Got laid off 14 years ago and decided to try the consulting business. Have not had any regrets. Will be 71 this month.
************************************************************
Get business license.
Don't spend any money that you don't have to when starting business.
Keep good records of your expenses. For your business/hobby to be tax deductible, you must make a profit in 2 of 5 years.(Check me on this) You can deduct car mileage, office expense including part of the cost of maintaing your home, technical books, tools and what not. Making a profit is easy, just don't deduct some expenses for two year.
I was lucky, visited company had purchased parts from and requested consulting job. Did small job and didn't charge them. Have consulted for them for 12 years. They allow me to select own hours and are usually agreeable about allowing me to work on what I consider the most important project.
Did web site. The results were dissapointing. The web site was OK, but there was nothing there to encourage someone to return.
If you are doing web page or site would recomment that either you keep it very simple (one page) or that you give advice on your experience, such as when should plastic parts be used/when should metal parts be used, how thick/thin should plastic parts be, what material to use....
It seems dumb giving out free technical advice, but sooner or later they will have problems or questions and will come to you.
You mention that you had "huge old drafting table". This implies that you don't use computer for your drawings. Doing drawings by hand may be the correct way to go in this situation, but it probably is better to not let the client know this.
Have had good luck on getting paid. Only problem had was with a lawyer, and when filed claim in Small Claims Court, he paid.
Probably could make more money working for employer, however like being able to make my own decision on when to work and to a certain extent how to solve the design problems.
Good Luck
Carl Pugh
