I've given this some thought, as I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself. I think I'm going to try this after my current startup sells or fails.
What I think I would do is reach out to anyone I know and let them know that I'm open for business and looking for clients. All of my employment jobs have worked that way, so I think it's probably a good first step for consulting too.
After that, I'd probably contact companies with job listings and offer to help them as needed with an hourly rate. They can always keep my number in their contact list in case they get into a bad spot and have trouble finding devs later. I know there's good job boards on SO, AngelList, and the monthly HN thread. I've been at plenty of companies where we wish we had an extra dev to get us out of a bind or pick up some extra work without committing to a full time hire, so I assume most small companies would be happy to be introduced to me, in case I'm needed later.
Then there's upwork, toptal, and a few others. Those sites really sketch me out because it seems like a race to the bottom, and it seems like it'd be harder to build relationships with clients when you're one of thousands that they picked from for this particular task. After all, they can just dump you and get another from the same web interface. Maybe I'm wrong about this and should give them a try.
This thread has really made me do some hard thinking about what I want in life, and I think I could put in another year or two and become semi-retired, take some time off, and then try to do a little consulting work and see how it goes. I've been paralyzed by fear to try, because I'm not sure if I'd be able to go back to employment if I fail. But after reading all these replies, that seems like a level of risk I should be willing to accept.
I also secretly hope (though I have no idea if it's true) that if I had a few months off work, I'd start building something so interesting than YC would want me. I don't actually know if I'm capable of that, because I've never had the time to experiment and find out, but that seems like a worthwhile attempt just to know what my actual capabilities are when unconstrained by work.
Also, I know this thread is getting old now, but I'd just like to say (in case anyone checks back) that I appreciate the replies here so much. I've never had so many people understand how I feel before. And reading all of the different life experiences that people have shared makes me realize that there is hope for me to do something else, and that I might not be trapped here until I'm dead, which is how it seemed before I started talking about this.
What I think I would do is reach out to anyone I know and let them know that I'm open for business and looking for clients. All of my employment jobs have worked that way, so I think it's probably a good first step for consulting too.
After that, I'd probably contact companies with job listings and offer to help them as needed with an hourly rate. They can always keep my number in their contact list in case they get into a bad spot and have trouble finding devs later. I know there's good job boards on SO, AngelList, and the monthly HN thread. I've been at plenty of companies where we wish we had an extra dev to get us out of a bind or pick up some extra work without committing to a full time hire, so I assume most small companies would be happy to be introduced to me, in case I'm needed later.
Then there's upwork, toptal, and a few others. Those sites really sketch me out because it seems like a race to the bottom, and it seems like it'd be harder to build relationships with clients when you're one of thousands that they picked from for this particular task. After all, they can just dump you and get another from the same web interface. Maybe I'm wrong about this and should give them a try.
This thread has really made me do some hard thinking about what I want in life, and I think I could put in another year or two and become semi-retired, take some time off, and then try to do a little consulting work and see how it goes. I've been paralyzed by fear to try, because I'm not sure if I'd be able to go back to employment if I fail. But after reading all these replies, that seems like a level of risk I should be willing to accept.
I also secretly hope (though I have no idea if it's true) that if I had a few months off work, I'd start building something so interesting than YC would want me. I don't actually know if I'm capable of that, because I've never had the time to experiment and find out, but that seems like a worthwhile attempt just to know what my actual capabilities are when unconstrained by work.
Also, I know this thread is getting old now, but I'd just like to say (in case anyone checks back) that I appreciate the replies here so much. I've never had so many people understand how I feel before. And reading all of the different life experiences that people have shared makes me realize that there is hope for me to do something else, and that I might not be trapped here until I'm dead, which is how it seemed before I started talking about this.