Independent consulting — the freelance life — appeals to many people. But, when you go into independent consulting, you aren’t quite doing the same thing as someone who works for a big consulting firm. Sure, you’ll still be consulting, but you’ll be wearing several other hats.
As an independent consultant, you’ll need to manage your own business. That means you’ll be in charge of marketing your services, finding clients, making sales, getting paid and managing projects and relationships. You may need a richer set of skills than someone who just shows up for work. You’ll need to handle everything from legal issues to sales concerns.
That may sound intimidating at first, but most people can build needed skills — or outsource the work to someone else! You learn as you go and you’ll be a stronger, more resourceful multi-skilled consulting in year three than you are in year one.
For anyone interested in consulting in the learning field, I recently published this article (blatant self-promotion, I guess, but I didn’t get paid, so what the heck):
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=54-1