The problem
Consultants work across multiple client organizations simultaneously. Each client adds you to their calendar system, some on Google Workspace, others on Microsoft 365. You need to keep your availability accurate across all of them, but you can’t let Client A see what you’re doing for Client B.
Manually blocking time on every calendar after each new meeting is error-prone and doesn’t scale past two or three clients.
A day in the life: Juggling three competing firms
You’re a strategy consultant working with three major clients in overlapping industries. Client A is a financial services firm on Microsoft 365. Client B is a tech company on Google Workspace. Client C is a hedge fund that uses yet another enterprise system.
Thursday morning, you’re in Client A’s weekly strategy review on Outlook (10-11 AM). During that call, Client B emails you asking to confirm your attendance at their executive roundtable on Friday at 9 AM. You say yes. What you don’t realize is that you already have Client C’s quarterly planning session scheduled for Friday at 8:30 AM on their calendar system, a commitment you made three weeks ago.
You didn’t see the Friday 8:30 AM conflict because you never opened Client C’s calendar app. It’s a third system, a third email, a third login. By the time you realize the conflict (Friday morning at 8 AM), both Client B and Client C are already prepared for your attendance, and you’re about to damage two client relationships with a last-minute cancellation.
Even worse, Client A’s managing director saw your “Busy” status on their calendar Friday morning but doesn’t know it’s because you’re with a competing consultant. Now they’re wondering if you’re really invested in their engagement or if you’re juggling them against other work.
Without a unified, private sync system, managing three simultaneous engagements means constantly switching between three separate calendar applications, manually blocking time, and still missing conflicts.
How Hetk solves this
Set up one-way syncs between all your client calendars with Mark as Private enabled. Events from each client sync to your other calendars as “Busy” blocks with no details, title, description, attendees, and location are all stripped.
Typical setup (3 clients)
| Sync | Direction | Privacy |
|---|---|---|
| Client A → Client B | One-way | Mark as Private |
| Client A → Client C | One-way | Mark as Private |
| Client B → Client A | One-way | Mark as Private |
| Client B → Client C | One-way | Mark as Private |
| Client C → Client A | One-way | Mark as Private |
| Client C → Client B | One-way | Mark as Private |
What each client sees
- Blocked time slots marked “Busy” when you’re committed elsewhere
- No details about which client you’re working with
- Accurate real-time availability for scheduling
Confidentiality by default
The Mark as Private feature strips all event content before syncing. The title is replaced with “Busy”, and the description, location, and attendee list are removed. The identity transform replaces the organizer email with the target calendar’s identity, so synced events don’t reveal which account they came from.
Scaling with more clients
The Professional plan supports unlimited calendars with up to 8 sync pairs. As you add new clients, just create new sync pairs, Hetk handles the rest automatically with real-time webhook updates.
Detailed setup walkthrough
Setting up Hetk for multi-client consulting is straightforward:
Connect your personal calendar, Log into Hetk with your personal email account (Google, Outlook, or iCloud). This is where you’ll see all client commitments unified.
Add Client A’s calendar, Request access to Client A’s Outlook or Google Calendar through their IT/admin team (many enterprises require admin consent to share calendars externally). Add the calendar to Hetk.
Create a one-way sync from Client A → Personal, All of Client A’s meetings now appear as full details on your personal calendar. You see what you’re committed to, when, and with whom (within Client A’s organization).
Create a one-way sync from Personal → Client A with “Mark as Private”, Client A’s team can see you’re unavailable but won’t see details of your work with Client B or Client C. The event title becomes “Busy”, description is removed, and the organizer email is transformed to your calendar’s identity.
Repeat for Client B and Client C, Each client gets the same two-way privacy-controlled sync. Every client sees your availability without seeing your other client relationships.
Pro tip for teams, If you’re part of a consulting team and share administrative overhead, consider using the Professional plan ($50/year for 8 calendars) so you can also include your firm’s internal calendar, a shared team calendar, and personal calendar, all in sync.
The result: Friday morning at 8:30 AM, you’re not scrambling to reschedule. Your personal calendar already showed both Client B (9 AM) and Client C (8:30 AM) conflicts, and you resolved it Thursday by asking Client B if Thursday afternoon works instead. Both clients respected the request because your availability data was accurate and in real-time.
Privacy considerations for consultants
Confidentiality between clients is a professional and often contractual obligation. Hetk’s “Mark as Private” feature is specifically designed for this:
- Client A doesn’t know you consult for Client B, They see your “Busy” blocks but have zero visibility into your other engagements.
- Matter confidentiality is absolute, Sensitive client conversations, strategic discussions, or competitive information never leaks across your client accounts.
- Identity is masked, When syncing your availability back to clients, the organizer email is transformed, so synced events appear native to your calendar, not like cross-organizational data.
- Enterprise IT compliance, Many firms require that consultant availability syncs use identity masking to prevent data about consultant allocation across competing clients from appearing in audit logs.
For consultants managing 3+ active clients, bi-directional sync with privacy controls is standard practice. Your clients need accurate availability; they don’t need visibility into each other.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Do I need admin consent from my clients’ IT departments to enable calendar syncing?
A: For enterprise clients on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, the first time you add their calendar to Hetk, you may need to grant admin consent if your organization’s IT policies require it. This is a one-time approval. Your organization’s IT admin can pre-approve Hetk’s access, or you can request it when connecting the calendar. Once approved, all future calendar connections for your team are instant.
Q: What if two clients have overlapping calendars (e.g., shared projects or co-clients)?
A: Set up one-way syncs from both client calendars to your personal calendar, both clients’ meetings appear in full detail on your schedule. Then, create one-way syncs back to each client with “Mark as Private.” The shared meeting will appear as “Busy” on both clients’ sides without exposing that they’re also working together. If that’s not appropriate for your engagement structure, you can instead set up two-way sync for the shared calendar between those specific clients.
Q: How do I handle consultant onboarding and offboarding? Do I need to delete syncs manually?
A: Yes, you can pause or delete syncs anytime in Hetk’s interface. When a client engagement ends, delete the sync relationships and remove their calendar from your account. Historical events are preserved (they don’t disappear from calendar views), but new events no longer sync. If you have a large team rotating through engagements, the Professional plan lets you set up and tear down syncs quickly, it takes seconds, not hours.
See also
Calendar sync for freelancers | Keep work and personal calendars separate