Difference In Consulting and Freelancing

Each word has a very different connotation when describing the type of relationship you plan to have with customers and the services you offer. Both freelance and independent consultants hold no direct affiliations with the companies they work for and they do business on a project-by-project basis. However, an independent consultant can be someone who either works for himself with multiple clients or for a company that contracts out to multiple clients, whereas a freelance consultant is someone who works for himself with multiple clients. Independent consultants aren’t always freelancers, but freelancers are always independent consultants. Many people confuse consultants with freelancers. It’s not unusual to interchange the terms “freelancing” and “consulting”, when describing the services you perform as a contract worker. Understanding these differences is an important part of positioning your business for future success.

A Freelancer

A freelancer works independently, selling work or services by the hour, day or job with no intent to pursue a permanent or long-term arrangement with a single employer.

A Consultant

A consultant is a person who is paid to provide professional or expert advice in a particular field or specialty, such as advising a company on social media use or on increasing efficiency.

It’s easy to see how you might confuse the two. After all, both convey the idea of performing work or services for other people or companies.

Understanding the Difference

When hiring a freelancer, customers tend to think of using your services for a short-term project with a very specific outcome. To further emphasize the difference, take a look at the synonyms commonly associated with each term. Synonyms for freelancers tend to be tied to a specific career field or job title, and most commonly that of writer, journalist and graphic designer. Synonyms for consultants may include descriptors, such as adviser, guru, and specialist.

 

As a consultant, your clients look to you for detailed guidance on a particular area of expertise. For example, you may be hired as a crisis communication consultant or a marketing strategy consultant providing advice to the client. In many cases, the scope of the project is more extensive and could include several smaller projects within the overall agreement. For instance, a marketing consultant may be hired to conduct competitor research, organize focus groups, oversee the development of an ad campaign and write a marketing plan. For that reason, the work may occur as part of a long-term or ongoing commitment, as opposed to having a definitive start and finish date across only a few weeks.

For example, writing a case study or designing a brochure. As a freelancer, you control nearly every aspect of the project, including determining the best method for tackling the project and deciding the necessary timeline for completion. Your role is to take initial direction from the client and then go off and complete the assignment. Typically, the work is done off-site, using your tools and resources. Once the project is finished, your relationship with the client ends until the next project comes along.

Work Environment

Independent consultants employed by a company work either at headquarters or at the client’s office. For instance, an independent communications consultant might come in to lecture and oversee a workshop, making herself available to the client’s staff for an entire day or two. Freelance consultants typically work out of the home, making periodic onsite visits to their clients when needed. A freelance copywriting consultant, for example, does most of his work in a home office, submitting drafts of a project throughout the writing process. The only time he heads to a client’s office is for the first meeting and then potentially to meet with marketing leads or designers later in the project.

Value

The value of your services lay in the quality of performance and whether or not the objective of the project is achieved. A consultant is not more superior than a freelancer or vice versa. As a freelancer, you may be hired on a project-by-project basis; while as a consultant, you could land a long-term gig that may even lead to permanent employment. However, the way in which you categorize your work does shape how your prospective clients view your terms of service.

I have discussed in my previous post how you can look at some of your competitors’ websites to get an idea about building your own website. It is important to have a website for your business. This is your home base and all of your internet endeavours will run to and from it. As a starting point, you can contact an online media consultant to help set-up the website per your requirement. Selecting a domain and figuring out a quality hosting plan to get off the ground, the design and layout of your site, all of these can be taken care of by HyperEffects. You may also use the insights you gleaned from your competitive research and select something that’s clean, engaging and simple.