I recently wrote a post on my blog about how tough my first year of full-time consulting was:
http://www.yfncg.com/2012/04/12/first-year-of-consulting/It took me a lot longer to build up a steady list of clients than I thought it would. And it's a much bigger deal when you're relying on those clients to pay your mortgage, as opposed to just some extra cash on top of your day job.