Not a week goes by without Ray Colvin getting a phone call from a safety and health pro worried about losing his job, and thinking of getting into consulting. They come to Colvin, a nationally known safety and health consultant, looking for advice. But they're apt not to like what they hear.
"So many people are going out into consulting and falling flat on their faces," he says. "They think they can get $110 an hour, but it's not so." One example: A "safety professional of the year" winner who Colvin says "starved" as a consultant a year after leaving his company. "He couldn't get the business."