I have been working as an implementation consultant for a financial data management software platform for 10+ years and am getting tired of working the corporate life. Over my years our client base has grown and business is great. However in the time I’ve been here I have had eight different managers due to mergers, people quitting or management restructuring and it has resulted in slow career growth. I am now a subject matter expert in the software, manage multiple projects and am a mentor to a lot of younger people on the team. However there are no open roles to be promoted to and career has gotten stale.

Meanwhile I am noticing more third party consulting firms with people who are certified in our software that are poaching our client projects - mostly because my company is understaffed and overpriced.

The possibility of me quitting and starting my own gig sounds more and more intriguing. But how do I just jump into that kind of career? I’d like to start on my own, but ideally I’d want to hire a couple people right out of college, train them up and have them out in the field while I manage clients. And how to I find clients? My company has 200 client globally, mostly large finance firms. I have worked with probably 30 of those clients a have a small list of contacts. Are there other ways to get an in? Does working with recruiting firms to find client make sense or would I basically be competing with them? Would I be better off just working as an contract employee with a recruiting firm or general consulting firm? Then learn the ropes and move to do my own thing?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.