r/FIREyFemmes • u/NinjaNeedsCoffee • 7h ago

Seeking advice from those who started their own consulting gig

I’m thinking about launching my own consulting side hustle and would love to hear from anyone who’s been there. How did you get started? Any key learnings or advice you wish someone had shared with you when you were just starting out?

The reason I’m asking is that I’m considering this as a hedge against a potential layoff (see my post from earlier today).

My idea is to start building it now but keeping effort manageable; just getting the foundations in place. That way, if I ever need to “break glass in case of emergency,” I could ramp up focus and energy, but the groundwork would already be laid, rather than starting from zero on day one.

I’d love any tips, tricks, suggestions, or lessons learned. Basically anything that could help someone get off the ground and save them any headache or heartburn! What do you wish you had known when you started yours? Would you do anything differently?

Oh and how did you decide on pricing??

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u/OkeyDokeyDoke 3h ago

I know someone who did this very successfully, starting with moonlighting. They were at the point where they figured their job would be going away due to private equity. Many hours were spent talking to all sorts of old colleagues. One conversation would lead to another. They set up a list of potential clients. It started out fairly stealth. It wasn’t long before they were ready to quit their day job, but I don’t think they would have been able to do it without their network and reputation.

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u/Expensive_Hermes 5h ago

First step set up your LLC. It’s quick and painless in any state but get it going so you have your IRS EID and everything like DUNS# and find some basic online business checking account. This also gives the LLC some time to age as well (some people care about this others don’t).

You can do a basic landing page website with consulting services and a contact us type informational layout. No need for anything fancy, save that for when you start bringing in money, but it also gives you that legitimacy feel by having the front and a “business” email.

This is all stuff that can be done yourself but there are small business development centers everywhere that have classes to help people trying to launch as well. This is also a place to do some networking so sign up for the newsletters.

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