As someone who recently moved into consulting more seriously, I second this. I'm absolutely in love with consulting right now. It can be as challenging as you want it to be, and at the same time you get to live outside most of the rules and bureaucracy of the companies that you work for. As an example, I work for companies that don't allow employees to work remote, but I've never even been to the office. Also, when I worked for companies in the past on a full-time basis, it was very difficult to have any recourse when coworkers didn't meet our internal agreements. As a consultant there is usually a legally binding contract sitting in between me and the company I'm working for. This allows me to hold internal employees accountable for their deliverables just as much as I am accountable for mine.