I was a small business consultant and loved it! It was a government job with the Commerce Dept. Little travel, OK pay and lots of fun and autonomy. I got to use all I ever learned at McCombs -- business plans, marketing plans, budgets, loans, explaining the stochastic events their industry faced, etc...A classmate started at McK, worked there for 5 years and then was hired away as president of a steel pipe manufacturing company...This March, while on a stargazing vacation in Chile, I met a 70-year old consultant working for Hilton. (We were having lunch at the Santiago airport Hilton.) Three failed marriages kept him at the grindstone. He was in Chile hand-holding an investor and reviewing blue prints for a new hotel. I asked him about opportunities in Cuba, now that the country is opening up to western investment. Two words: Forget about it! Reason: Absolutely no infrastructure, period. As a consultant, you can have fun and learn "the rest of the story," even on vacation. Lesson learned: Work your @$$ off, travel a lot, learn a lot on someone else's dime. (You are being paid to learn!) Then, move on. Consulting should not be forever.