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Are you running a consulting business or are you doing freelance work? These are not one and tje same, and quite frankly speaking about your freelance work will be much easier to frame than you running a consultancy thst isn't paying the bills.
I actually had a similar debate a few months ago when updating my resume - whether listing my own consulting work would be seen as positive or just "filler" by recruiters. It seems like some people view self-employment as showing initiative, but others think it looks sketchy or just not relevant unless you can tie it to direct client impact. I ended up adding my consulting gig as current experience, but made sure each bullet was super specific about client deliverables and measurable wins, not just "ran my own business" type stuff.
One thing that really helped was running my resume through a couple ATS scanners (tried ResumeJudge, Resume Worded, Jobscan, and SkillSyncer). Sometimes the way you label experience can tank your match rate - "Consultant | Self-Employed" doesn't really hit keywords unless you get deeper into the role details. I noticed after tweaking my bullets and emphasizing results, not just my title, my scores jumped and recruiters actually started reaching out.
If you have specific clients or industries you served, I'd highlight those and spell out the skills you used. Also curious, have you gotten feedback from recruiters already or just prepping your resume for now?
Brilliantly put Dwayne, thank you for weighing in! I did receive two requests for a phone screen. Both recruiters asked right away what the LLC was, and probed for how real that is. I could detect some skepticism as part of the questioning, which was understandable (i.e., is this BS or not). They were looking for experience that could be tied directly to their roles as expected. I discussed some of the part-time work I did, but then pivoted to the previous employer where I worked full time. They’re both moving forward with me on scheduling a first-round interview, so no dealbreaker, the LLC experience just needs to be much clearer.