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Most consultants don't make real money until year two or three, and that's if they've got a solid pipeline. The earlier replies nailed the burnout trap - that's real and costs people thousands - but there's another angle worth considering: consulting only works if you genuinely enjoy the business side of things, not just the work itself.
A lot of people think consulting means doing the actual work you love without the corporate nonsense, but you're actually spending 30-40% of your time on admin, taxes, proposal writing, and client hunting. If that stuff drains you more than it energizes you, leaving a stable paycheck is going to feel painful fast. You need to be honest about whether you're excited by the problem-solving part of running a business or just sick of your current situation.
That said, if you've got real demand for what you do - meaning actual people reaching out or a clear client base already interested - and you can afford to run lean for a few months without panic, it can work out better long-term than staying put. Just don't do it because you hate your boss or the meetings feel endless. Those problems follow you everywhere. Do it because you've got a better version of the work in mind and the temperament to handle months of uncertainty.
I left steady work to start consulting a few years back, and the honest answer is it depends entirely on your risk tolerance and what you're running from versus running toward. The money can be better once you're established, but there's a real gap where you're grinding without the safety net, and that stressed me out more than I expected. If you've got savings to cushion a slow start and genuinely believe you'll land clients, it's worth considering - but if you're just escaping something you hate, you might find yourself equally miserable chasing invoices instead.
don't jump ship because you're burned out at your current place. that's the trap - you'll just bring the same exhaustion into consulting, except now you're also hunting for clients and dealing with cash flow gaps. the grass looks greener when you're miserable, but consulting isn't an escape hatch from a bad situation. it's a different beast entirely.
the real question is whether you have concrete reasons to believe you'll make more doing this specific work independently, and whether you can actually survive 6 - 12 months on minimal or no income. most people drastically underestimate how long it takes to build a client base and how much mental energy goes into sales when you're not used to it. if you've got savings covering at least half a year of expenses and you already have some prospects lined up (not just "people who seemed interested"), then it's worth testing. if you're counting on landing clients immediately after you leave, reconsider.
the stability thing cuts both ways too. yeah, you lose the paycheck and benefits, but you also gain the ability to walk away from toxic clients without torpedoing your whole career. that's worth something. the money can be better, as mentioned before, but the trade-off is you're accountable for literally everything - your schedule, your reputation, your taxes, your sick days. make sure you actually want that control more than you want the steady rhythm.
The people above are right that burnout isn't a reason to leap, but they're underselling one thing: consulting can actually work *if* you're running toward something concrete - a specific market you know, clients already interested, or a service gap you've spotted - rather than just away from instability. Without that foundation, you're trading one form of precarity for another that demands way more hustle to even break even.
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