Consultants
I help independent consultants organise the repeatable work around delivery: proposal templates, records, invoice preparation and update drafts. Your client advice, scope decisions and relationships remain yours.
At a glance
The problem
Independent consultants and advisers build a business on one asset: the quality of their thinking. And yet a real share of every week goes to work that does not need that thinking at all.
It is a systems problem rather than a discipline problem. Many of these tasks are templated, predictable and repeatable, which is exactly what makes them removable. The question is not whether to remove them, but which one to start with.
Many consultants already own the tools. HubSpot or Pipedrive for records, Xero or FreeAgent for billing, Google Workspace or Notion for documents. What is often missing is that nobody has connected them, and nobody has worked out which process is high enough volume to justify fixing first.
The starting point is always an honest look at how the business actually operates, not a shortlist of tools.
Where the time goes
The pattern is consistent across business development, delivery and billing.
The arithmetic
Six admin hours a week, over a forty-eight-week year, is 288 hours. At £250 an hour that is £72,000 of expertise applied to work that does not need it.
That figure is arithmetic on an assumed rate and an assumed number of weeks, not a measured result. It is worth running with your own rate, because the number sets a realistic ceiling on what fixing the problem is worth spending.
This works best if you bill at £150 an hour or more, have three or more live client relationships at once, and have tried tools without connecting them into anything that runs. It is a poor fit if you are newly independent and still finding your first clients, or if your work is so bespoke that no two engagements share a process.
Premium Paye
At Premium Paye in France, invoice preparation, direct debits and online onboarding were connected. The founder reports around twelve hours of admin in a busy month with new clients before the change, and under one hour now across those processes.
Read the case studyHow it works
We agree the right depth of discovery first. Each paid stage has its own deliverables and fixed fee; you decide whether to continue after it.
First, a free 15-minute conversation to understand the challenge and agree the appropriate next step.
We explore the process, what you want to achieve and how your team prefers to work. I challenge the proposed solution if the underlying problem is different.
You receiveA clear process map, written recommendations and an agreed priority.
During separately scoped Process Design, I check the connections, permissions, costs and exceptions that could affect the solution.
You receiveA documented workflow, feasibility findings and the requirements for a reliable build.
Before implementation, we agree what will be built, the timeline, responsibilities and how we will check that it works.
You receiveA written proposal with a fixed build price, acceptance checks and any ongoing costs.
I build the agreed solution and test normal cases, exceptions and approvals. Your team reviews it against the checks we agreed.
You receiveA working solution, a demonstration and the agreed checks completed before handover.
I show your team how to use the solution, what to monitor and how to handle exceptions. We clarify ownership and support.
You receivePractical instructions, a walkthrough and clear support terms so your team can run it.
Discovery, Process Design and implementation each have an agreed scope and fee. You choose the appropriate discovery service; buying both is not required. Testing, documentation and team handover are included in the agreed implementation scope.
Before we talk
The honest answers, including the cases where this is not worth your money.
Not if the hours are real. A solo consultant carries every one of these tasks personally, so there is nobody to absorb them. The Review is deliberately small enough to be worth doing at that scale.
We start with the tools you already use. Some workflows can use their built-in features; others need a supported connector or an AI step. Process Design sets out the connections, usage costs and any ongoing support before you commit to the build.
A Focused Process Review is £350 for one recurring process; the broader Review starts from £650. We agree which scope fits during the free introduction. Detailed design and implementation are quoted separately once the selected process and requirements are clear.
Then you will hear that. If no two engagements share a process, there is nothing repeatable to remove and the Review will say so. That is a legitimate outcome and it is cheaper to discover at this stage.
Keep reading
Your business
Tell me what your week actually looks like and I will tell you whether there is a time leak worth fixing, and roughly what it is costing you in a year.
15 minutes · No charge
Prefer to write? anne@10pm.works