Ah, you have described my world so well!! Always tension between doing work and developing future work! Whilst I agree that sales drive things, I think I work best when my 'sales technique' looks very little like sales. Even when busy I try to make sure that I have a coffee with past clients and cultivate new networks, for me it's the relationships that underpin ongoing & new work. We seem to be on the same page! Some excellent points in here for prospective consultants to think through when starting out (and to come back to when things look a bit hard, which is pretty likely at some stage!) Ideas on your 5 points, I'll have a go at 1 & 2 1. Branding is really important, I've got some value out of reading Marty Neumeier's The Brand Gap and Zag 2. As a consultant if you don't love the work you won't be happy doing it. Great post!