@notetaker (Derek Hooker),
There are a bit over 1000 HCISPPs and about 130,000 other (ISC)² certificate holders that have all successfully demonstrated "N-years cumulative paid work experience in one or more knowledge areas of the CBK", at least 12,000 of whom are on this community. And yes, a certain percentage will have worked solely on a consulting basis.
Think of this like landing a new client, but with the added requirement that you be able to demonstrate your claims. So, when report having spent 6 months helping Contoso Labs perform 3rd party risk assessments be prepared to supply evidence, such as a copy of your contract, your weekly status reports, the 1099 (to prove the work was "paid"), contact information for a reference at Contoso or maybe even a written recommendation from your primary contact at Contoso.
Seeing that you are new here (your community account was created today), I get that you have not had a chance to absorb the culture of this community. There are a whole bunch of friendly, helpful members that follow all of the groups and often have all new posts sent to their email. As a result, many of us received 5 nearly identical emails over the course of an hour. It would have served all of us (including yourself) much better had you started a new topic and posted just one copy. Also, it is important to realize that much of this board is visible to future clients and employers with a simple Google search. If you wish to revise your posts, there is an "edit" option under the three-dot menu to the right of your posting. Deleting a post is accomplished by selecting "report inappropriate content" from the same menu.
