I do electronics & firmware consulting work as well as my small industrial electronics manufacturing business through an LLC. But it really wasn't primarily for liability protection (as if!). I was filling out a Vendor Qualification form to do business with a large corporation and one of the checkboxes was business type. I was checking off Sole Proprietor and then it occurred to me that being a sole prop. might make it harder to do business with big companies, so I formed an LLC the next day.
Don't take/plan to take investment and probably never would unless it was for a specific short-term opportunity.
Yes, I'm in the Midwest. How do you get started? Dunno. A friend knew someone who wanted some work done, introduced me to him and I guess that was how the first one got done.
I don't pursue it actively. If I see someone online who wants something built that fits my schedule, I offer to do it for them. To me, consulting is just a way to learn about new industries that I can build products for.
My focus is really on getting the product business generating a steady stream of cash instead of the small spurts it's doing right now.
Don't take/plan to take investment and probably never would unless it was for a specific short-term opportunity.