The world of consulting has been behind the doors of big corporate offices for too long.
But the reality is, you don’t need a degree or to “know someone” from a company to start working as a consultant anymore.
You just need two things:
To have knowledge and expertise in a particular area (such as coding)
And know how to market yourself to the right people
Which is why in this guide, I'm going to walk you through the exact steps to do this and more, so that you can get clients, and become a “thought leader” and authority in your industry.
Sound good?
Alright, let's get into it and cover some of the basics up top, so we're all on the same page...
What does a 'freelance consultant' do?
Consultants are professional advisors who use their experience and knowledge to help companies solve problems and achieve their goals.
They usually have a specific skill set and experience that the client can bring on to solve a set task, without having to learn it themselves, or hire full-time roles.
Can anyone become a consultant?
Yep! Simply because no matter how junior you think you are, you still have knowledge that you've gained during your career that your clients want and need.
So what's simple for you, could save them thousands of dollars or even make them thousands.
Editor's note:
I have a friend who consults with large e-com brands and helps them write email sales automation's. Super simple stuff that you would think they already have in place right? Well they don't. So he charges around $15k a pop to do these.
These are very easy for him to do because he's been making them for years. But he can charge this rate because the ROI is around $100k or more to the clients, due to the sales it converts.
But what about in the world of tech?
Well, a classic freelancing example is developing systems at a company that simplify day-to-day operations or take products to market faster. (So many Prompt Engineers are doing this at the moment).
What's the difference between freelance consulting and general freelancing?
Good question!
They're obviously related, but the difference is in the type of work:
Freelancing usually involves being hired by a business to do a specific task or service that you offer. Usually something that you've built a system around so you can repeat it easily for multiple clients, such as building their website, building an app, or running a digital ads campaign
While with freelance consulting, a business hires you to research & solve a specific problem
Is freelance consulting hard?
Yes and no.
It's incredibly easy to get set up and start freelancing, thanks to all the online platforms and tools available. Everything from tools to help boost your productivity, invoicing software to manage payments, and project management apps to help you stay organized.
However, it does take work to become an authority and start charging higher rates. Nothing too complex, just an ability to show a depth of expertise.
Likewise, finding and bringing in clients, running your own taxes etc. It's all additional tasks you might not do in a normal job. This can be a lot of extra effort at first, but you can always outsource this.
But once you have this handled, freelancing can be incredibly lucrative and easy to do.
For example
If you specialize in a specific task, you can work just a few hours a day, systematize your process and earn 3-10x more than you would in a normal job. (Some consultants charge thousands of dollars an hour for advice only - without even doing the task!)
Editors note: I charge $150 an hour for content marketing advice, so this is definitely true. You'll be amazed how many companies will happily drop for 5 hours upfront also.
The issue of course is making sure you're doing all the right steps to get to that level of automation and earnings, so let's get into those now.
How to become a freelance consultant in 2026
The path is actually quite simple.
Step #1. Choose a focus for your consulting
Obviously this will be limited to your current skillset, however, there might be opportunities you haven't even though about, simply because these skills come easy to you.
To help you narrow down some ideas, these are the top 10 sectors in business consulting for freelancers:
Strategy and Internal Relations
Marketing
Operations
Human Resources
Business and Corporate Development
Procurement
CEOs and Presidents (interim leadership roles)
Digital and Tech
Interim Leadership Roles such as General Managers and P&L (Profit and Loss) Leaders
Innovation and R&D (Research and Development)
Seeing as you're reading this on a tech blog, I'm going to guess that's where you'll specialize, but its worth seeing what's out there.
Sometimes you can earn even more money for helping people understand a problem, as you can being the person who fixes or builds the solution, so keep that in mind!
Step #2. Build a value ladder
If you're still not sure what to offer, I recommend starting out by offering a repeatable service first. This way you can make money easier, and then offer bespoke consulting to clients
For example
If you have dev skills, you can build websites fairly simple and make good money. Then, you could offer custom builds for a higher price or even offer consulting advice to help them improve their site performance or build apps etc.
Step #3. Find and land your first freelance consulting jobs
Now it’s time for the rubber to meet the road. You’ve decided on your niche and you've set up your value ladder, and so now it’s time to start applying for your first consulting job.
Freelancing websites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer.com are all good places to start, since there are so many potential clients just waiting to hire out consultants.
Don’t forget your own network though!
Ask around to see if any startups, small businesses, or established businesses are looking for consultants in your area or online.
You never know who is on your LinkedIn and what connections they have. Oh and did you know that Linkedin messages have a 5-20% open rate on average? That's much higher than if you were trying to cold email companies out of the blue.
A technique I used that worked great when starting out was to simply offer to work for free, under the provision I could share all the details in a case study. This then got my foot in the door and helped secure a lot of clients.
You can simply pitch your ideal clients, businesses your already know, or even volunteer for a non-profit with your services. That way you're also helping out a good cause!
Often this lead to higher paying gigs then I would have got if i just tried to pitch them on their own, and even repeat work with the company I volunteered with. It makes sense right? They've seen the results and work you can do, so it's a no brainer!
Step #4. Prove your value
A lot of companies have trouble identifying the concrete outcome that should result from a consulting project, let alone how to measure that outcome.
They just sort of say “solve this problem for me, please!
For example
In this consulting job on UpWork, the client is looking for a web developer to “analyze our website speed and suggest, consult, and/or implement ways we can improve our overall speed, performance, and page load time”.
The job posting gives you a general idea of what they want, but it’s light on concrete goals and the actual work product that they want to receive both throughout and at the end of the job.
If your client doesn’t give you very specific goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), it’s important that you present some concrete evidence what you intend to do, along with the value that you’re bringing to them if you're going to pitch it at a custom rate.
This is why you have to figure out how to quantify your offerings and show them to clients.
For example
Let's say you're going to offer marketing consulting and services, and your customer knows their own metrics. (Not always the case).
But in this situation, they know that an email subscriber is worth around $20 to them.
Well, if your skillset is in doubling their email optins each month, suddenly the work you're doing is worth potentially tens of even hundreds of thousands of dollars to that company, so it's a no-brainer for them to hire you and pay them big bucks.
Editor's note: Just like my friend I mentioned earlier with the 15k for 5 emails
This will not only prove your value to current clients, but if you're allowed to share the results you got them, then you can also prove your value to new clients. Making it even easier to land more and higher-paying jobs in the future.
See how this turns into a positive feedback loop?
Step #5. Become an authority in your industry
If you really want to stand out and get paid more than the average freelancer then you want to build authority.
You need to become the person in the space that everyone knows is an expert - simply because they share information that highlights their expertise.
For example
Neil Patel is an authority in the digital marketing industry, thanks to all his content, blogs and podcasts. Because of this, he charges 6 figure consulting fees and has a waiting list of clients.
Now you obviously don’t need a million followers to gain credibility with clients. Simply having 100 followers is a great start.
But if you can consistently put your thoughts out into the world via a single channel like YouTube, you'll quickly build up your credibility, regardless of how many followers you have.
You don't even need to worry about making it a genius insight. In fact, it can be super simple explanations of how to do specific things that tie into your consulting offer. But people will watch and then become a customer.
Trust me on this, building authority works so make sure to develop your own personal brand.
Do some research about what’s going on in your industry
Write up some content about it
Start small and grow as you find your voice
Then share it with others through a professional website, social media, and on your freelancing profiles
Connect with others in your industry and build up a reputation with them as well. With a community of freelancers in your industry, you’ll have the chance for collaboration, giving advice, and referring each other to clients
When it's laid out like this it's actually pretty straightforward, right?
All it takes is following the steps and doing the work!
So what's next?
It really is that simple to become a freelance consultant. You find a niche that compliments your skillset, get paid, deliver value, and build authority so that you can get the best clients and projects.
If you want to dive deeper and take your freelance consulting career to the next level, go ahead and check out my Freelance Consulting Bootcamp:
In this course you’ll learn:
How to build a side-hustle or a full-time online income with a flexible schedule
Step-by-step breakdown of landing your first client to growing your freelance consulting business
How to build relationships with clients so that you can earn recurring income with behind-the-scenes case studies
How to use professional tools for client and project management such as reports and presentations
How to use your existing knowledge & expertise in any sector to consult and provide value to companies
How to craft consulting proposals that will land you desirable clients
and much more
Once you join, you can chat with me in our private Discord server where I'll answer any questions you have, as well as be able to chat to other students and working consultants:
I look forward to seeing you there!
