As someone who spent nearly 20 years doing sysadmin consulting: The first rule to becoming a consultant is: Don't do it. Largely I think it boils down to: Most

As someone who spent nearly 20 years doing sysadmin consulting: The first rule to becoming a consultant is: Don't do it. Largely I think it boils down to: Most places consider operations work a "cost center" and the nature of cost centers (as opposed to profit centers) is that they always want to reduce them. I have never worked harder, for less money, than when I was doing sysadmin consulting. Come to terms with why you want to do consulting in the first place. What do you want to get out of it? That said: First thing is you want to get your ducks in a row: Figure out accounting and billing, get a Tax-ID, figure out your company structure (do you incorporate, sole proprietor, etc?), and figure out google adwords. Also figure out local meet-ups where people who need you might go.