[jhynesrockmtn]

Selling is relationships and having quality consultants. I've been part of a successful IT project and finance consulting firm here in the NW and they had a nice model that gave leaders equity, "staff" got high hourly pay, benefits and flexible schedules. They made it nice for those who wanted to work say 9 months of the year and then take time off in between gigs or for say the ski season. For example, we had a highly ranked amatuer golfer on the consulting staff. She took summers off to play tournaments and worked her (** off during the rest of the year to pay for it. Build one client at a time, get established at those clients so you are the go to firm by giving them the best combo of price and quality. This may not work as well in engineering, I don't know. In many ways it was more of a high quality contingent staffing model vs. true consulting.