How to Package 30 Years of Experience Into Your First Consulting Offer

👋 Welcome - Your Weekly Spark

Welcome back! This week, we're tackling the question I hear most often from experienced professionals: "I know I could consult, but how do I even start?" If you've ever felt confident in your expertise but unsure how to package it into an actual offer someone would pay for, this one's for you. Let's turn decades of problem-solving into your first consulting engagement—starting with the mindset shift that makes it all possible.

🌟 Words to Inspire

"The expert in anything was once a beginner who refused to give up."
— Anonymous

Your 30 years of experience didn't happen overnight. Neither will your consulting practice. But here's the difference: you're not a beginner anymore. You're packaging mastery, not building it from scratch. That changes everything.

📖 Featured Story: How to Package 30 Years of Experience Into Your First Consulting Offer

If you've spent decades solving hard problems in your career, you'd think stepping into consulting would feel natural. But here's the disconnect: you're confident in the work... but not confident putting a price on it.

When you've been doing something for 30 years, your expertise becomes muscle memory. You don't analyze it — you just execute. The irony? What feels "obvious" to you is exactly what companies will pay premium rates to access.

Let's close that gap and build your first consulting offer.

Your "Obvious" Is Their Emergency

The problems you solved repeatedly in your career — the ones you could handle in your sleep — are the exact problems businesses desperately need solved right now.

Take a moment and list 5-7 problems you tackled over and over throughout your career. For each one, capture:

• Who struggled with it (department, role, company size)
• What made it hard for them (lack of experience, no framework, politics)
• Your specific approach (what you did differently)
• The outcome you delivered (how you knew it worked)

This isn't theoretical busywork. This is your consulting practice blueprint hiding in plain sight. Those recurring problems? That's your intellectual property. That's what clients pay consultants to solve.

Price Like the Expert You Are

Here's where most new consultants lose money: they guess at pricing or worse, they undercharge because it "feels safer."

Stop that right now.

When I retired from my CFO role and was approached for consulting work, I didn't guess. I researched. Fractional CFOs in my industry were charging $200-$400 per hour. I asked for $375. Got it. No pushback.

Why? Because I approached it like the business decision it is.

The Consulting Rate Formula

Here's how to calculate your minimum sustainable rate — the baseline that ensures your consulting practice remains viable. Here's the math, simplified:

Step 1: Find your executive wage equivalent What would someone pay a high-level employee to do this work full-time? If that's $150,000 annually, you're looking at roughly $75/hour.

Step 2: Add overhead and burden Benefits, payroll taxes, insurance typically add 30-40% to employment costs. $75/hour × 1.35 = ~$100/hour true employment cost

Step 3: Factor in productive consulting hours You won't bill every available hour. Realistically, figure 25-30 billable hours per week with the rest going to business development, admin, and client management. $100/hour × 1.5 = $150/hour minimum

Step 4: Add profit margin You're not an employee. You're a business. Add 25-50% profit. $150/hour × 1.35 = ~$200/hour

Your sustainable starting range: $175-$225/hour.

Now research what competitors actually charge in your space. LinkedIn, industry forums, and direct conversations with other consultants will tell you quickly if you're in the right ballpark. This formula gives you the floor — not the ceiling — of what makes economic sense.

Don't apologize for these rates. You're solving problems that cost companies far more when handled poorly or ignored completely.

Test Before You Build Anything

You don't need a website, business cards, or an LLC to validate your consulting offer. You need five honest conversations.

Reach out to five people who represent your target client:

• Former colleagues who moved to other companies
• Professional contacts in your industry
• LinkedIn connections at companies you understand

Your validation questions: "What's your biggest challenge around [problem you solve]?" "What have you tried so far?" "If you could solve this, what would change for your business?" "Would outside expertise help here?"

Real interest sounds like: "Could you help us with that? When are you available?"

Polite interest sounds like: "That's a great idea. Best of luck with it."

If even two of five conversations show genuine interest, you've validated demand. Now deliver your service once — even at a test rate or pro bono in exchange for a detailed testimonial and case study rights.

That first engagement tells you everything you need to know: whether your pricing is realistic, if your process actually works, what clients truly value, and how to describe your offer in language clients understand.

Package What Actually Sells

Based on that first engagement, create your standard offer. Most experienced professionals succeed with one of three structures:

Diagnostic Package (Fixed fee, 2 weeks) — Analyze their situation and deliver a detailed roadmap with prioritized recommendations.

Implementation Package (Fixed fee or milestone-based) — Guide them through executing the solution, preventing expensive mistakes along the way.

Advisory Retainer (Monthly fee) — Ongoing strategic counsel for complex decisions. This is the fractional executive model that's growing rapidly.

Notice what's different: you're not selling hours. You're solving a specific problem with a clear outcome clients can understand and value.

Can you still bill hourly? Absolutely. Many consultants start there because it's simple and clients understand it. Just make sure your rate reflects your actual value — not your discomfort with charging what you're worth.

Now it's time to turn insight into action.

Your Move This Week

Write down those 5-7 recurring problems you solved throughout your career. Then pick one — the one you're most confident you could solve better than most people — and have three conversations about it this week.

Not pitches. Conversations.

Ask about their challenges. Listen for where they're stuck. Notice when they lean forward with interest.

You'll be surprised how quickly "I'm not sure anyone would pay for this" becomes "When can you start?"

Your expertise didn't expire when you left your last job. It just became portable. And right now, companies need exactly what you spent 30 years learning how to do.

The only question is whether you'll package it and put it to work.

🎁 Partner Spotlight: Google Workspace

Running a consulting practice doesn't mean juggling a dozen disconnected tools. After years of switching between platforms—Office 365, free Gmail, iCloud, Dropbox—I finally consolidated everything into Google Workspace, and it's been a game-changer.

Here's why it matters for consultants: you need to look professional (custom email domain), stay organized (one calendar for business and personal), and collaborate seamlessly with clients (Docs, Sheets, Drive that everyone already knows how to use). Google Workspace gives you all of this in one secure ecosystem.

What I appreciate most: it scales with you. Start with the basics—Gmail with your domain, shared calendars, cloud storage. Add team members later if your practice grows. Mobile access means you're productive anywhere, which is exactly the flexibility we're building our second acts around.

No complicated setup. No learning curve. Just professional infrastructure that works from day one.

Try Google Workspace free for 14 days →

Full disclosure: This is an affiliate link. I earn a small commission at no cost to you if you sign up. I recommend Google Workspace because it's what I actually use to run Retirepreneur.

⚡ Your Quick Action Step

This week's challenge combines thinking with immediate action:

Step 1 (10 minutes): Complete the "Recurring Problem Inventory" from today's article. Write down 5-7 problems you solved repeatedly in your career. Be specific—not "helped with strategy" but "realigned misaligned sales and operations teams during growth phases."

Step 2 (5 minutes): Circle the problem you're most confident you could solve better than most people in your field.

Step 3 (The action): Text or email three former colleagues this week. Simple message: "Quick question—what's the biggest challenge you're dealing with around [your problem area]?"

You're not pitching. You're listening. But those three conversations will tell you immediately if your expertise has market value.

Start today. Send one text right now.

🔄 Strategic Life Change

Launching a consulting practice isn't just about earning income—it's about reclaiming control over your expertise, your schedule, and your professional identity. For decades, you solved problems on someone else's timeline. Now you get to choose which problems to solve, for whom, and on terms that respect this stage of your life. That's not retirement. That's strategic reinvention.

🚀 Join the Retirepreneur Hub — Completely Free

I'm building something special, and I need your help.

The Retirepreneur Hub is my free resource library for 55+ entrepreneurs—tools, templates, and guides I'm continuously adding based on what members actually need.

Inside right now, you'll find The Complete Consulting Services Guide — exactly what today's article is about. This all-in-one resource walks you through every step of launching a solo consulting business:

• Avoid rookie mistakes with lessons from real-world experience
• Set up your business with clear, simple checklists
• Learn how to price, package, and promote your services
• Explore flexible ways to scale, specialize, or keep it lean

Perfect for turning professional experience into meaningful, paid work—without starting from scratch.

Here's the partnership: You get immediate access to resources designed specifically for your second act. I get direct insight into your real challenges so I can build what actually helps. Together, we're creating the practical support system that didn't exist when we needed it.

It's a community. You contribute feedback. I build solutions. Everyone benefits.

Join the Hub for Free — No Credit Card Required

Join us, use what helps, and let me know what you need. That's how we build something remarkable together.

🛑 Parting Words

I hope this week's article gave you the formula to package your expertise confidently. The problems you solved casually for 30 years? Those are someone else's urgent priorities right now. You already have what it takes.

Next week: We're exploring how to turn one consulting client into three without working more hours. It's about leverage, not hustle.

Keep building what matters,
Curt

📮 P.S. Know Someone?

Know someone wrestling with the "should I consult?" question? Forward this their way. Sometimes we just need permission to charge what we're worth.