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EP 24 Consulting After 50: Three Models to Bypass the Job Market and Get Paid
22 Plays17 days ago
Are you over 50 wondering if there is a better path than sending applications into a system designed to filter you out? There is. And it starts with recognizing that your decades of experience are a product that companies will pay for directly.
In Episode 24 of the Ageism Survival Guide, host John Stech goes deep on consulting and advisory work as legitimate, high-earning career models for experienced professionals over 50. This is not a side hustle. This is not a consolation prize. It is a proven path built on the one thing the traditional job market consistently undervalues: your judgment.
John spent 30 years in global automotive leadership before a 2020 corporate restructuring ended his role. What followed was a pandemic, more than 50 online conferences, two college-level courses, and three consulting opportunity emails arriving on the same morning in January 2021 that changed everything. Six years later, he runs his own LLC, mentors professionals internationally, and works remotely from Southeast Asia.
This episode covers three consulting models with honest advantages and real challenges for each.
Independent Consulting: Senior professionals are billing $175 to $325 per hour. Learn why business development must occupy 30 to 70 percent of your working time, even while actively delivering for current clients.
Project-Based Consulting: Understand why success fee structures put your income at serious risk and why fixed project fees and retainers almost always protect you better. Income can be sporadic and pipeline work cannot wait until a project ends.
Advisory Roles: Per-meeting fees. Annual retainers. Plus equity structures that reward your long-term value. Discover why speaking at industry events is one of the most effective business development strategies available to experienced professionals.
The global management consulting industry has crossed one trillion dollars and is growing at 8 percent annually. The market needs experienced professionals, even when it pretends otherwise. You've earned this.
RESOURCES
AARP Workforce Research: https://www.aarp.org/research
Ageism Survival Guide: https://www.ageismsurvivalguide.com/
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Transcript
Questioning Traditional Career Systems
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi, how are you doing this week? um Do you have a minute? Because I want to ask you something. What if the system that's been sidelining you, the the one that looks at your resume and it sees you as as as too expensive or or too old, well, what if what if that system doesn't even have to be in the equation anymore?
00:00:28
Speaker
What if you could take everything that you've built over the last 25 to 30 years, that the the judgment calls, the the crisis navigations, and the the transformations that that you led that no one half your age could have led, and and and just sell that directly.
00:00:45
Speaker
No HR filter, no algorithm screening you out, no 28-year-old something hiring manager who's intimidated by by your salary expectations. No.
00:00:57
Speaker
That is exactly what this episode is all about. If
Consulting: A Path for Experienced Professionals
00:01:05
Speaker
you've been following us since episode 23, you know that we started this series with with the big picture, the the why behind working for yourself.
00:01:16
Speaker
The MIT research, it it shows that entrepreneurial success actually peaks in your fifty s And you've navigated the the emotional terrain that that you have to to walk before you can make clear decisions.
00:01:34
Speaker
If you haven't seen that episode yet, I want you to to pause this one, go back and and watch that one first. I'll make sure the link is in the description and found here.
00:01:44
Speaker
Because today, we're going to go deeper. We're going to talk about the path that is is the most natural extension of a long career.
00:01:57
Speaker
Consulting. This isn't a ah side hustle. It's not a, you know, what I'm going to do now because I couldn't find a job. No, this is a legitimate, high-earning, high-impact career model. And for people over 50, it could actually be the best model that's available.
00:02:17
Speaker
Let me show you why.
00:02:24
Speaker
So here's what we're going to be covering today. I'm going to cover the three primary consulting models. Independent consulting, project-based work, and advisory positions.
00:02:38
Speaker
and And I'm also going to give you the real advantages and of course the real challenges of each because i don't do any sugar coating around here and woven through that that section i'm going to share something personal my own path my own story into independent consulting what pushed me there what I got wrong, and trust me, there was a lot, and and what I got right, and and and what I wish somebody had told me on day one.
00:03:11
Speaker
By
Is Consulting Right for You?
00:03:12
Speaker
the end of this episode, i want you to be able to to answer one question clearly. Is consulting a fit for for my skills, for for my situation, and for my next chapter?
00:03:27
Speaker
Okay, let's get started. Let's start with what consulting actually actually is. Because a lot of people, I think, have ah a little bit of a fuzzy picture of it. And and I think a lot of you are are closer to it than you might actually realize.
00:03:47
Speaker
So consulting in its in its simplest form is is this. A company has a problem. You have the expertise to solve it. They pay you to solve it.
00:04:00
Speaker
And you move on. there's There's no HR filter. there's There's no algorithms. There's no performance review tied to to someone else's politics. The global management consulting industry, it just crossed the one trillion dollar mark, and and it's growing at about eight percent annually.
00:04:19
Speaker
This isn't some shrinking niche. This is ah an expanding market that's actively looking for the kind of expertise that that takes decades to build. and And I do have to add that that economic downturns, they they do result in consulting budget cuts.
00:04:37
Speaker
That is a risk. But before i walk you through these three different consulting models, I want to tell you something more personal because I'm not going to sit here and talk to you about about consulting like like I read it in a in a book somewhere, a textbook. I lived it and I'm still living it every single day.
00:05:01
Speaker
I spent 30 years in the global automotive industry. with Mercedes-Benz, the Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram brands, with Volvo Car Group.
Transitioning from Industry to Consulting
00:05:12
Speaker
I lived and worked in multiple countries, in Egypt, in Russia for seven years, in Vietnam.
00:05:19
Speaker
I built a career that took me around the world and and put me in rooms with real decision makers where real decisions were made.
00:05:30
Speaker
And then in January 2020, a corporate restructuring eliminated my role. I did what what most of us do.
00:05:43
Speaker
i I hit the job boards. I fired off applications, lots of them. my My resume, to be generous, it was under-optimized. It was terrible.
00:05:54
Speaker
My LinkedIn profile was was not doing me a single favor. It was poorly structured. I made some progress in in early 2020, but the the progress was, I have to admit, slow. but Again, because I was under-optimized.
00:06:09
Speaker
And I was fighting a system, of course, that that all of you know is is not a system designed to reward people with our experience. It's designed to to filter us out. And then March 2020 happened.
00:06:23
Speaker
the The world simply locked down in a pandemic. and And the job search didn't just slow down. it it stopped completely. The job market was 100% dead for for months, actually even a year.
00:06:39
Speaker
So for that next year, i had something that I hadn't had in three decades. Time. And I used All of the automotive conferences and technology conferences that had been in person were were suddenly canceled in person and and and went online for free.
00:07:03
Speaker
you know You had to pay a thousand before, suddenly they were for free online. So I ended up attending more than 50 conferences throughout 2020. I also invested in two college level courses that were online.
00:07:19
Speaker
in data analysis and also new product development so that I could keep up with you know how things are are developed and and and data-driven in this modern world.
00:07:32
Speaker
I did not sit still. So here's the thing. That year of quiet, it also forced me to ask a ah question that I hadn't let myself ask while I was in the middle of the initial job search.
00:07:47
Speaker
It's not where's my next job? But do I actually want to go back to what I left?
00:07:59
Speaker
the The politics in my last role, that they had worn me down. the the The dynamics of a self-absorbed boss, the the organizational theater that comes along with large corporations, it had taken something out of me that that I don't want to go back to.
00:08:19
Speaker
I started exploring consulting and and also advisory work, not not as a fallback, but but but as a full-time role. I started to explore consulting and advisory work, um ultimately not as it not as a fallback, but as something as something real. I started looking at it academically, but then I became serious in in really looking into it.
00:08:43
Speaker
And then January 2021 rolled around. rolled around
00:08:50
Speaker
One freezing cold morning in in January 2021, I opened my inbox and I found three emails, three separate emails, all requesting my expertise for three different consulting opportunities.
00:09:06
Speaker
One was related to the Russian automotive market, where where I had quite deep expertise after seven years. One was related to the Chinese used car market where where my network around the world could play a tremendous role.
00:09:20
Speaker
And one was an advisory to a startup incubator in Moscow, Russia to help young startups break into international markets. Again, leaning into what I knew so well.
00:09:33
Speaker
Three projects
Establishing a Consulting Business
00:09:35
Speaker
all leaning right into into my expertise on the same day. I'm not a particularly you know superstitious or mystical person, but like I can tell you that felt like a sign.
00:09:52
Speaker
Two of those projects ultimately were worked to completion, and and one was cancelled by the client. And and that was, as as you'll find out perhaps, just part of the work.
00:10:05
Speaker
Things get cancelled. But what happened that morning, it it set the direction for everything that followed. i realized that, again, because of the coincidence of three emails requesting my expertise in one single day, I realized that that my skills, my knowledge were were useful, very useful to somebody.
00:10:35
Speaker
And I followed that sign. And less than, i think, less than three weeks after um i received those three emails, I made the decision to fully dive into independent consulting. And and I set up my LLC, I think, three weeks after those emails arrived.
00:10:56
Speaker
I was that determined to make it work. In fact, I've now been operating as an independent consultant, as an advisor, for nearly six years.
00:11:07
Speaker
Again, with my own LLC. At the moment, I have two active and really fascinating automotive projects on my plate. I mentor two people in the automotive space internationally. i run two podcasts. And I'm currently working all of this remotely from Southeast Asia, where were my wife has a position with an international company.
00:11:33
Speaker
I certainly did not plan this life in 2020. But I wouldn't trade it now. Independent consulting, it means this.
00:11:46
Speaker
You build a practice around your area of deep expertise, supply chain, HR, finance, operations, technology, marketing, whatever whatever whatever it was that you spent decades mastering.
00:12:01
Speaker
And you work with with companies that that need that expertise, but they don't need or they can't afford a full-time role in that position with that expertise.
00:12:12
Speaker
The income potential, it's it's real. Senior independents, they can charge $175 to an hour. The daily rates can be day. and and and over of consultants, they can their prior level of income within about a two-year period the The advantages, they they are real.
00:12:36
Speaker
You set your rates, you choose your clients, you can work remotely, and you're paid for what you know, not for how long you've been sitting in a chair at some company.
00:12:49
Speaker
Think about it. What is it worth to a company when a ah person with 30 years of experience prevents $2 million dollar mistake?
00:13:00
Speaker
I can tell you it's more than $150 an hour. Believe me on that one.
Managing Consulting Business Dynamics
00:13:06
Speaker
But now let's also talk about the the challenge or or the the disadvantage.
00:13:11
Speaker
the The pipeline of projects, it takes time to build and lots and lots of effort. Income, it's it's not smooth. It can be really sporadic with dry periods. And and and now you are you're the marketing department, the contracts department, the accounting department, and you're delivering all of this.
00:13:32
Speaker
Just so you know, I currently spend about 30 to 70% of my time on on business development. It depends on the status of my my current project.
00:13:42
Speaker
But while that number might might shock you, it shouldn't. Because business development, it is the job. and And that is, again, where your network of the past 20, 30, 40 years comes in to serve you.
00:14:01
Speaker
Let's talk about project-based consulting, which is a a variation on independent consulting. But this one has a more defined scope, a real timeline and ah a deliverable, like like a go-to-market analysis, ah a process redesign, a market entry study.
00:14:19
Speaker
My first two consulting engagements, the the ones I got in that in that email, those were exactly on that project-based model. So what are the advantages?
00:14:31
Speaker
You have a defined scope, a defined income. You have probably cleaner contracts and you have natural endpoints. But you you have challenges as well.
00:14:43
Speaker
The projects, they end. And you must work your pipeline throughout that time while you're delivering that project. And and that's a heavy lift. And then there are the compensation structures. They they really matter.
00:14:59
Speaker
Success fees. They are the riskiest. These are paid when when your client achieves a certain success on their project. and And often that has factors that they decide that you can't influence, but it costs you your fee if they don't complete their project.
00:15:18
Speaker
I don't recommend this fee structure at all because I have lost tens of hours of work and and compensation when a company changed their mind on how to run a project and there was there was no success and there was no fee.
00:15:33
Speaker
Unfortunately, and in times like this where you have a lot of economic uncertainty and and and companies are cutting costs, they are trying to push more success fees because that is transferring the financial risk on onto you, onto you, the consultant, as opposed to them carrying that risk for not taking their projects through to completion.
00:15:56
Speaker
Fixed project fees. are almost always better, especially if the success is is defined very clearly and in writing. These are much more reliable and and within your own influence.
00:16:11
Speaker
The only thing though is that um if it's defined that you get paid at the end of the project, you you could be working again for weeks or months before you see that that project payment coming through.
00:16:23
Speaker
And then there are retainers. These are a fixed monthly fee, usually based on an average amount of of work hours or deliverables within a given month. the The workload can really vary, you know, month by month, but but generally it it averages out to an agreed amount.
00:16:44
Speaker
this This is probably the best structure because it it represents ah a pretty steady income stream for a period of engagement. These are great for when you have a client that requires or retains your talent for a certain period of time.
00:17:01
Speaker
But let me also address the the risk of any of these these types of revenue structures because consultants, we're nice to have. When budget cuts roll around, we're usually one of the first things that get cut. The same as marketing and and advertising.
00:17:18
Speaker
Consulting is often One of the first. We're trimmed very early in the process, especially when you have you know these these uncertain times, economic challenges. and And unfortunately, right now happens to be one of those times.
00:17:33
Speaker
I can
Exploring Advisory Roles
00:17:34
Speaker
tell you because I focus more on the automotive industry, on marketing, this has been a challenge to to fill the pipeline with new work for the past, I would say, 15 months.
00:17:48
Speaker
But there's good news in that as well, because that's why I'm leaning into this channel on ageism to help others who who have suddenly found themselves on the outside of their long time employers land on their feet and and navigate these kind of changing times.
00:18:06
Speaker
For me, it's very exciting. I would really be excited to know that I've helped at least one person through this channel.
00:18:15
Speaker
And let's talk now about the third option within the consulting realm. Advisory roles, they they can be kind of the quietest income stream for for professionals, but but they can be extremely satisfying.
00:18:32
Speaker
Per meeting fees, they can be $500 to $5,000. You could have a a retainer of $10,000 to $75,000 on an annual basis. You can also have an equity structure, an equity stake within the company that you're advising.
00:18:46
Speaker
I'm currently engaged in a in a project that that has this kind of a structure, including the the advising fee plus the equity structure. But this engagement, it has one caveat. Again, it's a little bit of a risk.
00:19:01
Speaker
They're in a pre-Angel funding stage and and they require this funding before the paid advising or any of the the equity shares would take take place And here's the here's the truth. The insight that feels so obvious to you, like like a fish swimming in water.
00:19:24
Speaker
It's something that that a 35 year old founder, they they can't acquire it themselves. They need you. And how do they find you? Well, you can speak at industry events, which has been one of the the best business development strategies that that I've used in the in the past.
00:19:44
Speaker
and and and it could work for you. And of course, I always come back to it, your network. You've built it up over over decades and it's absolutely and always your most valuable asset.
00:19:59
Speaker
But I have to also point out that that networks, they age. People retire and and you have to continuously build new relationships to tap into different industry opportunities.
00:20:12
Speaker
Look, for me, 2025 was a watershed year in how many of my peers were pushed off into retirement. But
Advisory Roles in a Broader Career Portfolio
00:20:22
Speaker
fortunately, i had already been been working on getting to know the next generation behind them so that my contact base wouldn't die out.
00:20:33
Speaker
In my opinion, advisory roles They probably work best as a ah broader portfolio and not just as a ah standalone strategy. Unless, of course, you're you're trying to keep your calendar more clear and and slowly wind down a long and successful career.
00:20:53
Speaker
So that's that's consulting. The three models. Real advantages, real challenges, and and a real path for experienced professionals like you who are ready to take ownership of your own next chapter.
00:21:10
Speaker
So here's what what I'd love for you to to take from everything that you've just heard. Consulting, it is not a consolation prize. It's not what you do just because the the job market stops calling you.
00:21:23
Speaker
It's a legitimate, high-earning, high-impact career model that's that's built on the exact thing that you spent decades developing.
00:21:34
Speaker
Your knowledge, your experience, your judgment. and And judgment is that the one thing that that nobody can fake. You can't rush it and and and you can't outsource it unless you become a consultant.
00:21:46
Speaker
And even if the market sometimes pretends it doesn't want you, that's not the reality. They need your experience. They just don't understand how to budget you in.
00:22:01
Speaker
if If you're at ah at a point in in your life where where you want more autonomy, more control, more alignment, and and and frankly, more respect for what you actually bring to the table, consulting may actually be the most natural step you've ever taken.
00:22:21
Speaker
Again, like a fish going into water.
Teaser for Next Episode: Fractional Leadership
00:22:24
Speaker
In the next episode, we're going to explore a related but ah a slightly different path. And this is fractional leadership and interim roles and and why this has become one of the fastest growing models for experienced professionals worldwide.
00:22:42
Speaker
But for now, just sit with this, mirror and marinate with this. You have the expertise that companies can and would pay for directly, immediately, without filters.
00:22:54
Speaker
the filters that have been holding you back until now. You've earned this. Youth runs fast, but age knows the terrain.
00:23:06
Speaker
I'll see you in the next episode.