You’re Going to Charge Too Little as a Consultant. Here’s the Math That Fixes It.
Consulting is the single most common thing retirees do when they leave a full-time role and aren’t actually finished. It shows up everywhere: former executives, teachers, nurses, marketers, operators, all landing in some version of “I’ll consult.” And there’s a good reason for it. It uses what you already know, and it doesn’t require starting over.
Here’s what nobody tells you before you set your rate: consulting is one of the easiest businesses to start and one of the easiest to underprice into the ground. The math is not intuitive, and almost everyone gets it wrong the same way.
The Real Numbers on Retiree Consulting
Consulting keeps showing up as the default landing spot for people leaving a career but not leaving the workforce, alongside work like proofreading, insurance sales, and financial management. It’s the path people take when they want the work without rebuilding their whole identity.
The market backs this up. The number of independent workers earning over $100,000 a year hit 4.7 million in 2024, up from 3 million in 2020. Full-time independent workers grew 6.5% in the same period, to 27.7 million people. This is not a fringe trend. It is one of the fastest-growing categories of work in the country, and a meaningful share of it is people who used to have a badge and a title and decided they’d rather have clients.
Day rates for independent consultants typically run $1,500 to $5,000, with the national average landing around $1,800. Hourly rates for retired executives with deep, specific expertise commonly run $200 to $1,000 an hour, depending on seniority and specialization. Those are real, achievable numbers. They are also not the numbers most first-time consultants actually charge, because most first-time consultants never run the math that gets them there.
The Math Almost Nobody Runs First
Here’s the mistake. When people set their consulting rate, they take the income they want, say $150,000, and divide it by roughly 220 working days in a year. That gives them a day rate that feels reasonable, maybe $680 a day, and they go with it.
The problem is the 220 number. Most independent consultants only bill 120 to 160 days a year once you count business development, proposals, admin, and the natural gaps between engagements. Nobody bills every working day. Not you, not the person who trained you, not the most successful consultant you know.
Run that same $150,000 target against 140 billable days instead of 220, and the math changes completely. Now you need roughly $1,070 a day just to hit the same number, closer to the real market average, and nowhere near what most new consultants think to charge.
This is the same undercharging trap I’ve watched women fall into their entire careers, just wearing a different outfit. You are not pricing your knowledge. You are pricing your fear of asking for enough.
What I Learned on a Commission Floor
I spent ten years in sales, most of it on straight commission, before I ever built a business of my own. If there’s one thing that floor beat into me, it’s this: your price is not a reflection of what you’re worth. It’s a reflection of what you believe you’re worth, and those are two very different numbers.
I watched people with half my experience out-earn me for years, not because they knew more, but because they asked for more and expected to get it. I eventually learned to ask like I expected a yes. The number on the page didn’t change. My belief about what I was allowed to ask for did.
That lesson applies directly here. You didn’t spend thirty years becoming excellent at something so you could charge hobby rates for it in year one of consulting. Price the outcome you deliver, not the discomfort you feel saying the number out loud.
This Is a Launch and Lead Chapter
Once you believe you’re worth building for, and you’ve taken the first action, the next phase of the BOLD Blueprint is Launch and Lead. This is where you stop operating like someone doing a favor and start operating like the CEO of a practice. Get a big view of your job. Think your present work is important, because it is.
Pricing is the clearest place this shows up. A CEO prices for the business she’s building, using real numbers: realistic billable days, market day rates, and the income she actually needs. A hobbyist prices for what feels comfortable to say out loud. Only one of those approaches survives past year one.
Your Next Step
Before you set a single rate, do the real math. Take your income target and divide it by 140 billable days, not 220. Compare that number to the market ranges above. If there’s a gap between what you’re about to charge and what the math says you need, that gap is exactly what a first conversation with a coach is for.
On a discovery call, we’ll pressure-test your numbers, your positioning, and the plan for actually landing the first few clients, so you launch this thing priced like the CEO you are, not the retiree who’s being modest about it.
Book your free discovery call: TriciaFoxCoaching.as.me/FREECONSULTATION
About Tricia Fox
Tricia Fox is a business and wealth coach for women over 40. She built Mud Hut Pottery & Art Studio to $900,000 in revenue in under three years, owns an 8-door real estate portfolio, and started with nothing but four kids, multiple jobs, and a decision to figure it out. She is the creator of the BOLD Entrepreneur Program. Learn more at triciafox.org.
