Turning thirty years of experience into consulting or freelance work

Most people over 50 have something worth paying for that they have never sold: judgement. Thirty years of knowing which supplier will let you down, what a regulator will ask, how a difficult team can be turned round. Organisations pay for that by the day, and pay more than they pay their own staff, because they only need it for a while.

The obstacle is rarely the expertise. It is that nobody has told you how to turn “I’ve done this for a long time” into an offer, a price and a first client. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.

Package one problem, not a career

The most common mistake is to offer everything. “Experienced operations professional available for consultancy” describes a CV, not a service, and nobody buys a CV.

Instead, name one specific problem you solve for one kind of client. “I help small manufacturers get through their first ISO audit.” “I fix the finance processes of small charities before a new finance director arrives.” Specific offers are easier to price, easier to refer, and easier to say yes to, because the buyer can see the end.

A useful test: could a former colleague describe your offer at a dinner, without you there? If not, narrow it. You cannot get a referral for something nobody can explain.

Write the offer on a single page: who it is for, what problem it solves, what you deliver, roughly how long it takes, what it costs. That page is your entire marketing for the first six months.

Pricing: principles, not figures

There is no right number; it depends on your field, your country and your clients. But the principles are stable.

Price by the day or the project, not the hour. Hourly billing punishes you for being fast, and after thirty years you are fast. A day rate rewards experience; a fixed project price rewards it more, provided the scope is tight.

Price from the client’s value, not your old salary. Dividing your last salary by the working days in a year gives a rate that is far too low: a salary came with pension, holiday, sick pay and a full year of work, and a freelancer sells perhaps half their days. Start from what the problem is worth to the client and what it would cost them to solve it another way.

Have a floor. Decide the lowest day rate at which the work is still worth doing, and decline politely below it. Early underpricing is very hard to reverse with the same client.

Charge for the first job. A reduced rate for a first client in exchange for a testimonial and a referral is a fair trade. Free is a hobby.

Your first three clients are people you already know

Consultants rarely find their first work through advertising. They find it through people who already trust them, and after 50 that list is long.

Write down everyone who has seen your work and would take your call — former managers, former reports, clients, suppliers. Aim for twenty names. Then tell them, one at a time, three things: what you now offer, that you have capacity, and a specific question: “who do you know who is dealing with this right now?”

That question does most of the work: most people cannot hire you, but almost everyone knows someone with the problem.

Three clients is the right first target. One is luck, two is a pattern, three is a business. By the third you will know whether the offer, the price and the work suit you.

On age: Acas notes that UK protection against age discrimination extends to “contractors and self-employed people hired to personally do the work”. In practice a consultant’s grey hair is an asset; clients want someone who has seen it before.

Contracts and invoicing, kept simple

You do not need a lawyer for most freelance work, but you need something in writing before you start. One or two pages covering scope (what is included and what is not), deliverables, dates, price, payment terms, who owns what you produce, confidentiality, and how either side can end it. Larger clients will send their own terms; query anything that makes you liable for more than you are being paid.

Invoice promptly and clearly — the work, the period or milestone, the amount, your payment details, the due date — and chase early when a payment is late; it is normal, not rude. Keep a record of every invoice sent and paid, because you will need it for tax.

On tax, the basics are those of any small business. In the UK, most freelancers start as a sole trader — Gov.uk calls it “the simplest business structure to set up and keep records for” — and must register for Self Assessment once they earn more than £1,000 in a tax year from the work. In the US, the equivalent is the sole proprietorship, which the IRS describes as a business run by one person filing self-employment and personal tax returns; a single-member LLC is the common step up. Our article on starting a business after 50 has more on registration.

Platforms, in general terms

Online freelance marketplaces exist for almost every field. They can be useful where your network is thin, but they compete on price, take a cut, and the buyers have not met you. Treat them as a supplement, never as the thing that sets your floor. Professional networking sites are worth an hour now: a headline that states your offer, and a note that you are available.

Start this week

Write the one sentence. Write the one page. Message three people and ask who they know. Draft the agreement template so you are ready for the first yes. If you want the whole 90 days laid out with checkpoints, our Second Act workbook does exactly that — it is in the shop. For how consulting fits alongside the other ways of working after 50, start with the complete guide.