[spdustin]

This.

I own a small consulting and training shop focusing on a particular "enterprise" product that's used by more companies than I can count, big or little. We charge a premium rate per hour for consulting, and a premium per-day rate for training. Been doing it for over a decade now. Companies that would hire out to Accenture or Avenade or name-your-consulting-firm-here would, in our experience, much prefer to pay someone they can speak to about their skills and work without a technical sales rep getting in the way. It's not even that tough to get into a client's "preferred vendor" list, if they have one.

The combination of humble confidence and actually knowing your shit is a potent one.

Edit: typo