I think the comments so far are spot on. #1 big deal is you need to be networking and finding clients. My comments assume you are USA-based. Many contracts are

I think the comments so far are spot on. #1 big deal is you need to be networking and finding clients. My comments assume you are USA-based. Many contracts are awarded by someone in an org saying "hey I know a company that can do that." You should also be charging _at least_ 2x your desired "salary" rate for your own time, more if you can pull it. E.g. if you made $100k/yr that works out to about $50/hr full time. Charge at least $100/hr. You'll need the buffer for taxes, healthcare, finding new clients, liability insurance, un-billable hours (e.g. writing quotes), etc. If you are good at estimating, try to get fixed bid contracts rather than time and materials. They'll be more flexible and you won't have to be as meticulous with your time tracking. The projects are usually more interesting as well. Hourly contracts are often more like staff augmentation. A good way to get work if you need to bootstrap can be to subcontract. Research and reach out to other, larger, consulting agencies. They're always looking for subs. Even the bigger ones like TEKSystems and RHI will take on subs (well, at least they used to, I haven't looked recently). I would plan to work billable hours at most 75% of the time you want to spend working. The rest should be running your business. Marketing, fishing for your next client, networking, handling your business affairs. Bring on subcontractors if your marketing/sales efforts get you too much work. This is easy profit if you can pull in the work. You should establish a network of trusted people to send subcontract work. You probably want to use a pass-through LLC as this is a high margin business and you'll want to take profit sharing rather than salary to avoid double taxation and also want the liability protection of LLC. But talk to a good CPA in your area.