[benjaminwootton]

Recruiters typically charge approximately 10% in the markets I am familiar with.

They also act as a free sales force and have supplier agreements with end clients. These are very hard to secure directly for one man bands.

I would argue that it's not really consulting or running your own business if you are working through a recruiter. It's more akin to short term employment. That may be fine for your aims however.

[sirsinsalot]

Recruiters are also an insurance policy for clients. They mitigate some risk.

[lylejantzi3rd]

> They mitigate some risk.

Do they actually mitigate some risk? Or do they make the client feel like they've mitigated some risk?

[sirsinsalot]

I mean, value is value.

But I gather many clients have a strong working relationship with one recruitment firm so that if anything goes wrong, that firm will want to maintain the relationship and find a replacement ASAP from their pool.