Asana Review: Why It's My Favorite Project Management Tool
Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you :) Don’t worry, I only recommend products I truly believe in.
Are you wondering, “why use Asana?” or “is Asana a good project management tool?”
Well, you’re in the right place! I wrote this post as an honest review of my experience with Asana.
I’ve been using Asana for project management since 2017 and it has been a savior for my sanity, not only for my website design/SEO business but also for my personal life!
Other tools like Trello and Clickup are popular, but I’ve been so happy with Asana that I’ve never wanted to steer away from it. Regardless of if you’re thinking of dipping your toe into the Asana waters or a different platform, there’s so many benefits to investing the time into learning how to use a project management tool to manage daily/monthly tasks.
I used the free version of Asana for 7 years until 2024, when I upgraded to the premium version. So I can tell you - you don’t need the paid version to get a lot out of this incredible tool.
In this post, I'm breaking down the benefits of Asana and why I think small business owners should use this project management tool with their clients.
Benefits of Asana for managing internal work projects
I have my Asana dashboard broken up for various projects - weekly and monthly tasks as well as one-off tasks. One of my favorite things is being able to set up recurring reminders so I don’t have to remember tasks that I do consistently.
I use Asana for reminders of:
Writing weekly social media posts
Engaging on social media daily
Writing weekly emails and scheduling them to my list
Course product updates
Managing/following up with leads
Brainstorming blog post ideas and outsourcing to content writer
I also have various templates created that I can easily duplicate for different workflows:
Doing a live launch / running a flash sale of my online course
Writing blog posts and uploading to Squarespace
Updating testimonials on my website
Graphic design for my virtual assistant to complete
Below is an example of how my tasks appear for the calendar view of my “sales and marketing” project, which includes both tasks for me and my virtual assistant.
Benefits of Asana for managing client projects
Are you constantly sending emails back and forth with your clients?
The project typically starts off great and then goes south real quick?
You're scrolling through email after email and can't seem to find what you're looking for…
Sound familiar?
This is where Asana comes in! There are many great features for managing client projects, communication, and files.
1. List out tasks, assign those tasks to different people, and add deadlines
2. View a project or team projects in calendar form
3. All files are stored together under a project tab
4. Communication and feedback happens in one place
You can leave comments under each task or use the conversations tab at the top for more general messages.
5. Track the progress of a project and update its status
Benefits of Asana for managing personal life
I use Asana for so many reminders…
Paying credit cards
My dog’s heartworm meds
Booking medical appointments
Car insurance renewals & maintenance
Paying rent
Tasks relating to the volunteering efforts I’m involved in
Doing research for upcoming trips
And many other personal tasks!
Whatever comes to mind, you can add it into Asana. In the master view of all my tasks (see screenshot in next section), my personal tasks appear red so I can see them very quickly.
Seeing everything at once
One of the things I love about Asana is that I can see all my tasks together - client tasks, internal projects, and personal life. I absolutely love using the calendar view every day.
And the best part is that you can color code each project so it visually easier to tell projects apart.
On the left in the screenshot below, you can see I have “teams” for each major part of my business:
My team tasks
Executive
Sales & marketing
Products & services
Operations
Personal
Templates (for my website design projects)
Website design projects (where specific client projects live)
Within those teams, I have specific projects that fall under each category.
I organized all this by learning from Louise Henry’s Uplevel with Asana course (more on this below!).
I have a lot of active projects in this screenshot - so I totally get if the above looks super overwhelming. But it’s so easy to click and drag tasks from one date to the next if you need more time to get something done.
You may be thinking....
Here are some common objections/hesitations to learning Asana and using it with client projects.
I don't have time to learn another tool
Asana will help you become so organized that you'll end up saving time. No more needing to scroll through endless emails -- all your client projects and communication are in one place, so you'll be able to easily locate messages and files.
One of my favorite features of Asana is its automation feature with tasks. For example, when you assign a task and deadline to a virtual assistant or client, Asana will automatically email that person and remind them of the upcoming deadline.
I'm not a techie person
Asana is one of the easiest tools I've ever used. Seriously.
You just log in to Asana using an email and your account is set up within seconds. The backend of Asana is so straightforward that you can learn how to use it in under 5 minutes.
I like my process as it is
You might like your process, but I bet your client doesn't. Your business looks unorganized and chances are that things will fall through the cracks.
Using this program was a huge game changer in the way I ran my business. It's helped me become so much more efficient and organized.
I don't feel comfortable asking my clients to learn how to use a tool because it creates more work for them
I can promise you that your clients will appreciate a clean and organized design process. Let them know ahead of time that you'll be using a project management tool throughout the project. Either provide your client with an intro video to Asana or record one yourself. You can use QuickTime or an app like APowerRec.
Almost every single one of my clients has mentioned how smooth the process was with Asana.
I'm already investing so much money into my business
Did I mention Asana is free? There are paid plans, but I know seasoned entrepeneurs that are still using the free plan. It allows unlimited projects and up to 15 team members.
Do you love Asana like I do? Why do you prefer it over other project management tools? Drop a comment below, I'd love to hear!
Looking for a step-by-step Asana course?
If you’re looking for a resource to learn all things Asana and how to use it efficiently for your business, I highly recommend Louise Henry’s Uplevel with Asana course. Through my affiliate link, you can save $200!
I only recommend other products that I love — here’s my honest review of the course.