For independent consultants
Real enterprise project needs. Specialist expertise. A stronger independent business.
Independent by choice. Connected in the work.
Merit brings specialist expertise to real enterprise project needs. Independent consultants contribute to technology, organizational and AI change with work that has a clear purpose, defined scope and accountable outcomes.
Independent consulting is project-based work, including a 1099 arrangement where appropriate. Scope, working arrangements and commercial terms are specific to each engagement and agreed before work begins.
An introduction is a way to build a professional relationship. It does not guarantee assignments, hours or income.
Meet the people behind MeritMerit client experience
Past client experience. These logos do not indicate current hiring or guaranteed assignments.
20 years in business
Enterprise perspective.
Personal accountability.
Six ways to contribute
Explore the roles we specialize in to drive enterprise change, the contributions they make and the experience you could bring.
Leaders aligned, impacts understood and teams prepared for new ways of working.
Stakeholder and impact assessments; integrated change plans; readiness reviews; adoption measures.
Examples showing your role, the scale of change, stakeholder decisions and what happened after launch.
People understand the purpose, what changes for them and what to do next.
Audience and channel plans; leader messages; campaign calendars; FAQs and feedback loops.
Writing samples with confidential details removed, audience rationale and evidence of message effectiveness.
People can perform changed tasks with useful learning and support in the flow of work.
Learning needs analysis; role-based curricula; facilitator guides; job aids; learning evaluation.
Samples of learning design, delivery experience and how you assessed practical proficiency.
Clear ownership, visible dependencies and coordinated progress toward agreed outcomes.
Integrated plans; decision and risk logs; governance routines; status reporting; transition plans.
Examples of scope, delivery complexity, decisions you drove and how you handled changing priorities.
Useful, evaluated AI solutions connected to the people and processes that use them.
Workflow discovery; working prototypes; integrations; evaluation plans; deployment and handover documentation.
Anonymized technical work, your design choices, evaluation results and experience with real-world rollout.
Clear accountabilities, useful interfaces and an operating model people can put into practice.
Operating model options; role and accountability maps; decision rights; organization design principles; transition plans.
Examples of diagnostic work, design tradeoffs, leader facilitation and implementation experience.
These profiles describe areas of expertise, not current job openings. Responsibilities, qualifications and terms are defined for each engagement.
A human-led process
Share the context that helps Merit assess fit: what you do, the work you have delivered and the projects you want to pursue. Submit your profile through the form below. Merit’s team reviews submissions before discussing relevant work.
Provide your background, specialties, availability, rate expectations and resume in one place.
Merit’s team reviews your experience against project needs. People remain responsible for qualification and selection.
When a relevant need arises, Merit can follow up about consulting opportunities with project details and next steps.
Confirm mutual fit, complete the required agreements and onboarding, and align on outcomes before work begins.
You Are a Business. We Will Help.
For 20 years, Merit has helped people turn professional expertise into an independent business.
Build a small easy to manage business with intention. Our founding partner literally wrote the book on this.
Use the book, practical guides and selected YouTube conversations to understand the opportunity and how you can work with us (and other firms). Read and learn here without buying anything or submitting a profile.
FROM THE YOUTUBE PLAYLISTS
Six selected public conversations.
Original videos, available through YouTube.
Selected public YouTube videos, separate from the original course recordings. Players load only when selected. Some figures and examples reflect when each video was recorded; use the tools below with your own current assumptions.
A SMALL TOOL FOR A BIG DECISION
Give your priorities a weight, then rate one opportunity from 0 to 10. Use the result alongside your non-negotiables and a real conversation about the work.
Adapted from the available Defining Success worksheet, pp. 1–2. Labels and starting values are editable examples.
Download the original worksheet ↓| My priority | Weight % | Rating / 10 |
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Score = Σ(weight ÷ 100 × rating). Weights must total 100%. A score does not override a condition you cannot meet. Entries stay on this page and reset when you reload.
The book · From Merit’s founding partner
How to Manage Your Career in the Coming Workforce Revolution
Explore your niche, build a business around your expertise and earn trust with clients. Start with a short guide below, or read the original chapters.
Find the book on Amazon Read the book free (PDF)Original 2017 edition. Financial, tax, legal and market information reflects its time; review current requirements with a qualified adviser.
Put the ideas to work
3 tools 15 short guides
Build a focused offer, test the rate your business needs and see how a late payment changes cash available. Use the guides to prepare for winning and delivering work.
Open the practical tools Explore the practical guidesThese short guides and exercises are a resource library, not a complete course. Planning examples are illustrative; replace every assumption with your own.
Merit has helped hundreds of people get into consulting. Use these resources to prepare for your next step.
From an idea to a business decision
Three practical tools. Start with the illustrative examples, then replace them with your own facts. No sign-up, saving or submission.
01 / Positioning workshop
In Chapter 5, the book describes how a long list of capabilities can make a consulting offer harder to understand. Start with one buyer, one problem and evidence you can defend.
Worked example · fictional consultant
Before: “I’m an experienced change management lead.”
After: “I help technology program sponsors and business leaders prepare their teams to adopt a new enterprise system. As the change management lead, I coordinate stakeholder alignment, communications, training and readiness. On a previous technology system project, I led impact assessments and readiness reviews.”
Why this works: It names the technology-project buyer, the adoption challenge and the change management lead’s scope, then supports the offer with a specific example of prior work.
Source principle: The Consulting Economy, Ch. 5, pp. 90–101. The example and tool are new editorial applications.
Fictional example for a change management lead on a technology system project. Replace it with your own experience and use only evidence you have permission to share.
Check: Would a buyer recognize the problem? Can you show an example? Does the claim describe your contribution rather than the whole team’s result?
Select the statement text above to use it in your own notes.
02 / Rate planner
Start with an illustrative $90 per hour, 50 working weeks and the hours per week you expect to invoice. Adjust the assumptions to explore the revenue available for your business.
Worked example · illustrative USD
50 weeks × 40 invoiced hours × $90 per hour = $180,000 annual revenue.
Less an illustrative $3,000 in annual operating costs leaves $177,000 before personal taxes, benefits, reserves and other costs not entered here. Your expenses may differ.
At the same hours, $80–$100 per hour produces $160,000–$200,000 in annual revenue. These are planning assumptions, not advertised rates, a pay offer or guaranteed billable work.
Before quoting, confirm the work, approval process, expected hours, expenses and payment timing. Keep a changed scope visible rather than absorbing it into an unchanged fee.
Build your operating routine ↗Book context: Ch. 4, pp. 81–88; scope and expectations: Ch. 6, pp. 109–111. Figures are illustrative planning assumptions, not market-rate evidence or tax advice.
Use USD consistently. Include costs once. This model does not calculate tax or take-home income.
Rate × weeks × invoiced hours = annual revenue. Revenue − entered operating costs = amount before personal taxes and other costs. Time off and gaps between projects reduce invoiced hours; change weeks or hours to test that directly. No work is guaranteed.
03 / Cash timing planner
Enterprise companies may pay on Net 60–90 day terms. You need to plan for this when you start a project; payments for completed work may continue arriving after the project ends. Actual payment terms and timing vary by contract. Map when payments are expected to arrive, alongside the cash you plan to spend. Include business costs, planned owner draws and any separately determined reserves in outflows. Keep unpaid invoices out of opening cash.
Worked example · illustrative USD
Start with $12,000. With $7,000 of outflows each month and receipts of $0, $16,000 and $8,000, the expected month-end balances are $5,000 → $14,000 → $15,000.
If the $16,000 receipt moves from month 2 to month 3, balances become $5,000 → −$2,000 → $15,000. The same total receipts can still leave a cash gap along the way.
Next conversation: Confirm the invoice approver and payment date. Review what spending can move, whether the start date works and what reserve you need before committing. A monthly view can also hide a shortfall within the month; examine exact dates before making a decision.
Book context: invoicing and accounting, Ch. 4, pp. 81–88. Cash receipt timing is consistent with SBA finance guidance. The scenario and arithmetic are new editorial examples, not a forecast for your business.
Month-end cash = prior balance + receipts − outflows. This assumes one monthly total, no financing and no interest. Rate-planner figures are not automatically transferred here. Entries stay in memory and reset on reload.
THE FIELD GUIDE
Your free independent business library
Useful work to do now—wherever your next engagement comes from.
Write a one-sentence offer: the client you help, the problem you solve and the outcome you support. Back it with two concise project examples showing your contribution.
Try this: “I help [type of team] solve [specific problem] through [your expertise].”
Put it into practice
Write down your ideal client, the problem you solve, the outcome you support and two examples of relevant work.
Can someone understand where you fit without reading your whole resume?
Consider delivery time alongside business expenses, preparation, business development and time between projects. Compare hourly, daily and project pricing against the actual scope and uncertainty.
Before agreeing: Clarify deliverables, assumptions, payment timing, expenses and how scope changes are handled.
Put it into practice
List the scope, delivery assumptions, likely time, business costs and payment terms you need to understand before proposing a rate.
What changes would require a revised scope or fee?
Keep a simple forecast of expected payments, operating expenses and commitments. Review cash available separately from invoices that have not been paid.
Build a routine: Track income and expenses, reconcile records and review upcoming cash needs with your bookkeeper or accountant.
SBA business finance guidancePut it into practice
Create a simple monthly view of expected receipts, expenses, unpaid invoices and upcoming commitments.
Which payment delays or gaps between projects would change your plan?
For U.S. independent businesses, discuss estimated tax payments, recordkeeping, eligible expenses and business structure with a qualified tax professional. Ask how the options apply to your income, location and circumstances.
Prepare for that meeting: Bring income and expense records, prior returns and your expected business activity. Ask about deadlines and a sensible planning cadence.
IRS self-employed tax center IRS recordkeeping guidancePut it into practice
Prepare your business records and a list of questions on estimated payments, expense eligibility, deadlines and business structure.
What should you confirm with a qualified adviser before taking action?
General educational starting points, not individualized tax, legal or financial advice. Tax outcomes and obligations vary; use a qualified adviser for decisions about your business.
Connect learning to your next step
Use the resume and proof-of-work guides to prepare two project examples, your specialties and the work you want next.
Ready to introduce yourself? Share your professional profile through the consultant form. You can use every guide and tool without submitting information.
Your expertise, in one place
Share your background.
Help us see where you fit.
If Merit reached out, this page gives you context about the work and the independent consulting model. Explore the resources freely. If the fit interests you, share a short background and a way to reach you so the team can review your experience against real project needs.
Structured informationYour background, specialties and preferences together.
Human judgmentMerit’s team remains responsible for qualification and selection.
Clear permissionsReview opportunity contact and client introductions; general news stays optional.
Submitting information does not guarantee assignments, hours or income.
Consultant profile
Tell us about your experience, specialties, availability and working preferences in our consultant form.
Have your professional profile link, start date and rate in USD ready. You can also upload a resume or CV (optional, up to 5 MB per file).
The form explains permission for opportunity contact and sharing your professional details with prospective clients for relevant consulting opportunities. General news is a separate optional choice.
Open consultant formOpens in Notion. Responses go to Merit's private intake database for review. Submission does not guarantee work.
Share work-relevant information only. Leave out government identifiers, financial account details and confidential client materials. For privacy questions or to request correction, deletion or withdrawal of permission, email [email protected].
People behind the work
A boutique firm with leadership that understands both the consulting engagement and the business living through it.
Owner & Senior Partner
Merit’s founding partner brings 25 years of change-management experience and oversees the quality of Merit's projects.
Transformation experience with Fortune 500 organizations.
View executive bio
Senior Partner
Rob brings 25 years of technology and change experience, including leadership roles at EY and Waste Management.
Former Waste Management VP and a Merit client.
View executive bio