Is Independent Consulting Right for You?

The pros and cons of independent consulting and how to decide if this is the right path for you

Author

Andrew Sheves
January 20, 2025

Let’s be clear from the start: independent consulting is great.

You are your own boss, only take the jobs (and clients) you like and really double down on the work without the headache of a large organization.

Amazing!

But, like everything in life, there are compromises to be made.

No one from IT will turn up to fix the printer; as a small business, you are prone to being taken advantage of; it can be quite lonely*.

(*Cats are terrible company as co-workers in my experience: they never make the coffee and are awful with deadlines.)

So even though I wrote The Consultant's Handbook to help people set up their own successful consulting businesses, that doesn't mean that this is the right path for everyone. And even if you want to be a consultant, there’s an enormous difference between a Big Consulting Firm and a firm of one or two.

So before you read everything else I’ve written and head off to get your business cards printed, take a minute to ensure this is the right path — and right time — for you to strike out on your own.

What We'll Cover

Things That Aren’t Consulting

Some things that look like consulting at first glance don’t fall into the category of roles we’re discussing.

  • If you’re engaged in contract work, going into the same office every day with a fixed scope of work (e.g. tech support), that’s contracting, not consulting.

  • Ditto if you’re an internal subject matter expert working at one firm...

  • …Or an influencer who doles out advice.

  • And if you just learned how to do something and started teaching other people, you might be a tutor, but probably not a consultant.

These can all be legitimate and rewarding roles but we are talking about a specific role and employment structure.

So, let’s be clear about what we (or at least I) mean by ‘consultant’.

What’s a Consultant?

Consultant: someone with specialist knowledge or expertise who provides the solution to a business or operational problem on a short-term or intemittent basis.

So the first question to ask yourself is: do I have specialist knowledge?

And usually, independent consultants are hired to plug one of three gaps:

  • Expertise. The firm needs someone with specialist knowledge in a field or experience of a situation.

  • Capacity. The firm needs to bring in additional experts to supplement its existing staff or cover a shortfall. (This can start to look a lot like contracting if it’s over an extended period, but short-term, high-impact work of this nature could still be classed as consulting.)

  • Objectivity. The organization knows it is too close to the problem to solve it themselves, and they need someone objective to help them.

Assuming you‘re an expert in your field, you could fulfill any of these roles. However, that doesn't necessarily make you a consultant. The way you deliver the work is also important.

We’re Not Just Talking About Expertise

In addition to being an expert, consultants are almost always external and work on a short-term intermittent basis.

So the second question to ask yourself is: do I / would I enjoy switching organizations regularly?

And for our purposes, we’re primarily talking about being a self employed consultant or a member of a small team.

That means you’re also responsible for finding and winning business, managing the business and finances, plus all the little admin tasks like securing reliable wifi, bookkeeping, and making the coffee.

So the key characteristics that define an independent consultant are

1) expertise
2) the non-permanent nature of the work
3) you’re delivering a solution, not a service, and
4) you work for yourself or are in a small partnership.

Being a Consultant > Running a Consultancy

As I said at the outset, being a consultant is hugely rewarding: you get to tackle high-value problems in your areas of expertise. Plus, as an independent consultant, you’re your own boss, and the work, challenges, and clients are ever-changing.

And that’s where the difficulties start to crop up.

Because you’re your own boss, and the work, challenges, and clients are ever-changing….

Running a consultancy involves a huge amount of administration and management to ensure the efficient, successful, and legal operation of your business. But every hour you’re working on admin or client outreach, is an hour you’re not billing anyone. (And every hour you’re billing clients is an hour that the other tasks are being neglected.)

Meaning the third question to ask yourself is: can I cope with the headache of doing everything myself?

For Most People It’s About the Practicalities

Getting any small business off the ground and sustaining it is an incredible amount of work and effort which means that other activities have to take a back seat to start with. Plus, you won’t see steady income for a while, so you’ll need to have savings or stay in your ‘day job’ for a while. (And if you plan to remodel the kitchen next year, now might not be the time to give up on a steady income.)

So this is a decision most people have to make in consultation with their spouse, significant other, their best friend whose wedding they’ll miss…

Considering how this chage will affect your close relationships and key obligations is a major consideration. So the final two questions are:

  • Can I do this without harming my key relationships and any other key obligations?

  • Can I / we afford it?

Yes, No, or Not Now

So after all that, you’re left with five key questions.

  1. Do I have specialist knowledge?

  2. Do I / would I enjoy switching organzations regularly?

  3. Can I cope the headache of doing everything myself?

  4. Can I / we afford it?

  5. Can I do this without harming my key relationships and any other key obligations?

Great news! If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to all these questions, you’re cut out to be a consultant.

But don’t worry if some of the answers were ‘no’. Some of these might be ‘not yet’ or ‘not now’ because you might want to get a little more experience under your belt. Or wait until the kids are more independent so your obligations are cut back.

You might want to build up your savings a little more to increase your runway.

So even though you might have the skills, temperament and masochistic streak you need to be a consultant, this might not be the time to make the change. (No reason not to start planning though.)

However, if you were a resounding ‘heck yeah!’ to all of the above, then it might be time to dive in.

And you’re in a great place to learn how.

1  (Sometimes consultants are also engaged to act as shields or to give top-cover for the business — ‘the consultant told us this was ok’ — which isn’t something you will be able to tell right away but look out for jobs where you’d be up into this sacrificial role.)

2  (Some of the functional or skill-based topics we’ll cover apply to work with bigger consulting firms — the kinds of places where I cut my teeth — but the administration of the business is completely different.)

(At least to start with.)