab. Date at the top, then rows with a symbol dropdown (task, event, note), the entry text, and a Done checkbox.
- Weekly spread tab. Seven columns, one per day, with a task list in each and a small "this week's focus" block at the top.
- Monthly tab. A calendar grid built with formulas from a single month input cell, and a migration list that shows unfinished tasks carried over.
- Habit tracker tab. Habits down the side, days across the top, a checkbox in every cell, and streak and completion columns at the right.
- Goals tab. Goal, why it matters, target date, milestones with checkboxes, and a progress percentage.
- Meal planner tab. Days by meals, with a grocery list block that collects the ingredients typed in.
Features that fit this set:
- Checkboxes everywhere. They are the digital version of filling in a bullet, and they feed every count.
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COUNTIF for habit completion, for example
=COUNTIF(B2:AF2, TRUE)to count the days a habit was checked across a month. - Data validation dropdowns for the bullet symbol on the daily log, so the classic task, event, and note markers stay consistent.
- Conditional formatting to shade weekends on the monthly grid and to fade completed tasks rather than strike them out.
- FILTER on the monthly migration list, pulling every unchecked task from the previous month's tab into this one.
- SPARKLINE next to each habit for a tiny 30-day bar chart. It is the closest a spreadsheet gets to the satisfaction of a filled-in tracker.
- Named ranges for the month input and the habit list, so users can rename or extend things without breaking formulas.
Spend more time on how the templates look than on how clever they are. This buyer judges with their eyes first.
Who pays for it, and how to sell it
People who already bullet journal and want a digital version for work, travel, or days when the notebook is at home. People who like the idea but never kept up with the drawing. And the niche groups I mentioned, who want pages built for their specific life.
They pay for the design and the automations. Anyone can make a grid; they are buying the fact that it looks right and counts for them.
Pricing: $9 to $29 for a set of templates, which is in line with what this audience pays for printable versions. Seasonal or themed drops work well here: a new set each quarter, a holiday planner in November, a "new semester" pack. A subscription at a few dollars a month for a new spread every month is plausible if you enjoy designing them.
Sell on Gumroad, where planner and journal templates already have a big audience. Or use OnlySheets to sell access to the master Google Sheet, so buyers are shared automatically and every new template you add lands in their copy.
First 10 customers: bullet journal communities are visual. Post a clean screenshot of one spread, with realistic entries filled in, and offer the full set. Do it for three different spreads over three weeks. The habit tracker with its streak counter is usually the one that gets people to ask where to buy.
Related ideas from the list
- Note Taking Templates, the same template-set product for a neighboring habit.
- Fitness Planner, which is essentially a habit tracker with a specific theme.
- Create an Interactive Recipe List, a natural extension of the meal planner tab.
Want the other 99? This is one idea from my list of 100 business ideas you can build in Google Sheets. Get all 100 business ideas as a free Google Sheet.
And if you want to learn how to package and sell spreadsheets, my course Selling Spreadsheets walks through exactly that.