[nodesocket]

I just founded Elastic Byte (shameless plug https://elasticbyte.net) which is a DevOps-as-a-service and infrastructure consulting startup.

The biggest challenge in starting a consulting business is indeed building relationships and selling. It is very different than running my other company a traditional web SaaS. I'm spending lots of time in CRM (managing inbound leads), communication with leads, and setting up phone calls and Google Hangouts. It is absolutely critical though that YOU do these tasks to start. Don't try and hire a sales guy too early and push everything off to him. You must interact with the clients at the start to discover pain points, processes, and pattern matching.

In terms of partnerships, I'd say don't get bogged down in that. Companies will reach out wanting you to use or pitch their products, all good, but don't waste time setting up partnership meetings yet.

[adamqureshi]

I have a TINY consultancy. I have a gig based set up. I am in NYC and there is a LOT of work here. I can't promise anything but maybe we should talk. I have maybe 3-4 clients who are growing and keep asking me about moving to AWS / DO manage infrastructure , etc...

[mrg3_2013]

Typically do these gigs require one to be physically present onsite ? I ask because I too am on the fence to try AWS consulting, but don't want to on-site type consulting [i.e you need to be at their site from start-to-finish]