You’re a solo consultant. You sell your time and expertise. You spend 15 hours per week on admin that generates zero value for clients.
That’s 15 hours you could spend on billable work. Or rest. Or business development.
Most UK solo consultants know this. Few do anything about it.
This post shows you which admin tasks drain your time and how to reclaim those hours.
The five biggest time drains
1. Chasing late payments (3 hours per week)
You check your bank feed. Invoice #1247 is 14 days overdue. You open your email. You stare at a blank screen.
“Dear Client” sounds too formal. “Hi there” sounds too casual. You type three versions. You delete two. You send one. You wait.
Three days later, you follow up again. Same process. Same stress.
You spend Tuesday morning writing payment reminders instead of doing client work.
The fix: Use a template system that handles every payment chase in under 2 minutes. Include UK specific language about small business cash flow. Reference the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act if needed.
2. MTD tax categorisation (3 hours per week)
Sunday evening. You open your banking app. 47 transactions need categorising for your quarterly Making Tax Digital submission.
Pret A Manger. Business or personal? You had a client meeting there on Tuesday. Personal lunch on Thursday. You can’t remember which transaction is which.
Adobe Creative Cloud. Software subscription. Standard VAT. Easy.
Train to Manchester. Business travel. Standard VAT. Also easy.
Tesco. Could be client entertaining. Could be personal shopping. You flag it for review.
You spend three hours every Sunday doing this. You hate Sundays.
The fix: Process transactions in batches of 10. Use a system that knows HMRC categories and VAT types. Flag dual-purpose items automatically. Cut your Sunday admin to 30 minutes.
3. Meeting coordination (2 hours per week)
Client emails: “Can we catch up next week?”
You reply: “Sure, when works for you?”
They reply: “Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon?”
You check your calendar. Tuesday has a 2pm call. Wednesday is clear after 1pm.
You reply: “Wednesday after 1pm works. What time suits you?”
They reply: “2pm or 3pm?”
You reply: “2pm is perfect.”
They reply: “Great, send me a calendar invite.”
Six emails. 20 minutes. One meeting booked.
You do this 15 times per week.
The fix: Reply to meeting requests with three specific time slots. Include duration (30 minutes maximum). Send calendar invites immediately. Cut coordination time by 75%.
4. Document review (4 hours per week)
Your client sends a 94-page market research report. Subject line: “Thoughts on this?”
You need to read it. Extract insights. Prepare recommendations. Do it before Thursday’s call.
You start Monday morning. Page 15, your phone rings. Page 23, an email needs urgent attention. Page 31, you realise you can’t remember what page 15 said.
You start again Tuesday. You finish Wednesday evening. You spend 4 hours reading when you needed 15 minutes of insights.
The fix: Use a document synthesis system. Get a 3-sentence summary, 5 key data points, and one client-ready recommendation in under 5 minutes. Read the full report only if needed.
5. Content creation (3 hours per week)
You know you should post on LinkedIn. Thought leadership builds your pipeline. Silence loses you clients.
You open LinkedIn. You stare at “Start a post”. You close LinkedIn.
You try again Wednesday. You write three paragraphs. You delete two. You rewrite one. You get interrupted. You save the draft.
Friday afternoon. You finish the post. You hit publish. 14 people see it. Three like it. Zero leads.
You spend 3 hours per week on content that generates minimal results.
The fix: Repurpose existing work. Turn client call notes into LinkedIn posts. Extract newsletter tips from project documents. Create multiple formats from one piece of content in under 2 minutes.
The time breakdown
| Task | Weekly Time Lost | Monthly Time Lost | Annual Time Lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payment chasing | 3 hours | 12 hours | 144 hours |
| MTD categorisation | 3 hours | 12 hours | 144 hours |
| Meeting coordination | 2 hours | 8 hours | 96 hours |
| Document review | 4 hours | 16 hours | 192 hours |
| Content creation | 3 hours | 12 hours | 144 hours |
| TOTAL | 15 hours | 60 hours | 720 hours |
What you can do today
Pick one task from this list. The one that wastes your most time.
Build a system to handle it. Template, checklist, or automated process.
Test it for one week. Measure time saved.
Most consultants save 2-3 hours in week one. 6-8 hours by week three. 15 hours by week six.
That’s 720 hours per year back on your calendar.
Use them for client work. Business development. Or life outside work.