Two notes: Re: the non-tangibles - As a consultant, you get to make your own intangibles. If you can't extract some sort of benefit - extra time to work on you

Two notes: Re: the non-tangibles - As a consultant, you get to make your own intangibles. If you can't extract some sort of benefit - extra time to work on your own side project, more flexible hours than a regular employee, etc. - that can compete with an office pizza party and free t-shirts, then you should probably look into becoming an employee again. Freedom and self-direction are the biggest intangible out there. Re: working more hours and getting paid less of them - this is true, but it's also an excellent argument for freeing yourself from the notion of hourly billing. Bill on a daily, weekly or per-project basis if you want to avoid this pitfall. Other than that your points were pretty spot-on. Consulting ain't easy, and filling a pipeline full of consulting clients is hard (though I still think it's worth it.)