Latest
Walter Koenig: A TributeAI Has Paid Off Outside Tech. Apollo Is Reading the Wrong Scoreboard.I Don’t Post Bad ARC Reviews. I Send the Author a Note.The Little Red Book of Stuff That Works!Your Kids Are Your Own FaultGrow a PairYou’re Broke Because You Want to BeIt’s Called Work for a Reason!No Time for TactShut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a LifeWilliam Bessette: AI Enablement and Child Welfare TechnologyFree Book Planning ToolsWhat’s New at The Writing King: Week of October 18, 2026Ghostwriting by the Numbers: Timelines, Word Counts and the First CallPromising Young Woman (2020) ReviewBillions for AI, Pennies for the Plumbing: AI Companies Should Pay to Keep PHP AlivePHP2Shell: AI Found a 22-Year-Old Crack Under Your Website in Two DaysPetrov Day: The Officer Who Didn’t Believe the ComputerKindle Unlimited Is Now Kindle+. AI Audiobooks Just Joined the BuffetMo Gawdat Says the AI Dystopia Starts in 2027. Read the List, Skip the DatesChina Is Using Bots to Fan the Data Center Backlash. The Backlash Is Still Real.When to Quit Writing a Book: I’ve Abandoned Dozens, and I’d Do It AgainThe Society of Authors Signed an Ethical AI Charter, Then Ran From It in Eight DaysGetty Images Filed for Bankruptcy. Can You Prove You Licensed Your Book’s Images?Fluff Words: Cut Them From Your Prose, Keep Them in Your DialogueWhere Can Writers Learn Storytelling From Movies? Richard Lowe Publishes 1,226 Film and TV Reviews With Writing Craft NotesWhere Are the Independent Bookstores and Public Libraries Worth Visiting in Tampa Bay? Author Richard Lowe Profiles 44 of ThemWhat Should You Know Before Hiring a Ghostwriter? The Writing King Publishes 57 New Answers, Including What to Do When It Goes WrongWhere Can You Hear Founders and Executives Tell Their Own Stories? Richard Lowe’s Leaders and Their Stories Publishes Every Unscripted Interview With a Full TranscriptAuthor Richard Lowe Publishes Eight Volumes of Enemies of You, a Researched Series on the Forces Working Against Ordinary AmericansThe Jackal (1997) ReviewThe Day of the Jackal (2024) ReviewYour First Novel Is an Apprentice Piece: What Beta Readers and Editors Can’t FixWhen the Cloud Gets Bombed: What the AWS Data Center Strikes Teach About BackupsHuman-Written Book Labels Are Gatekeeping With a FeeThe Enshittification of Microsoft Office: Why I Switched to a Free CloneGlobal Encryption Day: The Padlock Every Writer Depends OnWriting Your Worst Moments in a Memoir: Show the Evidence, Skip the VerdictHow to Register a Copyright for Your Book (and What Doesn’t Count)Your AI Chats Aren’t Private: Deleted ChatGPT Logs in CourtThe Board Seat Scam: A 419 Letter in a Business SuitI Joined the Science Fiction Book Club 30 TimesCitations in a Memoir: Endnotes, Footnotes and Fair UseThe Stores That Still Care: Publix, Walmart, Aldi, Best Buy and the RestThe Grocery Store Plan: Why Every Store Starts With FlowersWinnie-the-Pooh’s 100th Birthday: A Century in the Hundred Acre WoodWhat’s New at The Writing King: Week of October 11, 2026Free With a Fill-Up: How America Stopped Giving Things AwayAI’s Black Box Is Getting a Window. Somebody Still Has to Look Through It“It Stars C. Thomas Howell. No.” Why AI Gets Stuck in a Loop
The Writing King Your Ethical Ghostwriter. Your Story, Done Right.

Working for Yourself

Build a Profitable Consulting Practice

The Part of Consulting Nobody Teaches

Expertise does not pay the bills. Contracts do.

My first consulting job came from a college professor almost seven feet tall named Fred, near the end of the semester where I first touched a computer. Fixing bugs in general ledger programs on a TRS-80 with sixteen kilobytes of memory and two floppy drives.

I was overconfident, underprepared and completely naive. I had my eye on the six hundred dollars and didn’t realize I had no idea how to fix the programs until I was in too deep to get out.

Looking back I did everything wrong that was available to do wrong. I didn’t validate my assumptions. I didn’t write a statement of work. I didn’t terminate the contract when it became obvious I was over my head.

Forty years later, most consultants I meet are still making some version of those mistakes, and for the same reason: they’re good at their craft, and nobody taught them the other half. Knowing your field cold doesn’t get you paid. Contracts do. Clients who pay on time do. Walking away from the wrong engagement before it eats a year does.

Free work: what was promised and what came backA comparison drawn from the free work story in the sample chapter. A nonprofit promised referrals from wealthy board members in exchange for an unpaid database project. Richard spent three weeks on it and delivered a working system, and what came back was a thank-you letter and no further work.Free work: what was promised and what came backThe nonprofit story from the sample chapterPromisedReferrals from wealthy board membersA retail chain ownerA manufacturing companyA venture capitalistFuture paid workDeliveredThree weeks of unpaid workA new system that worked wellA nice thank-you letterNo referralsNo further work
Free work: what was promised and what came backA comparison drawn from the free work story in the sample chapter. A nonprofit promised referrals from wealthy board members in exchange for an unpaid database project. Richard spent three weeks on it and delivered a working system, and what came back was a thank-you letter and no further work.Free work: what was promised andwhat came backThe nonprofit story from the sample chapterPromisedReferrals from wealthy board membersA retail chain ownerA manufacturing companyA venture capitalistFuture paid workDeliveredThree weeks of unpaid workA new system that worked wellA nice thank-you letterNo referralsNo further work

Why the book says never work for free: the promised referrals almost never materialize.

What is inside Build a Profitable Consulting Practice?

What do readers say about Build a Profitable Consulting Practice?

Amazon reviews of the previous edition. 2 of them, averaging 5.00 out of 5.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Richard Makadok, Purdue University Krannert School of Management

Great textbook for any college course that includes a field-study project for a client. Last year, this book helped my students to avoid many subtle pitfalls in their client relationships for a field-study project in my course, so I’ve assigned it again this year. Also, the author generously made time to give my class a Q&A session via Skype.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Author from South Africa

A fabulous book for anyone setting about managing a project, whether large or small, business or personal. The author clearly has tons of valuable experience in this area and has ‘been there, done that.’ One isn’t reading a bunch of theory that’s not backed up with real, live, hands-on production. A very worthwhile read.

Who should read Build a Profitable Consulting Practice?

Why consultants fail, and what the book covers
Where consultants fail What the book covers
They price too low Pricing strategies that generate profit
They struggle with cash flow Payment structures that protect cash flow
Clients don’t respect their boundaries Professional boundaries and demanding professional respect
They get pulled into free work Avoiding free work traps
They treat the business side as someone else’s problem Client management, contracts, stakeholders and online presence

Why did I write Build a Profitable Consulting Practice?

Richard Lowe, the Writing King

Forty years of consulting engagements, beginning with a six hundred dollar job I was unqualified to take. Twenty of those years were spent as Director of Computer Operations and Technical Services at Trader Joe’s, managing budgets, vendors and complexity at scale, which is the other side of the table from the consultant. I’ve hired them and I’ve been them.

► Behind the Book: Build a Profitable Consulting Practice
How this one got written, what went wrong, and what got cut.

► My First Consulting Job Paid $600. I’d No Idea What I Was Doing.
One story from behind this book.

What do people ask about Build a Profitable Consulting Practice?

Who is Build a Profitable Consulting Practice for?
Consultants at any stage: those transitioning from corporate employment, struggling with problems in an existing practice, or looking to scale to higher-value clients. It’s also used as required reading at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management for students doing field-study projects with real clients.
What makes Build a Profitable Consulting Practice different from other consulting books?
Practical guidance from 40+ years in the business, including two decades as Director of Computer Operations and Technical Services at Trader Joe’s and years of direct consulting experience. Every problem covered is one the author has watched play out repeatedly across real clients and real engagements. No theory. No frameworks. War stories with the lessons still attached.
What topics does Build a Profitable Consulting Practice cover?
Pricing strategies that generate profit, payment structures that protect cash flow, client management, professional boundaries, contract negotiations, stakeholder relationships, international consulting, online presence, managing testimonials and referrals, and using AI as a billable service offering.
Is Build a Profitable Consulting Practice a revised edition?
Yes. This revised edition adds new chapters on demanding professional respect, avoiding free work traps, and building the online presence modern consulting requires. Twenty-nine chapters total.
Why do most consultants fail?
Not because they lack technical skills. Because they never learn the business side. They price too low, work for clients who don’t respect boundaries, struggle with cash flow, and treat the business fundamentals as someone else’s problem. They aren’t. They’re your problem, and this book shows you how to handle them.

Also in Working for Yourself

The contract is the part that protects you

The craft is what you already have.

BUY FROM INGRAMSPARKAMAZONKOBOREAD A CHAPTERTABLE OF CONTENTS

Paperback and ebook.

Filed underBusinessBusiness StrategyMoneyLeadership

A chapter

Build a Profitable Consulting Practice

Working for free is the fastest way to destroy your consulting practice. Free work devalues your expertise, attracts the wrong clients, and wastes time you could spend on activities that generate revenue. The only exception to this rule is school internships, where the educational value justifies the investment.

Most consultants fall into the free work trap because they think it’ll lead to paid opportunities. Potential clients promise future projects, referrals, or long-term relationships in exchange for free consulting. These promises almost never materialize, and you end up doing real work for imaginary compensation.

I learned about free work the expensive way during my second year of consulting. A local nonprofit organization contacted me about upgrading their donor management system. They explained that their budget was extremely limited, but they had connections with several wealthy board members who might need consulting services for their businesses.

The nonprofit director painted an engrossing picture of future opportunities. She claimed that one board member owned a chain of retail stores, another ran a manufacturing company, and a third was a venture capitalist who funded tech startups. If I could help them with their database project, she was sure they’d recommend me for lucrative paid work.

I spent three weeks analyzing their existing system, designing a new database structure, and implementing the migration. The work was complex because their data was messy and their requirements kept changing. I treated it like a paid project, delivering the same quality I’d provide to any client.

The project was successful. The new system worked well, and the nonprofit was thrilled with the results. They sent a nice thank-you letter praising my expertise and professionalism. But none of the promised referrals materialized. The board members never contacted me, and the nonprofit never hired me for additional work.

That three weeks of free work could have been spent marketing to paying clients, improving my skills, or developing new service offerings. Instead, I gave away valuable expertise and got nothing in return except a warm feeling about helping a good cause.

The fundamental problem with free work is that it attracts people who don’t value consulting services. Clients who expect free work rarely become clients who pay market rates. They’re looking for cheap solutions, not professional expertise, and they’ll continue seeking free alternatives instead of paying for quality.

Table of contents

Build a Profitable Consulting Practice

  • What’s a consulting project?
  • Statement of work
  • Pricing and contracts
  • Pricing models and payment arrangements
  • Never work for free
  • Red flags
  • Reading your client
  • Controlling change
  • Controlling chaos
  • Communicating with the client
  • Meetings
  • Building and managing teams
  • Remote work considerations
  • Record everything
  • E&O insurance
  • Demand respect and treat with respect
  • When it goes south
  • Advanced stakeholder management
  • Outsourcing
  • Using VAs
  • Using AI for your projects
  • Modern project management tools
  • CRMs and business tools
  • Marketing yourself between projects
  • Testimonials, referrals, and recommendations
  • International and cultural considerations
  • Your website and online presence
  • The end of the project
  • AI consulting as a service offering
  • Conclusion
Categories and tags
CategoriesBusinessLeadership
TagsConsultingEntrepreneurshipReading LifeWriting Craft
Tagged , , ,
0 comments

No comments yet. Yours can be the first.

Was this useful?
The Writing King

Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.

Books & Reviews

Services

Resources

Get In Touch

Ready to discuss your book?

BOOK YOUR PRIVATE CONSULTATION

No pitch. No pressure.

Or follow Richard's work

© 2026 Richard Lowe. The Writing King. All rights reserved.

PrivacyTermsRefund PolicySitemapContact