Consulting involves very little capital outlay, and is mostly just trading your own time and expertise for money. Creating a product - even a small scale one -

Consulting involves very little capital outlay, and is mostly just trading your own time and expertise for money. Creating a product - even a small scale one - is much more of an investment (and a risk), because while you're building it, it earns nothing. The payoff is that it can make money while you're asleep.