Setting up a small business in Emitii
- 1
Company space
Create a space for company-wide files, policies and Posts, with Docs & Files on.
- 2
Team spaces
Add an Internal space per department or location.
- 3
Invite staff
Invite people by email or CSV and add them to the spaces they work in.
- 4
Routine tasks
Turn weekly and monthly chores into repeating to-dos with owners.
- 5
Shared calendar
Put appointments, deliveries and rotas in Schedule; add meeting rooms if you have them.
- 6
Customer jobs
Open a Client space for larger jobs and invite the customer as a guest if useful.
How small businesses really run
Most small businesses do not have a "project management process". They have an owner who remembers everything, a few group chats on personal phones, a spreadsheet of jobs, a folder of scanned documents and a wall calendar. It works until the owner goes on holiday, a staff member leaves with the chat history, or two people book the same meeting room.
The cost is quiet but real. Tasks slip because they were mentioned once in a chat. Documents get emailed back and forth in five versions. New staff learn by asking. The tool sprawl in small business article looks at this pattern.
Map the business onto spaces
In Emitii a space is a container for one customer, job, location or team. A small business rarely needs many, and the small business template gives a ready-made structure. A typical setup:
- One Internal space per department or location: "Front office", "Workshop", "Branch 2". The Internal type turns on Tasks, Schedule, Timesheet and Posts.
- One Client space per larger customer or job, if you do project work for customers. The Client type turns on Tasks, Schedule and Posts.
- A "Company" space for policies, forms and announcements everyone needs, with Docs & Files switched on.
Every space has Pulse, its group chat, always on. That replaces the personal chat groups with a work chat that stays with the business when people change phones or leave.
Daily operations
Tasks is where most small businesses live. Lists hold to-dos with an assignee, a due date and comments. Recurring to-dos cover the routine: "Check stock" every Monday, "File VAT return" monthly, "Service the vehicle" every 90 days. Anything that needs stages can be sent to the Board as a card.
Schedule is the shared calendar for appointments, deliveries and staff meetings, in month, week or day view. If your premises have meeting rooms, admins can add them and Emitii prevents double bookings. Each person's My calendar gathers events and assigned to-dos from all their spaces, and can overlay their Google Calendar read-only.
Docs & Files keeps price lists, supplier contracts, staff handbooks and templates in folders, with search and file versions.
Posts are for announcements that should not scroll away in chat: new opening hours, a policy change, a holiday rota.
Travel agencies and other service shops
Service businesses that handle bookings fit well. A travel agency can run one space per trip or group ("Everest Base Camp, 14 pax") with the itinerary in Docs & Files, supplier conversations in Pulse, departure dates in Schedule and a to-do list of passports, permits and payments. The same pattern suits a clinic's front desk, a property manager or a repair business.
Finding things quickly
The Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K) search jumps to spaces, conversations, people and contacts, and matches card titles, to-dos, post titles and doc names. Each space also has its own search for docs, messages and the board. The company Directory keeps supplier and customer contacts with phone numbers, even for people who never log in, so the front desk is not hunting through someone's phone.
Staff, access and customers
Admins invite staff by email, and can import a list from CSV. Access is set per space, so the workshop team need not see the accounts space. Customers or suppliers you work closely with can be invited as guests to one space, where they see only what you share and can comment but never manage. For the settings, see access control.
Time, if you need it
Businesses that bill by the hour or want to know where staff time goes can use the Timesheet: quarter-hour entries marked billable or non-billable, submitted weekly for approval and exported to CSV. The timesheets page explains the flow.
Access
Emitii is invite-only: request access and the Emitii team sets up your workspace. It installs on phones as a web app with push notifications.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Emitii too complex for a small team?
- Spaces start with only the tabs their type needs, and you can switch modules off. Many small businesses use just Tasks, Schedule, Pulse and Docs & Files.
- Can staff use Emitii on their phones?
- Yes. Emitii installs as a web app on phones with push notifications, so staff can check tasks and chat from wherever they work.
- Can customers or suppliers join a space?
- Yes. Customers or suppliers you work closely with can be invited as guests to one space, where they see only what you share and can comment but never manage.
Related
- Small business workspaceA plain Emitii setup for small businesses: a few spaces for operations and customer work, recurring to-dos, policy folders and weekly updates.
- Business operationsRun internal routines, policies, company updates and team admin in Emitii with Internal spaces, recurring to-dos, Posts and Docs & Files.
- Tasks & boardRun work in Emitii on a kanban Board with priorities, labels, blocked flags and checklists, plus to-do lists with recurring tasks and Send to board.
- Calendar & scheduleEmitii gives each space a Schedule and each person a My calendar, with recurring events, RSVP, meeting room booking and a read-only Google Calendar overlay.
- Tool sprawl in small businessWhat tool sprawl looks like in a small business, the hidden costs in money, time and risk, and practical steps to bring your team's work back into one place.