Are You a Freelancer Or a Consultant?

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Are You a Freelancer Or a Consultant?

Posted November 8, 2010 in Marketing

“Are you a freelancer or a consultant?”

That may seem like an odd question, especially since this blog IS called “Freelance” Folder.

In fact, many people confuse freelancers with consultants and vice versa. There is a distinction and it is an important one. It matters how you position and brand yourself.

It’s Just a Title…Or Is It?

Why does it even matter if you brand yourself as a freelancer or a consultant?

Let’s just say it can affect a whole lot about your business. Your title affects how prospects and clients perceive you. In turn, it will affect how much you can charge. And it will affect how much clients are willing to pay you.

The bottom line is, one makes more than the other.

Semantics Is Everything

To further explore the difference between a freelancer and a consultant, let’s look at the definition of each word.

According to BusinessDictionary.com, a consultant is an:

Experienced professional who provides expert knowledge (often packaged under a catchy name) for a fee. He or she works in an advisory capacity only and is usually not accountable for the outcome of a consulting exercise. Some consultants (like Peter Drucker and W. Edward Deming) have brought dramatic shifts in management thinking and improvements in the performance of organizations.

And a freelancer is someone who is:

Working on a contract basis for a variety of companies, as opposed to working as an employee for a single company. Freelancers are often considered to be self-employed, and have the freedom to pick and choose the projects and companies they would like to be associated with. A common profession for freelancing is writing; a writer then has the ability to submit their work to many different places, without being tied to any one company in particular.

Therefore, a freelancer is just like an employee but on contractual basis. On the other hand, a consultant is an expert advisor who is not accountable for results.

As I understand from these definitions, a freelancer is considered rank-and-file. One of the minions, so to speak, of a business. In contrast, a consultant is at executive level, spouting out wisdom.

Knowing that, which one would you rather be?

It looks like, if you want to move up in income and public perception, being a consultant is better than being a freelancer.

(Some experts have advised freelance writers not to call ourselves that. Happily, I’ve been calling myself a “copywriter” instead.)

Actually, Why Not Be Both?

In terms of the services you offer, a combination of freelancing and consulting may be the best way to go.

If you’re already a freelancer, strive to become a consultant as well. For example, instead of being a “graphic designer,” call yourself a “visual branding consultant.”

This means you don’t simply design for your clients. You actually help them think through and come up with a strategic way of communicating their branding through visual design.

If you’re already a consultant, why not offer done-for-you packages with freelance services? For example, if you’re a “social media marketing consultant,” you could also offer to build your client’s blogs, put together their social networking profiles, and manage their email marketing for them.

You could continue to give your clients advice and strategic inputs, but at the same time offer to implement those strategies for those who don’t want to do it themselves.

“I Just Don’t See It”

What if you’d like to give yourself a promotion and offer consulting services, but you just don’t see yourself as a consultant?

There are a few things you can do to better equip yourself.

Keep studying your field. Read the latest books, follow your industry’s thought leaders, and implement a few of your own projects.
Get into the theories and conceptual approaches, not just execution. Don’t get bogged down by the nitty-gritty execution details of your freelancing area. Strive to understand the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of why certain things work while others don’t. This means, even if you’re a web developer, you may need to learn some human psychology.
Just go ahead and offer a consulting service. Add a consulting option to your menu of services. You’ll never know who’ll take you up on it.

What Do You Think?

Is consulting a goal for every freelancer to strive for? Should we even be having this discussion, or is it a non-issue? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Image by desiitaly

42 Questions Every Freelancer Should Ask Their Clients

About the author: Lexi Rodrigo is the creator of The Savvy Freelancer, a blog that's all about achieving creative and financial freedom through freelancing. Check out Lexi's free guide, 31 Days to Start Your Freelancing Business (or Make Yours A Better One).

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48 Comments

Sponsi
November 8th, 2010 at 8:00 am

In fact, I am really thinking about such services. At the moment I’m reading Kotling’s “Marketing”, new edition. Together with some other books not about design itself but strategies it might come to the point that I will be quite a smart guy with you know – juggling ideas for different ventures. I think the market might need such people. Big consulting companies charge a LOOOOOT and here is a niche for us! More individual approach can be our big advantage. Of course, you have to remember to charge at proper levels, too, because what we think is easy and “we just know it”, it’s still knowledge which should be paid for. Great ideas in this really short article, but definitely worth considering!
Bogdan Pop
November 8th, 2010 at 9:01 am

It’s simple. When your starting out your a freelancer. After a couple years to 10 or so or more, depending on domain, you get to become a consultant.
Susan
November 8th, 2010 at 10:07 am

Guess I’m a Freelancer, though I’ve been doing it for 12 years and am often called a consultant. The recruiting firms use neither, they call me a contractor….
P.S. Jones
November 8th, 2010 at 10:48 am

I’m both. It really depends on the client. Some clients know exactly what they want and how they want it done. For them, I’m just the vessel through which that happens. And I’m fine with that because that’s what I get paid for. But much more of my clients, the smaller ones, tend to need a consultant. They want web copy but that’s all they know. This is their first brochure for their company so they’re not sure what to put in it. For those guys, I’m the consultant who advises your through a project in addition to providing the writing services I can for them.
Jenn Mattern
November 8th, 2010 at 10:59 am

I used to be a PR and social media consultant, but a freelance business writer on the side. A few years back I dropped the consulting side of my business (which was very successful at the time, but I was tired of the PR industry and wanted to focus on writing). As a freelancer alone I have more freedom and I make more money. What you call yourself doesn’t matter. It’s how you portray yourself that does. If you have to call yourself a consultant to get the confidence you need to market yourself more effectively, there’s nothing wrong with it. But it’s not necessary to add consulting services to make you and your work sound better.

I also wouldn’t equate freelancers with employees. As independent contractors they’re very different (at least in the U.S.). Sure there are clients who don’t get that. But all that matters is that the freelancer does. Then they’re in the position to work as the business owner they are rather than falling in line as anyone’s “minion.” If that happens, it’s completely on them — not semantics.
Matthew Moore
November 8th, 2010 at 1:53 pm

Great post Lexi! There is a lot wrapped up in the words we choose. I would think a consultant would be more strategic while a freelancer would be more tactical. I think it’d be pretty safe to say we all do some of both, so why not use the title that is viewed more positively?

Now I gotta go do a Find/Replace on my site :)
Birgit Schultz
November 8th, 2010 at 3:25 pm

In fact, I planned my business right from the beginning as a mixture of both. That’s why I gave my business the name “Rat & Tat Marketing” (which does not mean that I sell rats and rubbish but offer advice and practical help). Some customes only need the consulting part, some more practical support, some need both. Most people are quite surprised that it is possible to combine both but are really glad about my individual approach.
Megan Hill
November 8th, 2010 at 3:37 pm

I’m both, too, depending on the project. You’re absolutely right about the differences and it is important to get that straight when marketing your services.
Luis Garotti
November 8th, 2010 at 4:20 pm

Ok, this really confused me.
My understanding of both terms before I read this was:
A freelancer is someone who does work by themselves and can either be contracted by a companies or get their own client, and usually they even get their own business name.
And a Consultant is someone who gives advice and helps their clients to achieve the outcome they want out of their business, they also from my understanding usually refer them to other businesses to help them with their goal.

Is this right or am I completely on another level here?
Thanks
Laura Spencer
November 8th, 2010 at 5:02 pm

This is a great topic, because these terms are often confused. Thanks for addressing it, Lexi!

@Luis Garotti, I think you are expressing what Lexi said here. I think this is the typical understanding of the difference between a freelancer and a consultant, i.e. a freelancer does the work while a consultant provides advice.

The water is further muddied by the fact that many small businesses offer both freelancing and consulting services to their clients.

@Jenn Mattern, I understand what you’re saying about independent contracting. The IRS in the U.S. makes some very important distinctions between employees and independent contractors. However, I can also relate to Lexi’s point about contractors working in the corporation alongside employees. I have seen this happen in technical companies when someone was brought into the company on a temporary basis to work on a specific project. They sat with the regular employees and usually worked the same hours, but when the project was complete they left. Often, the company contracted with an agency to provide these individuals and sometimes they were actually employees of the agency.

This doesn’t constitute legal or tax advice, but from a U.S. tax perspective I believe that both consultants and freelancers would be considered independent contractors and as such would need to pay the additional tax for being self employed. Of course, this may be different in other countries. (I know Lexi is located in Canada.)
Rishi Patel
November 8th, 2010 at 5:22 pm

Great post! I actually take the same stance as @Birgit Schultz, presenting myself as a marketing consultant who can implement the strategies that he preaches.
Sascha Funk
November 8th, 2010 at 11:29 pm

Nice comments so far. And yeah, offering both is obviously a good thing. BUT I still know a bunch of awesome freelancers that wouldn`t fit into the consulting role. So I won`t advice them to ‘just go ahead and offer consulting services’ because neither their clients nor themselves would be happy with it. Consulting needs a lot of ‘soft-skills’ too. Some people tend to forget this way to often.
Robert Dempsey
November 9th, 2010 at 12:43 am

For me this is a non-issue, and something I addressed in a post a few months ago: http://lifeofthefreelancer.com/2010/08/03/definition-of-freelancing/

I’m self-employed, so am I by definition a freelancer? I provide coaching and consulting to clients, so am I a consultant? I have also started numerous businesses, built a number of online applications, held a tech conference, and much more. How would that be labeled?

Freelancer is a label that someone chooses for his or herself. But ultimately, “freelancing” isn’t what someone does. As you said you are a copywriter.

I know and have interviewed many web developers, web designers, coaches, speakers, etc., and while all are self-employed (and not even close to being like full-time employees if for no other reason that the sheer amount of business activities they have to handle), almost all call themselves freelancers, but none worry about the labels.
Facebook Application Developers
November 9th, 2010 at 1:12 am

i thought consultant is much more experienced than a freelancer and as well as charges
Mark Smallman
November 9th, 2010 at 4:51 am

Since I have been in the industry for 13 years, and often get asked for advice I supose consultant would not be far wrong. That said I still freelande, so I think I’ll opt for “Freelance Design Consultant”
Or does that sound too big headed? Or on the fence – can one person be both?
Tina
November 9th, 2010 at 12:13 pm

I’m not sure that clients make such distinctions. What does seem to be important is that you don’t describe yourself just as a ‘freelance(r)’ or ‘consultant’ – it really doesn’t say much about what you do.

I’m not sure I’d agree with the definition of ‘freelancer’ above’; certainly in the UK, such a person would be a ‘contractor’. A freelance most definitely isn’t ‘just like an employee but on contractual basis’ – both the freelance and company would be in serious trouble with the UK tax authorities.
Julie Diaz Asper
November 9th, 2010 at 2:39 pm

I think everyone should try to be both with or without the label. And some strategy to your tactical. Add some tactical to your strategy. Clients would benefit from that.
Nemanja
November 9th, 2010 at 4:50 pm

This is good post. A Consultant is someone who gives advice and helps their clients. A freelancer is someone who does work by themselves….
Mark @ Alchemy United
November 9th, 2010 at 8:14 pm

It’s really pretty simple…can you be proactive and add value on a regualr basis? Or do you just sit there and wait for the wind to change?

Thinking it’s a simple as what you call yourself is naive, and probably reflective of being a freelancers. Knowing that it’s more than what you call yourself is something a consultant understands.

Catch my drift?
askar usman
November 10th, 2010 at 6:52 am

Really thought provoking piece for consultants and freelancers across the world. I am doing freelancing services in a part of world(Middle East) where payment delay is a sickening issue. Consultancy is the word saved me many occasions.
Phillipe Calmet Williams
November 10th, 2010 at 11:23 am

I think, as some people said before, that you start as a freelancer, and as you gain more and more experience, you can also become a consultant. If you are just starting in the business, it is very unlikely that someone will hire you as a consultant.
Stephanie Cockerl
November 10th, 2010 at 4:14 pm

Honestly for me, it depends what day it is and what type of projects I’m handling.
Andy
November 11th, 2010 at 4:00 am

Calling myself a Consultant wouldn’t even cross my mind, I’m a designer, that as and when it’s required brings ideas and strategies to the table.
Leisa Good
November 12th, 2010 at 5:41 pm

I think both work as far as the “big picture” is concerned. However, I definitely know that you can charge more by offering that “& such-and-such consultant” after your freelance title.

Dan Kennedy has always said not to be just a copywriter. Be a “Copywriter & Strategic Business Consultant”.

Great post as always, Lexi.
Amanda Cromhout
November 13th, 2010 at 3:40 pm

Great article and subsequent debate. I agree with so much of it apart from the fee being different between the two. If your client values your consultancy input enough but wants more of it to put you onto their books on a more regular basis, then the same value should be attached to what you deliver as if you were consulting.
Thats my opinion and it works for me so long as you continue to deliver enough value add at all times.
Paul Ouano
November 17th, 2010 at 12:59 am

How should we, web developers, call ourselves then? “Web Strategy Consultant”? :P
Lance Sison - Graphic Designer, Singapore
November 19th, 2010 at 2:44 am

That’s actually something to think about… but then again, aren’t titles like these just mere embellishments?

From a designer’s point of view (or at least mine), a graphic designer referring to himself as a “visual branding consultant” seems pompous. Just my opinion though… for me titles shouldn’t matter. When people ask me what I do for a living I tell them that I am a rockstar for hire, after the laughs, this’ll often lead to a more detailed conversation about my work; without them feeling that I’m full of myself.
Rami Taher
December 28th, 2010 at 1:10 am

I would have to disagree with the article,I think there’s quite a distinction between both, not all freelancers are consultants and vice versa. It’s not as simple as changing your title or rebranding yourself.

If you take branding for example, you can be a very talented graphic designer who know all the latest techniques and have all the creativity in the world, that doesn’t make you a branding consultant, that makes you a talented designer.

A branding consultant on the other hand, identifies the business goals, studies the target market and create a communication strategy that will best convey the message that the business is trying to deliver. The outcome of that process, whatever it is, is then communicated to the designer, who consequently translates this strategy into visuals.

Those two roles are very different, and therefore, require completely different skill sets. The brand consultant in the above example cannot call him/herself a designer, and the designer cannot call him/herself a consultant. There may be a chance that you possess both skill sets, only then can you call yourself both a designer and consultant.

Take social media for instance, a social media consultant will advise you on a winning social media strategy and tell you which platforms you should be involved in, while a freelancer might do the coding of your facebook fanpage.

In general, if you want to put it in very broad terms, consultants are more concerned with strategic, high level business issues, while freelancers work on specific tactical projects, the brief for which is most likely the result of the consultant’s work.

This is just my opinion of course.
Kristin
January 5th, 2011 at 12:37 am

Rami, I agree with you.

I am a freelance graphic designer and I may be able to advise a client on print design projects, but when it comes to big picture and strategy, I am not qualified to give advice. Additionally, if I were to call myself a “marketing consultant,” my friend who is the VP of Marketing for a large corporation would look at my title and say, “What? How does being a graphic designer qualify you to give marketing advice?” She’s really the one that can carry the title of consultant, not me.
Kristin
January 5th, 2011 at 12:40 am

However, I do think as a graphic designer, there are many opportunities to teach our clients about the design process and that is where consulting is necessary for projects that we handle. But, I just think the consultant title is too misleading.
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March 25th, 2012 at 8:14 am

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