Effective Consultant Workload Management for DSM Businesses

Greater Des Moines (DSM), with its one-of-a-kind economy, has experienced significant growth in the past few years. The most recent numbers show the labor force sitting at around 370,000, with professional and business services accounting for a high percentage of jobs — 56.3%. It’s no surprise then that business management consulting firms are on the rise.

Various companies across industries in DSM hire consulting firms to provide professional advice and actionable strategies to help them solve problems and improve efficiency. This places consultants who are looking to grow their business in DSM in a powerful position.

That said, consulting work isn’t easy. From answering emails and making time for calls to scheduling meetings, managing projects and invoicing clients — the day-to-day management of a consulting agency can set you on the fast track to burnout if you aren’t careful.

As a consultant, your time is your most valuable asset, and using it effectively is vital to the success of your business. To help set you on the right path and ensure your business thrives in DSM, we’ve got some tips and insights for more efficient workload management.

Reduce Admin Work

A significant portion of day-to-day work for consultants is administrative tasks. Unfortunately, admin work can easily get out of hand, which is why this is one of the first things you should work on streamlining to help manage your workload.

Strategies for reducing admin work can include automating processes wherever possible, such as lower-priority repetitive tasks, and digitizing your documentation processes using cloud software to keep things accessible and organized. As communication is a key part of consultant work, it’s also helpful to streamline how you communicate with clients and your team by upgrading to digital messaging channels, such as Slack, Zoom or Microsoft Teams.

Another critical part of reducing the time and attention needed to do admin work is investing in task management software. Programs like Asana or Wrike can simplify task work, making it easier to keep track of who needs to do what and when. You can even assign priority levels to tasks based on urgency or deadlines.

Nail Down Your Time Management Skills

Good time management skills are crucial for consultants.

To improve your own time management skills, start by making just one list to work from and include everything that needs to get done. This includes your routine day-to-day tasks as well as special tasks that are specific to that day. Next, estimate how long it should take to complete each task.

Doing this can help train your brain as you’re working throughout the day. It can also help to use time-tracking tools when you first start, so you get a more realistic idea of how long each task should take.

Once you have a better idea of the time everything will take to get done, you can set more realistic goals when planning out your days and weeks, helping you keep to your schedule.

Hire Help

As much as you might think you can handle everything yourself, if you’re struggling, it might be time to consider hiring some extra hands. This is especially true if you are looking to scale your consulting business and take it to the next level.

Partnering with other DSM professionals and outsourcing work is perhaps one of the best things you can do to make your life easier as a consultant. If your admin tasks are getting to be too much, hire an office administrator. If you’re struggling to keep up with invoicing and other documentation, hire a bookkeeper. Need someone to help with fielding calls? Look into bringing on a customer service rep.

There are several companies in Des Moines that provide outsourcing services that can help you grow your team and outsource your consulting work, including Eide Bailly, Connectify HR and Forge Financial & Management Consulting. 

Even if you work as a freelance consultant, it’s important to set a work schedule and stick to it. If you don’t, your personal and professional time can overlap, and it’s important to have that separation to give yourself a break and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Set a start and end time for every day. Once that end time rolls around, stop what you are doing. If you didn’t finish everything, consider reworking your to-do list based on more realistic time estimates.

When you’re off the clock, take care of your physical and mental health needs. This means getting enough sleep, exercising, eating healthy meals and partaking in personal hobbies.

At the end of the day, the best thing for your consulting business is to take care of yourself. If you aren’t meeting your own needs, you can’t expect to meet the needs of your clients either.

Job opportunities and career resources are abundant in Greater Des Moines (DSM). Whether you're looking to find an internship, a job, develop professionally or grow as a student, we have the resources to help you thrive.