Difference between coaching, consulting and freelancing

Before we get into the fun stuff, let’s clarify something.

What’s the difference between freelancers and consultants, anyway?

I believe these professional services have more similarities than differences.

Depending on your skills, these words might even be used interchangeably.

The core factor that differentiates most freelancers from most consultants is this: Freelancers tend to work on a specific deliverable. Consultants tend to be called in to solve complex, often hard-to-name problems.

For example: Someone might call upon a consultant to determine why their website isn’t generating any new leads. The consultant might use their marketing acumen to deduce that the company needs a lead magnet, which they’d hire a freelancer to write or design.

See the difference? The problem is that most business situations are not so cut and dry. By this definition, many consultants could actually call themselves freelancers. Many freelancers might call themselves consultants. And sometimes these titles would change depending on the project—or even the day of the week. So the difference, for our purposes, gets a little too into the weeds. That’s why for the sake of brevity, we’ll use “freelancing” as the all-encompassing term throughout this guide instead of repeating “freelancing and consulting.” Short and sweet.