Harold,

First, love your blog and your tweets.

I've kept my research-and-consulting practice for over 10 years now, but it's almost always scary... Also, the amount of salary I've given up is just as frightening.

I would add a couple of other things folks ought to think about to survive as a "freelancing scientist" (just off the top of my head):

-- Having a spouse with an ability to make money, be patient, believe in you (or tolerate your career choice), keep the finances, and so much more.

-- Branding oneself or one's business. And, doing it in the right way.

-- Having a thick skin. Not worrying what the idiots keep saying. SMILE.

-- Believing in something bigger than just thriving/surviving as a consultant. Having a mission. Seeing it as something important that has to be done. This is key, because when the times get tough, you'll need to re-energize yourself.

-- Bringing many multiple talent sets together. Public speaking, writing, analyzing, consulting, marketing, sales, accounting, etc.

-- And so much more as well.

Here's the deal: A consultant must do the following:

3 days a week--billable work.
1 day a week--marketing and sales.
1 day a week--administrative stuff (and there is a lot of it).

A scientist/consultant must also do:
3 days a week--research and writing.

So it's not easy. SMILE.

One key I think is to be able to figure out what your value-add is. In my field, what is needed are more people who translate complicated research (on learning) into workable (relatively simple) models (often visual models or real-world examples).

But hey, don't listen to me, I'm still thinking it's all pretty scary...

Exhilarating too.