In my early years working as a consultant, I watched many of my superiors leave the company.

These were top performers. They ran sales calls, managed teams, signed deals, and carried real responsibility. Naturally, I asked around when they left. The answer was almost always the same.

They wanted equity, and the partners were not giving it out.

From the outside, it made sense from both sides. The partners had worked hard to build the company and wanted to keep control of the equity. The managers and directors who helped grow the firm wanted more than bonuses. They wanted ownership.

When those conversations went nowhere, most of those leaders left and started their own consulting companies.

The Consulting Firm Arms Race

On paper, that move made complete sense. In practice, something interesting happened.

The number of consulting firms exploded. Former colleagues were now competing against one another for the same deals. Meanwhile, my old employer eventually sold to a much larger company and cashed out.

From a consultant’s perspective, those kinds of outcomes can feel out of reach.

For a long time, I resigned myself to the idea that consulting was simply about bringing in cash. Do good work. Get paid. Repeat. It is a great job, honestly the best type of work I could imagine for myself, and a strong match for what I enjoy doing.

But eventually a question crept in.

Will I be consulting forever?

When Burnout Is Not the Real Problem

Most consultants eventually reach a point where they feel burned out. Often, what they really need is not a career change but a real break.

And I do not mean a week or two of vacation. I mean months.

At one point, I took a three-month unpaid leave just to come up for air. The company was worried I would not come back. Instead, I returned refreshed and ready to keep going.

That experience taught me something important. Burnout is not always about hating the work. Sometimes it is about never stepping off the treadmill long enough to see where you are headed.

The Feeling of Spinning Your Wheels

Eventually, though, it became more than just needing a break.

I remember stopping and realizing that it felt like I was spinning my wheels. I was helping make someone else’s dreams come true while my own quietly slipped further into the background.

That realization hit hard.

I liked consulting. I was good at it. But I wanted something that could outlast my direct involvement. Something that could grow into more than just trading time for money.

There had to be another way.

Discovering a Different Path

Once I learned about going independent, everything shifted.

I realized I could use my current job not as a final destination but as a launching pad. I could build something alongside my consulting work, something that could eventually operate without my constant presence.

Looking back, it is almost funny. I once gave up being an independent web designer to take a consulting job as an employee. Years later, that consulting career led me right back to independence, but in a completely different form, one that was exponentially better.

Building Something That Can Grow Without You

As an independent, you create your own company. You run payroll for yourself. You file business taxes. You make deductions. You categorize some income as business income rather than purely earned income, which can significantly improve tax efficiency.

More importantly, you learn the skills required to take the next step. Hiring someone. Delegating work. Gradually removing yourself from the nonstop grind of delivery.

Those skills are what make real optionality possible.

They are also what separate a career that ends when you stop working from one that can continue, evolve, and support your life long term.

A Different Definition of Ownership

Equity does not always come from being granted shares in someone else’s company.

Sometimes it comes from building your own.

If this perspective resonates with you, I wrote a full guide on this path called The Liberated Consultant. It walks through how consultants use their existing careers to build something that lasts.

You do not have to give up consulting to stop spinning your wheels.

You just need to decide where all that effort is ultimately going.