What Is a Business Process Consultant (and do you need one?)
Introduction: The Everyday Chaos of Small Business
Figure: It’s 7 PM and you’re still at your desk, buried under invoices, unanswered emails, and half-finished paperwork. Sound familiar? Many small business owners end up juggling roles and fighting fires late into the evening, trying to keep the wheels turning
You’re not alone in feeling this way. In fact, research shows small business owners lose around 1.5 hours each day to unproductive tasks (that’s over three weeks per year!). One big culprit? Juggling too many tools and manual processes. Using four or more apps in your daily workflow contributes heavily to that wasted time. All these inefficiencies add up to constant stress and not enough time to focus on the big picture of your business.
What Is a Business Process Consultant?
When you’re drowning in day-to-day chaos, this is where a business process consultant comes in. In simple terms, a business process consultant helps identify, document, and improve the way your business runs, so things get done faster, cleaner, and with fewer headaches. Think of this person as a friendly operations expert who can streamline your work life.
How do they do that? They start by taking a close look at how things are getting done now and finding ways to make them better. Here are some of the key roles a business process consultant plays:
Diagnosing inefficiencies: They act a bit like a detective, digging into your current processes to pinpoint what’s causing delays, errors, or extra work.
Mapping workflows: They chart out your tasks and workflows step by step (who does what, when, and how), giving you a clear picture of how things move through your business.
Recommending and implementing solutions: Based on what they discover, they suggest better ways to do things. This might mean introducing a simpler procedure, recommending a new tool, or setting up a helpful workflow automation to eliminate repetitive tasks. Often, they’ll help you implement these improvements side by side with you.
Training and support: A consultant doesn’t just drop a plan and disappear. They can train you and your team on new processes or software and provide support until everyone is comfortable. The goal is to ensure the improvements stick and you feel confident operating your new-and-improved system.
What Makes ShirePath Different
There are plenty of consultants out there, but ShirePath Solutions takes a small-business-first approach. I founded ShirePath specifically to help businesses like yours, and I come from a background of practical, in-the-trenches experience. In fact, I spent five years leading a small organization that served over 2,000 people a year with just three team members. When you’re that stretched, you learn to streamline everything (or else burn out). That experience taught me exactly what a small business needs: flexible systems, smart use of resources, and no unnecessary fluff.
At ShirePath, the services are tailored to your scale and needs. For some clients, that means a quick win like improving a Google Workspace workflow (for example, automating data entry from a form into a spreadsheet). For others, it involves designing more complex automations between tools to cut out hours of busywork. And for a few, it even means stepping in as a part-time, COO-style partner (essentially acting as an operations lead to help run the business side-by-side with the owner). Whatever the level of help, the focus is always on practical changes that make a real impact in a small business setting.
Another thing that makes ShirePath different is my role as a technology advocate for small businesses. I’m a bit of a tech nerd (guilty as charged) who loves finding better apps and solutions, but I also know how overwhelming that world can be. I stay up-to-date on the latest small business systems and tools, so you don’t have to. Think of me as your filter for the tech noise. I keep tabs on what’s out there in the world of workflow automation and process improvement, and I hand-pick the solutions that actually fit your business (skipping all the enterprise mumbo-jumbo that isn’t relevant). The result is simple: you get to adopt the right tools and best practices without spending hours researching or chasing every shiny new thing.
Common Problems We Solve
You might be wondering what kinds of issues a business process consultant can fix. In my experience, many small businesses encounter the same kinds of headaches over and over. Here are a few common problems ShirePath helps solve:
Manually copying data between tools: Re-entering or exporting data from one software into another because your systems don’t talk to each other.
Disorganized client onboarding: Every time you get a new client or customer, it’s a fire drill. There’s no standardized checklist or workflow, so important steps might get skipped or handled inconsistently.
Inbox-driven operations: Your email inbox dictates your day. You’re constantly reacting to emails to run your operations, rather than having proactive systems (and important requests or tasks can get lost in the shuffle).
Lack of documentation: If someone asked, “How do you do XYZ in your business?”, the answer lives in your head (or your longest-tenured employee’s head). Nothing is written down, so training new team members or delegating is a struggle.
Overreliance on memory: You (and your staff) keep too much info in your brains or on sticky notes. Tasks, appointments, follow-ups — it’s all remembered informally, which means things inevitably slip through the cracks.
Sound familiar? These issues might seem like little quirks of your business, but together they can drain a ton of time and energy. In fact, one study found that the average office worker spends nearly four hours each day on tasks that could be automated. That’s over 100 hours every month down the drain on busywork. Imagine what you could do with even half of that time back: more sales calls, creative planning, or maybe finally taking a real day off! My job is to help you claw back that time by fixing the inefficiencies that cause those headaches.
What It’s Not
Let’s clear up a misconception: working with a business process consultant isn’t about drowning your company in corporate jargon or complicated software you don’t need. This is not some big corporate “reengineering” project where a swarm of suits shows up and hands you a hefty bill. And you don’t need a fancy title or a huge team to benefit.
In reality, improving your processes is very accessible. It’s about practical tweaks and fixes that suit a small business. No big budgets, no multi-year overhaul required.
You won’t hear me spouting MBA buzzwords or insisting you adopt a giant enterprise software suite. Instead, we’ll likely use tools you already have (or affordable ones we can easily add) and make them work smarter for you. You don’t need to have everything perfectly organized to start, either. We can begin wherever you are (no judgment) and gradually build systems that feel natural for you and your team.
How to Know If You’re Ready
You might be ready for a business process consultant if you recognize some of these signs:
Burnout: You’re working ridiculous hours and still feeling behind. Running on fumes has become your norm, and it’s largely because you’re personally handling everything.
Scaling pains: Your business is growing (good problem to have!), but the way you run things isn’t keeping up. What worked fine when you had 10 clients is breaking now that you have 50. You’re afraid to take on more business because things might fall apart under the current setup.
Underutilized tools: You’re paying for software or tools that you’re barely using, or using only for basic functions. (Ever had a project management app that everyone forgets to update?) You suspect these tools could do a lot more for you, if only you had the time or know-how to set them up right.
Frustration with inefficiency: You frequently catch yourself thinking, “There has got to be a better way to do this.” Maybe it’s entering the same data in three different places, or constantly chasing down team members for status updates. The daily inefficiencies are driving you nuts.
If any of these sound painfully familiar, it’s a sign you’re more than ready for some help. You don’t have to wait until something breaks completely or you hit a wall. Sometimes an outside perspective (and some process improvement know-how) is all it takes to get you out of the weeds.
The Next Step
The great thing is, you likely already have most of the pieces you need to run smoothly. They just aren’t configured in the best way yet. Most small businesses already own useful tools and have talented people; they just need better pathways and connections. Think of it like reorganizing a cluttered workshop: all the tools are there, we just need to put them in the right places and maybe add a couple of new ones to fill the gaps.
You don’t need to overhaul everything to see a difference. Even a few well-placed fixes can turn daily chaos into a manageable routine. Imagine ending your workday with all your tasks handled, your customers happy, and still having time to spare. It’s not a pipe dream; it’s what effective systems and workflows can do.
I hope this gave you a clearer picture of what a business process consultant does and how it might help you. You deserve a business that runs smoothly, not one that runs you into the ground. If you’re curious what a day in your life could look like with better systems, let’s talk.
