Hi Fianna

I think the first step for you would be to see to 'put the feelers out' with your contacts. I would see whether there is any interests with these group of people who know you you to see whether they would be interested in becoming potential clients were you to 'take the plunge' as it were.

There is also the option of starting out consultancy-wise by working for an already established consultancy company. This gives you the added benefit of learning what sort of service they offer and the kinds of fees they charge, to store up for future reference should you want to go it alon in future.

In which case there is The Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) run by IOSH. I'm not sure you will get many (if any) clients from being on this list, but it seems to me that this would be a good place to be in terms of company 'searchability' when courting clients.

Either way good luck. Im sure there will be plenty more advise from others on here.

I agree with WatsonD's suggestions (save for joining the register which costs money and notoriously does not attract clients).

You ask whether it is time to go into self-employed consultancy without clearly saying what your motivation for this is.  What is it that you hope this will give you that alternative employment wouldn't?  Of course you don't need to answer that here, but you need to be clear about it yourself and also to have a story to tell when prospects or their agents ask it.

My story is an easy one - "the pandemic" is generally accepted as sufficient explanation for pretty much any life or career change without needing to go into the ins and outs. Another common story, which I could also tell about myself, is in middle age finding yourself financially secure while able to exploit many years of experience and wishing to offer the benefits of this to clients.  These stories don't seem to be about you, so you will need your own story, and the closer it is to your real motivation the more convincingly you will be able to tell it.

I don't see your limited experience as a barrier to consultancy, just as a consideration in your price. Indeed consultancy is a great way of broadening your experience. 

Good luck whatever you decide.

I was lucky, I had an MOD contract that was for 180 days a year spread over the year. So I had big swathes of down time. I started wirh 1 company 1 day a week, and because they were a facilities management company, it exposed me to lots of smaller companies. I then managed to gain a few clietns that way, in full knowledge of my main client.

When my MOD contract completed, I had enough smaller clients to keep me going. I've been lucky, in 14 yrs of consultancy, I've never advertised or gone specificaly looking, it has been chance conversations and introductions.

Word of mouth is worth so much more that adveretising, but I will admit, I've been lucky. I think if I had to go looking for work and had to hard sell myself I'd fall at the first hurdle. I'm not a sales person in anyway shape or form.

Whatever you decide, I hope you make a success of it. 

Being self emplyed has some great perks but also a lot of downsides

Ups

Choose your hours

Choose your clients

Take holiday when you want

Choose to specialise in a specific industry

Downside

Being on call to clients 24/7

No work no pay

No holiday pay

No sick pay

I don't work Fridays, to get the work/life balance correct. I worked like a mad dog in the beginning and had a minor stroke. So I readjusted, and part of that process was not working Fridays. Unless business critical for my clients. In 7 yrs, I've worked 3 Fridays.  I still pay my bills, drive a nice car and enjoy nice holidays.