Consulting is experiencing a boom right now. More seasoned professionals are pivoting to self-employment as consultants. Becoming an independent consultant is one the 25 fastest-growing roles in the U.S., says LinkedIn, and the number of independent individuals offering services to businesses grew by 3 percent after five years of continued growth, according to MBO Partners’ State of Independence Study.
This is a response to the unemployment rate being the highest since 2021, in part due to an uncertain economy, and the adoption of AI and automation altering industry dynamics.
The shift is also driven by opportunity, as accessible and affordable freelance marketplaces, business tools, and global clients allow professionals to manage their practices with fewer barriers to entry. Because of this, the competition for consulting jobs has also gotten more fierce.
As a marketing consultant for over a decade, I’ve learned a lot about how to get new clients and grow a sustainable consulting business. I’ve also interviewed experienced consultants on their best tips for starting and building a consulting business for the long haul. If you’re thinking about starting your own consulting firm this year to gain more creative control, career security, or financial rewards, here’s how to get started.
1. Choose a focus based on demand
What should you offer to clients as a consultant? You’ll want to focus on where there’s demand to hire you right now, given you’re just getting started. But that doesn’t mean taking on any project that comes across your desk haphazardly. This is a process of reverse engineering what you’ve done in your past positions to pinpoint the tangible value you can offer clients externally.
That might be delivering improved reliability and security across retail infrastructure as an IT consultant, or higher employee engagement and retention as a fractional HR leader.
Determining the result of your contributions from the customer’s perspective helps ensure you’re not just creating a practice around your key strengths, what you enjoy doing, and the services you think are valuable to offer, but prioritizing what outcomes clients will actually hire you for.
“Don’t start by selling your time for what you think might work. Have calls and figure out the bottlenecks,” says Brandon Smithwrick, a content consultant and creator who went independent in 2025. “I chatted with people in the medical space, podcasters, agency owners, founders, and Realtors before figuring out the largest pain point I can help people with without burying myself in work.”
As you determine what to offer and how much to charge, get feedback from past colleagues on the meaningful outcomes they’ve seen you deliver and assess the competitive landscape for insight on priority setting.
“It helps to identify and fill a niche that is not being served. It is much easier to be successfully filling a need that isn’t being addressed by most competitors,” says Paul Aubin, an author and architectural consultant for over 20 years.
He’s built a career training architects and firms on Autodesk’s Revit software, authoring numerous books, and as a result creating a niche around his expertise in this tool.
Your niche can involve associating your consulting with a certain tool, job function, type of client, company maturity level, or industry, all in the service of delivering a specific set of outcomes.
While not every gap is an opportunity, thinking through a niche that’s recognizable in your industry and at least somewhat unique to you is a good way to find traction.
2. Productize your services to capture more business
Consulting is a service offering, but it should be packaged like a product so what you’re offering to freelance clients is clear, like a menu of options, and while also protecting your bandwidth.
“Treat consulting like a product business from day one. Define your scope, define the outcomes, and build a simple, repeatable system for discovery, onboarding, delivery, and follow-up,” says Alicja Spaulding, marketing AI consultant and fractional CMO, who’s been running her own consulting business for nearly two years.
Creating packages to treat your services like a product helps to clearly document the work you offer in terms of the deliverables, project timeline, expected outcomes, and associated pricing.
This way you can convert more business by creating packages aligned to clients with different budgets or organizational complexity without stretching yourself too thin.
“It also protects your margins and your time because you’re not reinventing your process for every new client. Over time, that repeatability becomes your advantage: It’s easier to scale, easier to refer, and easier for clients to trust,” adds Spaulding.
That’s another benefit of packaging your offerings, as you’re able to accurately estimate the time commitment and revenue expected per project, so you’re operating with greater predictability.
3. Turn past employers into your first clients
Landing your first clients is a challenge, as you’re not yet known as an independent consultant and you’re still building trust in what you offer. One of the best ways to attract the initial set of clients is pitching past colleagues and partners at former employers.
They likely already view you as a credible and competent professional, so there’s less need to convince them that you’ll deliver results. More effort should be focused on aligning your pitch to address their most timely challenges and how you’ll solve for them as an outside contributor.
Think of it as early business development where you’re connecting with the people you already know professionally over email, LinkedIn, and one-to-one meetings. The best-case scenario is there’s alignment to hire you or refer you to others as a trusted vendor. At a minimum, each interaction is an opportunity to do research and get feedback on what you’re offering as a consultant.
4. Market your business in a way that energizes you
You can’t rely on referrals alone to build your customer base, as there’s a definitive limit to how much word of mouth will convert to clients. Investing in marketing as a routine part of your consulting business is necessary to reach new, qualified prospects outside the people you already know.
Attract new clients via public forums like posting on social media or through podcast interviews, as well as private forums like hosting an event or getting active in an industry-specific Slack channel. Prioritize developing marketing with a point of view you’re excited to share consistently for the long term that’s related to what you offer as a consultant. And most of all, make sure it’s a subject of interest to your ideal clients, such as creative ways to invest in employer branding if you work with HR professionals, or balancing speed and compliance in regulated industries.
Consultants often overcommit to a publishing cadence they can’t sustain—or focus on an idea they’re not enthusiastic about—leading them to abandon marketing after a few weeks or months.
Avoid this by pinpointing a topic you’re energized by that’s easily connected to what you sell without being too promotional and aligned to the challenges and goals of potential customers.
5. Complement advising with execution support
I’ve seen an uptick in companies saying, “I’m looking for a consultant to do more of the work, not just tell me how.” In many circumstances, there’s an expectation you’ll be providing implementation in addition to your advising support.
The speed of change is demanding consultants help clients roll out new tools and systems, train teams to react more quickly, and assist with the launch of programs and campaigns.
While you don’t need to focus purely on execution, remaining competitive in today’s market requires that you’re able to turn some of your recommendations into a reality. Whether that’s implementing a suggested tactic, rolling out an initiative, or instituting an operational change, tangible value must be a result of more of your contributions, rather than just a constant flow of advice.
6. Capitalize on AI to meet demand and scale your productivity
Being mindful to avoid the hype, it’s necessary to incorporate AI into your client offerings, as companies are asking for it and also to scale your own processes as a solopreneur.
You’ll position yourself as a consultant with authority if you’re able to combine it with the job functions you support, whether that’s integrating AI with PR, HR, engineering, or sales. You should ride the AI trend to gain immediate visibility for your practice, but supported by your subject matter expertise and actionable applications that go beyond the surface-level advice.
For instance, consultant Alicja Spaulding offers a course on AI in food marketing catered to marketers working in food service, grocery, hospitality, and food and beverage based on her background leading 200-plus food product launches across retail, food service, and DTC.
7. Be an adaptable expert for longevity
Agility is a critical skill for consultants given you’re jumping between the contexts of different clients, working both in and on the business. And part of that is paying attention to trends in the market to decide which to embrace, which to pivot to, which to ignore, and which interest you.
Continuing education is required to embrace many of these shifts so your skills stay sharp, you remain relevant, and you’re able to provide leading-edge recommendations to clients. It’s an ongoing effort of experimentation, earning credentials, and adding services to meet demand.
You can accomplish this with passive learning, like listening to podcasts, following industry experts, and reading articles, balanced with active learning like completing online courses, joining a coding boot camp, or connecting with industry professionals at a conference.
“To build a sustainable consulting practice, diversify your income streams so when one dips, another can rise. Stay flexible and adaptable, especially with rapid tech and AI changes. Continuously upskill—not just for your own growth, but to demonstrate to clients you’re current and relevant,” says Dina Shapiro, change management consultant and author with 14 years in consulting.
Staying on top of trends helps you stay nimble for clients and keeps you engaged in the work for the long haul.
[This article was originally published on Inc Magazine.]
