Google Sheets Can Save YOU ££££

THIS WEEK: Google Sheets gets treated as the thing you use before you get proper software. For a lot of small businesses, it does not need replacing at all. This week we go through what Sheets can actually stand in for, a CRM, a project tracker, an invoice log, the templates that make it work, and what has changed with Gemini built into Sheets in 2026.

Most small businesses accumulate software the same way they accumulate stock in a storeroom. One tool for this, another for that, each one a separate login and a separate monthly charge, until nobody can quite say what all of it is doing. A lot of that sprawl exists to solve problems a properly set up spreadsheet already solves.

Google Sheets is free with any Google account, works on any device, and lets you and anyone else on your team edit the same document at the same time without emailing versions back and forth. For a business with a handful of clients and a handful of active projects, that alone covers most of what a paid CRM or project management tool is actually being used for.

The other change worth knowing about is Gemini. As of 2026, Gemini is built directly into Sheets, and it genuinely changes what a spreadsheet novice can build. Type a plain English instruction into the side panel and Gemini will construct formulas, build a formatted dashboard, or set up a tracker structure for you, without you needing to know how a VLOOKUP works. That has closed a lot of the gap between "spreadsheet" and "proper software" that used to justify paying for something more complicated.

What Sheets Can Replace: A CRM

For a solo operator or a small team managing a manageable number of clients, a spreadsheet CRM genuinely works. The structure that matters is separating your data into linked views: one tab for contacts, one for companies, one for active opportunities or deals, and one dashboard tab pulling from the other three. Ready-made templates already do this. The Softr CRM template, free through the Google Sheets template gallery, organises everything across People, Companies, Opportunities, and a Dashboard view, with each opportunity tied back to the contact and company it belongs to.

The genuine limitation is that a spreadsheet will not send an automatic reminder to follow up with someone, and it will not log an email the moment it lands in your inbox. If you need that kind of automation, one of the dedicated free CRMs covered in a previous issue is the better fit. If what you actually need is a reliable, shared place to see every active client and what stage they are at, a properly set up spreadsheet does that job without a login for anyone else to manage.

Ask Gemini in the side panel to build you a pipeline dashboard from your existing contact list and it will generate the charts and formulas itself, which removes most of the setup barrier that used to make a spreadsheet CRM feel like more effort than it was worth.

What Sheets Can Replace: A Project Tracker

A project or task tracker in Sheets works well for a small team specifically because everyone can see the same live document without needing an account on a separate platform. The structure that works best mirrors what a proper project management tool gives you: a status column with a dropdown for To Do, In Progress, and Done, an owner column, a due date column, and conditional formatting that colours overdue items red.

Templates already exist for this, including proper Gantt chart templates with visual timelines and task dependencies, and simpler status trackers built for one person managing their own list of tasks. For a small business without complex dependencies between tasks, a well-built status tracker in Sheets covers the same ground as a basic Trello board, and it lives in the same place as the rest of your business documents rather than in a separate app.

With Sheets canvas, now part of Gemini's toolkit in Sheets, you can describe a Kanban-style board in plain language and Gemini will build it, including the visual layout, without you needing to construct it manually.

What Sheets Can Replace: An Invoice Log

This is where Sheets is arguably strongest, because invoicing is fundamentally a data problem: dates, amounts, statuses, and totals, which is exactly what a spreadsheet is built for. A proper invoice tracker template gives you columns for the invoice number, client, amount, date issued, due date, and payment status, with a formula automatically flagging anything overdue and a summary section totalling what is outstanding versus what has been paid.

Several free templates handle this well, including dedicated invoice manager templates that separate partial payments from full payments and generate a customer summary automatically. If you already use accounting software for the actual invoice documents and tax reporting, a Sheets tracker still earns its place as a simple, at-a-glance view of who owes you what, without opening your accounting software every time you want to check.

Gemini is now built into Sheets for anyone with Workspace smart features switched on, and it is worth understanding what it actually does. Type a plain English request into the Gemini side panel, such as "build me a client tracker with columns for name, service, status, and next follow-up date, and colour overdue follow-ups red," and Gemini constructs the whole thing: the table structure, the formulas, the conditional formatting. It can also explain and fix a broken formula in plain language rather than leaving you to decode an error message, and it can summarise data you already have into a dashboard without you writing a single formula yourself.

This is the single biggest reason Sheets is now a more realistic replacement for paid software than it was a couple of years ago. The barrier used to be that building a proper spreadsheet system required a working knowledge of formulas most small business owners never had time to learn. Gemini removes a large part of that barrier. Link: https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets

Pick whichever of the three, CRM, project tracker, or invoice log, is currently the messiest part of your business. Open a new Google Sheet and either search the built-in template gallery for a ready-made version, or open the Gemini side panel and describe exactly what you want it to track.

Add your current, real data rather than trying to import years of history. Share the sheet with anyone on your team who needs to see or update it. Use it daily for a week before deciding whether it is enough or whether you genuinely need dedicated software on top of it.

For a lot of small businesses, that spreadsheet turns out to be enough for considerably longer than expected.

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The Google Sheets built-in template gallery, accessible from sheets.google.com, is worth browsing properly rather than building everything from scratch. It covers budgets, invoices, project plans, and trackers, all free and ready to copy.

Coefficient (coefficient.io) is worth knowing about if you eventually want your spreadsheet to pull live data automatically from other tools you use, such as your CRM or ad platforms, without manual exporting. The free plan covers basic syncing for a small number of data sources.

Spreadsheets get treated as the beginner's tool, the thing you graduate away from once your business is serious enough to deserve proper software. That framing has never been entirely fair, and with Gemini built directly into Sheets it is even less true now than it was a year ago.

The businesses that get the most out of Sheets are not the ones avoiding proper tools out of stubbornness. They are the ones being honest about what they actually need. A spreadsheet with a clear structure, updated consistently, beats a proper CRM or project tool that gets set up once and abandoned. Start with the free thing you already have open. Upgrade only once you have genuinely outgrown it, not before.

Need someone to do this properly rather than doing it yourself? I have been doing this for 17 years. Get in touch. Alternatively, feel free to WhatsApp me on 07800596333!