SalesforceThink

Are you looking to start a Salesforce Consulting job or interested in what a general consultant does? Below is an example of my day as a Salesforce Consultant. Lets wake up/

Morning Coffee

I am a remote worker. Thus, I will offer my point of view from working at home. Naturally, one of the first items I do is get my coffee going. (even if I was in the office)

I then go into my office, which is a dedicated room in our house. I have also worked out of shared spaces, the kitchen, the living room, and outside when able. I log into my computer and then open up my email, calendar, slack, Salesforce, and often Spotify (I like to listen to music as much as I can when I work)

Planning My Day

I believe in using calendar blocking as much as possible. I like to know what I have on the schedule. I need to finish tasks not only for the current day but also to prepare for the next.

I shuffle my calendar around as needed based on any overnight emails or slack messages from clients and/or co-workers. Then I start on my first tasks. These tasks normally entail reviewing a current build of a new Salesforce implementation. I also test a co-worker’s configuration.

I will also look to see if I have any errands I need to run. I will check for events in my non-work life that I need to adjust or plan for.

Meetings and Updates

I normally have 1-2 client facing meetings and about the same amount of internal meetings. These meetings are often project progress discussions or demos of how the project is going.

Typically as a Salesforce Consultant you will have 3-4 projects at a time to fill out your work week. Sometimes you will have a dedicated client that all your time is spent on one Salesforce project.

As the meetings progress, I often take notes virtually. I save them so that I can reference them for future meetings, solution design documents, and emails. Many consulting firms utilize project tools like jira. I often spend hours in jira creating, updating and assigning tasks to team members.

Lunch!

I normally take lunch at home and grab a quick meal. I often use this hour or so to take the dogs out. I also catch up with my family. Additionally, I make some more coffee.

One item I do find helpful is if I can get outside for a couple of minutes it does allow for re-centering of my mind and can help remove any stress from the morning.

Afternoon Close Out

After lunch I continue to complete meetings, configuration reviews and research. A large portion of my week is spent searching. I also spend time double checking and confirming Salesforce best practices. As a Salesforce consultant it is impossible to know all of the Salesforce platform so be sure to always double check your work.

The last 7 years as a Salesforce consultant I have tracked my billable and non-billable work. Typically consultancy firms bill by the hour and so it is important that I track my time spent on projects. During the tasks of the day I use a tool called Toggl. Toggl is great as it allows me to start and stop a timer and associate a project to it.

At the end of the day I enter all my hours I have worked into our internal billing system and then I log off. I try not to look at my emails or slack messages after I have logged and focus on life. One of the best decisions I have made was becoming a Salesforce consultant for the work-life balance and the incredible opportunities it has given me and my family.

Enjoy!