I’m a consultant and bootatrapped it into a profitable firm. First, understand the difference between a contractor and a consultant. Though not all differentiate the two, many do and that’s reflected in the market rates associated with them (consulting == contracting + hard-to-find expert advisory). Convert a single existing FTE role into a consulting engagement to get you started if you can. If not, your ability to sell yourself is highly variable and something you’ll need to try and fail at a few times — this is highly dependent on your personal social strengths and weaknesses in my experience making quality general advice hard to give. Have 3-6 months living expenses in the bank, at least. This will help smooth out cash flow inconsistencies. And perhaps the most important thing is to not waiver on your rates. There are many leads that won’t pay for value; avoid them for the many who will. It will seem at times that lowering your rates is necessary, but its far more likely to be a symptom of looking in the wrong place for the right clients; recognize this as a fail in the try/fail cycle, and try again.

Happy to answer more questions if you can narrow down your ask to specifics.