Being laid off does not make you a consultant

Newly redundant?  Facing redundancy?  If you think you might enjoy being an independent consultant, think again.  Only do it if you already know you have a market and will be good at it.  If you are tempted to go to one of those "Give me £500 and I'll tell you how to be a consultant" seminars, trust me, you are not going to make it.

I'd forgotten about people who take redundancy packages off the newly unemployed and trusting souls who are really only ever employee material.  They turn up during a recession and offer... stuff: stuff like seminars on how to be a consultant!  

If you need a course to learn what a consultant is, you are not cut out to be one.  Save the money.  £500 goes a long way towards feeding your family for another month.

You were laid off because your industry is overmanned.  That overmanning is true whether you are an employee or a contractor.  They couldn't afford to pay your salary then and they sure as hell won't be able to afford your fees now.

"Ah, Tim, but you would say that, because you're afraid of competition."

Well, would I?

Perhaps.  Though I like good competition.  It makes the market work.

But that doesn't detract from the message.  Consultancy is not what you do while looking for a job.  It's a business, with business taxes to administer and pay.  It's a serious commitment to yourself, your family and your clients.  And you have to be able to afford to eat for the first empty months.  You need to be able to get the debt in and know when to stand firm and when to be walked all over.

And, if they let you go from your high priced executive job, you are used to too many safety nets that weren't really there.  So will you make it as a consultant?

Well, not if the first thing you do is go on a training course and spend a month's food bill on it, no, you will not.  Spend that money looking hard for a job instead, because a consultant you are absolutely not.