Time management can be challenging for even the most seasoned business professionals– and it can feel especially daunting when you’re a fractional consultant balancing business development with client work. 

You need to feed the pipeline so you always have new business prospects coming in, but you also have to deliver the best possible results to your clients on your agreed-upon timelines. With only so many hours in the day, we’re breaking down the best methods we’ve learned for effective prioritization, the tools and apps that can help, how to set boundaries and manage client expectations, and more. 

The ultimate goal of being a fractional consultant is to create a sustainable work-life balance that works for you. Crafting a time management plan for your business is crucial to success not only for your business but for building the life you want for yourself. 

Effective prioritization techniques for consultants

There are many different approaches you can take in your fractional consulting business when it comes to prioritization. A few options to try are: 

• Impact vs. effort matrix: prioritize your work in terms of what moves the needle and what’s just busy work, putting the high-impact, low-effort tasks first. 
• Client priority matrix: an approach to prioritizing the client-focused work you need to do. 
• Time blocking: this gives you specific time blocks during which you should focus on completing specific tasks, helping narrow focus and cut out distractions. 
• Batching similar tasks: this can help cut down on context switching, increasing your efficiency. 
• Regular reviews: check in regularly on your workload to assess if you’re putting in the time where it’s having the most impact and see what can be outsourced.  
• Outsourcing and delegation: the best method for freeing up your time to focus on high-impact tasks, we’ll discuss this further in a later section! 

For some fractional consultants, effective prioritization can be as simple as putting your to-do list into tiers using whichever productivity tool works the best for you (more on these in a later section, too). You can call this the ABC or 123 method: 

1. What absolutely needs to get done right away, today
2. What needs to get done by the end of the week
3. What needs to get done to maintain the systems you’ve built 

One of the keys to success as a fractional consultant is to build out a business development system that feeds your prospective client pipeline so you never have to worry about a low revenue month again. 

Be sure you’re prioritizing the things that move the needle for your business above all else. It’s easy to stay busy with low-impact tasks that take away time and energy from the actions that lead to success. 

Once you’ve built a system that works for you, keeping it running doesn’t have to take hours every week either. With the right approach- including tools and apps that boost productivity and help keep you on task with time- you can keep your system running in as little as an hour a week. 

Tools and apps that boost productivity and time management

You’ll need tools to keep your business development system running smoothly. Some options include: 

• Zapier: Zapier allows you to set up a whole flow in their system. Upload a contact list from a CRM or a Google Sheet and a trigger can kick off that sends out a personalized outreach note from your Gmail address. 
• Automated email client: One example of this is Woodpecker, which costs around $50-60/month. This tool has a built-in AI that identifies responses as positive or negative so you can immediately see what the response rate is to your outreach. 
• LinkedIn: There are a ton of different tools to choose from for LinkedIn outreach including Expandi, Lemlist, LinkedHelper, DuxSoup, and more. They all send out connection requests and follow-up messages for you after you upload a CSV or otherwise enter a list for outreach.

If you don’t want to build an entire tech stack out for finding and maintaining leads, consider Mylance. (You can find more details about how you can apply at the bottom of this post.)  

Aside from business development, you’ll also need tools that keep you on task with time management and help boost productivity. Some options include: 

• Project management tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday.
• Collaboration workspaces like Notion, Evernote, or Google Workspace.
• If your work involves a lot of visual collaboration, consider tools like Mural or Miro that integrate easily with video software like Zoom.  
• Time-tracking apps like Toggl Track or RescueTime help you see where your time is really going so you can plan and prioritize better (and bill accurately). 

You want to build the tech stack that’s right for you, with the specific area of focus your fractional consulting business has and your available budget. If your clients have particular needs, be sure you have a way to organize the work you’re doing to meet those and easily share milestones and other results with them regularly. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all-option but these tools are a good starting point.  

Setting boundaries and managing client expectations

A big part of protecting your time as a fractional consultant- and avoiding scope creep- is setting boundaries with clients. Be very clear up front about the agreed scope of work and don’t be afraid to reference your signed contract and statement of work when necessary. If client expectations are managed from the beginning, it’s easier to reinforce boundaries when a client starts to ask for something that’s outside of the original scope. 

If they ask anyway, it’s important to keep in mind what you know about their particular communication style. “Ask vs. Guess” culture can cause a lot of tension in communication, particularly in a professional setting. Some people will simply ask for anything they can think of and don’t find it rude when the other person says no. If you think this is your client’s communication style, it can help smooth out conversations around maintaining boundaries. 

The role of delegation and outsourcing in time management

While we can’t promise that you can bring your work week down to a handful of hours, delegating and outsourcing tasks that take away your time but have little impact on your business is the smartest way to spend your budget. You want to stand out in the crowded market of fractional executives, after all. 

Decide which things you can outsource and hire someone to handle them. If part of your marketing strategy involves a podcast and you don’t have the time and skillset to spend hours on audio or video editing, find freelancers to handle that part of the work. (Check out Popcut for freelance video editors.) 

A good virtual assistant is another option, if you have a hard time keeping your calendar and inbox organized and prioritized. Free up your time so you can focus on the tasks that have the highest impact on your business and give you back time to enjoy your life. 

Creating a sustainable work-life balance as a freelancer

The ultimate goal of life as a fractional consultant is to build the life you want for yourself in terms of revenue, but also lifestyle. What do you want to have time to do outside of work? Consider how prioritzation and time management gives you space to enjoy hobbies, time with family and friends, or even picking up a new side project you’ve always wanted to pursue. 

The right systems and tools will get you there– we hope this helps. 

Mylance

This value-added article was written by Mylance. Mylance specializes in identifying the highest quality, most curated leads for your fractional business. We use 5 different criteria to identify companies and decision-makers who are likely to need your expertise:

1. Matches your niche / unique expertise.
2. Likely to have the budget.
3. Gaps on their team in your function.
4. Are fractional-friendly.
5. Have warm connections from your network.

To apply for access, submit an application and we'll evaluate your fit for the service. If you’re not ready for lead generation, we also have a free, vetted community for top fractional talent that includes workshops, a rates database, networking, and a lot of free resources to support your fractional business.