Long term, most independent consultants and heads of smaller firms will subsist at best and starve at worst. The tragedy lies in the relative ease with which both these sorry states can be replaced by success. It’s a matter of orientation, and many independent consultants have the wrong one. They do not see themselves as businesspeople. They see themselves as management consultants, organization development (OD) consultants, as system integrators, as Web or e-business consultants, or as almost anything except businesspeople running a small business, bent on earning a profit.
