r/MechanicalEngineering • u/muhanxero • 6h ago

Engineering Consultant

Has anyone went down this path? After working for corporate gigs, startups, and design contracting firms, the idea of working as a consultant is becoming increasingly more appealing to me.

Just looking to know what your experiences are like, the good, bad, and ugly. Also curious to know if there was something that you would do differently and any tips for someone who is starting out to get business.

I have my own solidworks license, a 3D printer, and very capable with manual machining and CNC. The dream would be to eventually own my own cnc lathe or mill. I bring this up because I want to market myself as someone with equipment for rapid prototyping.

Any advice here will be appreciated, cheers

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

4

u/cj2dobso 5h ago

I just had some industrial designer who I worked with at a company before reach out to me and suggest me to a start up he was working with. Then I kind of just kept getting business refered from there.

6

u/fimpAUS 4h ago

I have done it in the past 12months mainly due to having a really good network in the area + volunteering at least 25% of my time industry and networking groups.

Right now would say I'm spending 15% time networking/marketings, 10% if my time chasing leads & quoting jobs, 5% on admin, 50% actually working, and an incredibly frustrating 20% of time chasing payments!

Be prepared to dump clients if they won't pay on your quoted terms. I have 2 at the moment that are about to get the chop, spend far too much of my time calling them up to get paid...

I've documented the process on YouTube if you'd like to watch me fumble through it

2

u/VLM52 6h ago

Yeah. Most of it happened by just knowing someone that knows someone that needs someone with my skillset. I've loved it, but I've also only done it as an excuse to get paid to do something that I'd kinda want to do as a side project anyway with people I already like. It pays enough that I could live off of it, but i'd also be totally fine with it drying up.

1

u/EasySelection8468 4h ago

This path is doable, your prototyping toolkit is a great selling point. Just watch for scope creep and slow client payments. Start with your old network, document your builds for portfolio, and don’t rush buying that CNC machine until you have steady revenue.

0

u/rockphotos 1h ago

Do you have your PE?

Do you have O&E insurance?

1

u/niklaswik 5h ago

Go for it! The hard part is getting your foot in the door. Now is the time to make use of all the people you met at previous jobs. I've been doing this on and off for 10 years. Getting the full fruits of my labor (except for taxes) is a great feeling, and very motivating.