I currently work for a consulting firm when is the best time for you to strike out on your own? How did you do it? Do you regret it?

If you are a good consultant one of the things you know is that you should plan the change well. I would try to get your website up, business cards office/phone all in place before you leave because once you do leave you hopefully will not have time to focus on these things.

Having just done this, I agree with Triton. And to add - you either will need 6 months of living expenses in the bank or a few jobs already lined up. My partner and I started out with a job in our pocket and two in the "pipe". However, it was about six weeks before we got the website up and I feel that lost us some "marketing" time. Also, you did not say if you are alone or have a partner. In my situation, I am the business/ops/admin/biz dev/networking guy who assists with the consulting and my partner is the primary creative consulting guy. We would not be successful without the other. My point is, it takes a lot to run a business - even a two man consulting shop. Unless you have a chance at a long-term contract with a company, find a partner so that one of you is always working on some part of the business.

Bubbatex provides a good point my partner likes admin, technology and customer service. I like sales, marketing and planning so we really complement each other well it is important for a small firm to hire someone who has skills that complement your strengths.

If I was doing it all over again I would do some moonlighting on the side and build a reputation on elance or guru and then once I had a client following and reputation I would stike out on my own.

When you think the time is right wait six months. Things never happen as fast as you think they will and you will be better prepared if you wait and plan better and get a lot of the non value details completed i.e. like business cards, equipment, phone number etc.

I think one of the best times particularly because you are already working in a consulting firm is after you finished a couple of projects in a fairly new niche that you think has huge potential. This has two advantages. First, theoretically, your existing firm will recognize that and may pay up to keep you - if you would prefer to stay a bit longer. Second, you would of carved out a niche and an expertise that would be hard to duplicate.