Build a Profitable Consulting Practice
Most consultants are good at their craft. That’s exactly what gets them into trouble.
You spent years becoming an expert. You know your field cold. What nobody told you is that expertise doesn’t pay the bills. Contracts do. Clients who pay on time do. Knowing how to walk away from the wrong engagement before it eats your year does.
This book is the manual for the part of consulting nobody teaches you.
Richard Lowe spent forty years in the business. Two decades of that running computer operations for Trader Joe’s as Director, managing complexity, budgets, vendors, and people at scale. Then he took that experience into consulting, where he learned fast that the skills that make a great consultant and the skills that make a profitable one are not the same list.
Every chapter in this book comes from real engagements, real clients, and real mistakes. The war stories are in here because that’s where the actual lessons live. Not in theory. Not in frameworks you’ll forget before you hit the parking lot.
You’ll learn how to price your services without leaving money on the table, how to write contracts that protect you instead of just sounding official, how to handle the client who changes scope every Tuesday, and how to recognize the engagement that is going to blow up in your face before you sign anything. You’ll also learn how to use AI as a billable service offering, which is now one of the fastest-growing opportunities for consultants willing to get practical about it.
Twenty-nine chapters. Forty years of hard-won experience. Zero fluff.
The first edition was adopted as required reading at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. If you’re serious about building a consulting practice that pays you what you’re worth and doesn’t run your life into the ground, this is the book you needed before you took your first client.
| Amazon Kindle | Paperback (IngramSpark) | epub (Kobo) |
| 📖 Look Inside | Need a Ghostwriter? Let’s Talk | |
| ISBN: | 978-1-972810-18-7 (Paperback) |
| ISBN: | 978-1-972810-19-4 (eBook) |
| Publisher: | The Writing King |
| Publication Date: | April 7, 2026 |
| Print Length: | 170 pages |
| Language: | English |
What Readers Say
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 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 have 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 is not reading a bunch of theory that is not backed up with real, live, hands-on production. A very worthwhile read.”
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Read the Preface
I wrote this book because I wish someone had given it to me when I started consulting. I had twenty years of corporate experience, solid technical skills, and confidence that I could solve problems for clients. What I didn’t have was any understanding of how to run a consulting business.
The technical work came naturally. The business side nearly destroyed me.
I made every mistake covered in this book. I priced projects too low and worked for clients who didn’t pay on time. I tolerated disrespectful behavior and let scope creep turn profitable projects into financial disasters. I worked for free, thinking it would lead to paid opportunities. I focused on delivering excellent technical work while ignoring the business fundamentals that actually determine whether a consulting practice survives.
Each mistake cost money, time, and credibility. Some nearly ended my consulting practice before it really began.
But each mistake also taught me something valuable about what works and what doesn’t in the consulting business. The hard-won lessons from those early disasters became the foundation for a sustainable practice that provides both professional satisfaction and financial stability.
This revised edition contains the business knowledge I should have had from day one. The first edition was adopted as required reading at Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management, where it helped students avoid many subtle pitfalls in their client relationships.
It won’t teach you technical skills — you already have those. It will teach you how to turn those skills into a real business that serves good clients, generates fair profits, and supports the lifestyle you want.