Is Consulting for You?

All of us at some point in our career usually consider opening our own business.  My thing was consulting.  It seemed a logical choice- cut out the middle man, get paid more for doing essentially the same job.

Experience has now taught me that being self-employed is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Not to say that I was not successful at it- I made a lot of money, made a lot of contacts, and in many ways it took my career to the next level.  I’ve no doubt in my mind that if I return to it, I will be able to pick up right where I left off.  I chose to stop and settle down with my current company mainly because it felt right for me.

The question is, what’s right for you?  Here’s three things to consider before you strike out on your own:

• Do you really want the responsibility of self-determination?  Sometimes, your boss and/or your coworkers are your safety net, even though you may not notice it.  You defer to them or seek them out when you get stumped.  When you’re in charge, this becomes much harder to do (especially if you’re the company’s only employee).
• How stable do you like your life?  Running your own business is very fluid, especially at the beginning.  It’s much easier to change vendors or consultants than it is to fire/lay off someone and hire someone else.    Running your own business is dealing with uncertainties- how much money will come in this week, where do I work, who do I work for, how many hours do I work this week, do I get a break or not, all of these things and more are up in the air when you are your own boss.
• How are you at managing your time?  When running your own business, how much you can bill depends on how much you get done, and what part of that is billable.  To generate 40 hours of consulting, for example, you may work 40 hours for the client, spend 2 hours on sales and overhead trying to secure the next contract, an hour doing work on this contract, a half-dozen hours mucking around with managing your own benefits, 5 hours following up on leads and doing to get your next bit of business, and so on and so forth.  You not only have to work long hours often, you must meet deadlines- that means if you skip lunch, you skip lunch.  If you work all night, you work all night.  Nobody’s going to comp time you for doing it, give you a day off, or anything else- except maybe you, and when you aren’t working, you don’t get paid.

When I chose to get out of full-time consulting, I did it because I was getting married- I needed to work less hours, have a more predictable income, and a more predictable schedule.  I needed paid time off and the ability to schedule time off where needed without affecting my income.  Now that I’m single again, I’m finding that I both enjoy the challenge of being fully immersed in a company again, and I enjoy the stability of it all- it leaves me with more free time for myself, and for things like this blog, my writing, my family… other points outside my core career that are important to me.  I still take consulting gigs on the side, but it’s for flexible, short-term projects, and I limit myself to projects I enjoy.  I even do a lot of ‘pro bono’ work now, since I have a stable income and can afford to do a freebie for people I like and to be involved in truly interesting projects.

So what’s right for you?  Give these points some thought the next time you look out the office window and wonder ‘what if I struck out on my own?’

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