Smarter Consulting: How to start up and succeed as an independent consultant

Chapter 1. Why do you want to do it?

Â	‘What the hell do you want to work for somebody else for? Work for yourself!’	Â
Â	--Irving Berlin to George Gershwin

If you haven’t really thought through why you want to become an independent consultant, we can end the book right here. For the simple answer to anyone who hasn’t taken the trouble to really examine their reasons in some depth is DON’T DO IT!

In the 20 plus years that I have been working as an independent consultant (or ‘independent’ for short), I have witnessed all sorts of reasons for wanting to ‘hang up your shingle at the door’ as the Americans say. To feel that wondrous tingle of freedom, just before that frisson of fear shoots down your backbone. And let me tell you, ...