Invest in Yourself & Your Business: 4 Steps for Consultants

As a business consultant, you’re a star when it comes to helping other companies improve their bottom line - but what about your own?

Far too often, consultants find themselves wondering where their money is being spent - because they’re so focused on boosting a client's ROI and caught up in the busywork of managing their business that they begin neglect their own bottom line.

With the right service operations automation software, you can escape this downward spiral. You’ll be able to track expenses, forecast profitability and monitor your own budgets, all while doing the work you love!

Here’s how to get started:

1. Track your time (because it's money)

2. Streamline your processes

3. Invoice (but without thinking about it)

4. Spend wisely

1. Track your time (because it’s money)

It might sound trivial but not tracking the time you spend on emails or in meetings will add up and hurt your bottom line - because you’re leaking revenue in ways you didn't even realize. Only a third of professionals like consultants admit to tracking their time and budgets properly - meaning they’re always left wondering ‘where on earth is my money is being spent’?

If this sounds like you, don’t worry - there’s a solution. The right smart platform will automatically log all your billable time for you, so that you can focus on growing your firm alongside your clients.

You’ve got enough stuff going on - you shouldn’t have to remember to log your billable time, but you also shouldn’t be leaking revenue that could improve your bottom line.

2. Streamline your processes

Think about a service operations platform that enables shared visibility over projects and calendars, so that existing (or prospective) clients understand your true value. They’ll be able to see how many billable hours you’re putting in and get automatic updates every time a task is completed - so that your business model becomes something to aspire too (now that's what I call strategic marketing). Afterall, transparency is a great tool for building brand credibility.

3. Invoice (but without thinking about it)

Before you can turn your billable time into revenue, you need to invoice your clients. But - gathering all your expenses from various tools, emails and accounts is a tedious process and one you should avoid. The right service operations automation platform will cut the admin burden of invoicing in half (or altogether) - so you can focus on more important things like boosting profitability and productivity, or slashing your invoicing cycle by 70% just like Big Blue Digital did.

4. Spend wisely

Investing in software that’s clunky can actually cost you more time than it’s worth; It’s out-dated, cumbersome, and simply doesn't offer the benefits that automated cloud-based solutions do. So before investing in a smart tool to run your business, ask yourself this simple question - would you recommend it to your clients?

To learn more about the benefits of service operations automation and how it’s helped consultants like you double their customer engagement.