I'm actually writing about this exact thing: https://kirubakaran.com/blog/consulting-outline/ https://kirubakaran.com/blog/consulting-outline/ But to answer yo

I'm actually writing about this exact thing: https://kirubakaran.com/blog/consulting-outline/ https://kirubakaran.com/blog/consulting-outline/ But to answer your question: It seems obvious that you trade the low variance pay of a salaried job for higher variance but generally higher expected value of consulting pay + other lifestyle benefits. But it is hard to actually internalize this. That is, you're happy when your pipeline is full and you're making a lot of money. But you can't work at this pace for ever. So, when there are natural lulls and you aren't making any money for a bit, instead of being miserable, you should know that it is a part of how it is and be thankful for the break and catch up on all the sci-fi books you've been meaning to read. It took me a while to not stress too much about these lulls and instead make the best of it.