This is the fourth article in a four-part series about your relationship with work: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Continuing our series on our relationships with work, this week we will look at consulting. How does becoming an independent contractor change the relationship?

Consultants have the ability to harness that new job excitement with every new contract. For those who love the idea of starting in a new position with a new company, then consulting can be the path to a perpetual honeymoon.

In each new situation, the consultant has the opportunity to be a hero. They are the solution to the problem — a fresh set of eyes and ears ready to listen once again to the issue and really do something about it.

Unlike employees, consultants are often automatically viewed as experts in their chosen field. They have the resources they need to solve the problem and the full support of the company. Subsequent to their hiring, the company will often keep supporting the consultant as the expert and will tout hiring a consultant as the solution to the particular problem. With ongoing support like that, problems are bound to get solved.

The consultant gets the work done, the company is happy and everyone moves on. As a consultant, it is possible to go through this cycle multiple times and even simultaneously depending upon how many clients you can handle at once.

But how likely is it that every client relationship will follow the cycle above? It depends on the industry and the field, of course, but it also depends a lot on the work style of the consultant.

Many consultants run into pitfalls because they start acting like employees — specifically, they get too comfortable. To keep with our analogy, the honeymoon ends as soon as you put sweatpants on and choose to grab the TV remote instead of your spouse.

First, the client/consultant relationship should not be never-ending. Aside from the laws regulating the difference between a consultant and an employee, it just does not make good business sense for either party to enter into an open-ended contract. And while it may be tough, the consultant should be the one to draw the lines.

One of the biggest pitfalls for any client/consultant relationship is the lack of an exit plan. The honeymoon cannot last forever with one client. There has to be an end to the work the consultant is doing, and the consultant must be prepared for it to end.

Staying a long time at a client, finding new ways to charge them or new projects to take on can be great for the bottom line, but it is a trap that can leave client feeling as if they have been taken advantage of. It is really tough, but it is critical for consultants to learn to leave on a high note.

It is incumbent upon the consultant to keep the relationship fresh by maintaining their air of expertise. As soon as the client thinks they can do what the consultant is doing, the relationship will sour and end quickly. After all, why pay someone so much money if they are not bringing anything unique to the table?

In other words, if you want to play the field as a consultant, you have to stay on top of your game and keep moving — it is the easiest way to keep the honeymoon alive.