Everyone complains they cannot sell while working on a job, so blindly work on, knowing a financial cliff looms even in the best of times. Selling is as important as switching on the computers in the morning. As the only way to avoid those horrible bust times is to sell constantly, you must aggressively sell or market your services every single day. You have no choice, so plan to run the business with sales as the top priority. Never forget that consultants live in a fish tank of vicious competition.
Every unemployed engineer has a de facto shingle hung out.
Many fully employed designers consult on the side, often for ridiculously low wages. Scott and I made a fundamental mistake in forming our partnership. Both of us were techies, a fact that in our naivete we thought would make us more productive. Wiser heads would have taken a third partner on board, one devoted entirely to marketing and sales. This third person could have kept our in baskets full, thus insuring ongoing strong receivables.