When you go independent, your warm network is a powerful resource.

Former colleagues, classmates, and friends will refer you, vouch for you, perhaps even hire you themselves.

This is a great headstart - and will likely be the primary source of your first consulting engagements.

But, that inbound flow is not always consistent, and will putter out over time.

​

Hopefully, by the time it does, you’ve notched a few positive engagements and your clients start recommending you.

Former clients are an even more powerful resource as they can vouch for a service they actually paid for.

But again, this inbound flow isn’t always consistent, and will be tough to predict.

​

Then a new set enters the ring.

Strangers.

Yes, people you’ve never met. Have no connection to.

Folks that have no other reason for coming to you except that they’ve seen your ideas somewhere in the wild and say, “I need to talk to that person about my problem.”

​

When you start seeing strangers show up in your audience, your calendar, your pipeline, it means you’re on to something.

It means you have a resonant message matching a real pain point.

And it means you’ve been planting the right seeds in the right places.

Keep going.

Strangers are your new friends.

​

💡

-Wes