As well as the excitement and freedom that comes from starting your own consulting business and entering the gig economy, one of the other emotions everyone faces is fear.
One of the main ways that fear manifests itself at times is the fear that clients and revenue are scare, and you have to keep every dollar of revenue for yourself.
The problem with this lack of abundance thinking is that you will quickly find yourself on an island of your own making. It can result in you failing to see the woods for the trees, or to focus on the ear of wheat in your hand, rather than the field of wheat you could grow.
The reality is that there is an abundance of clients, work and revenue. I'm sure you can identify a number of competitors, substitutes and alternatives that also operate in your domain. So you just have to secure your fair share, and preferably more than your fair share.
Partnering with other service providers who offer complementary products and services is one way of increasing your attractiveness to clients and your ability to deliver on larger projects that you wouldn't be able to win or deliver on your own.
This is also where good strategic planning around your major client relationships and accounts will pay dividends and will come back to you. Sometimes the abundance starts by creating opportunities for others in your network, without necessarily creating new revenue for you but also without cutting your own lunch.
But if you learn to work closely with your partners, and understand the trigger and hand-off points between your complementary activities, the referral and revenue generation opportunities will become clearer, more frequent and easier to secure. You'll also be able to coach your partners on how they can manage their own major accounts to generate work to return the favour.
This is particularly important when you are selling large ticket consulting services, where reputation and credibility to deliver are crucial to securing assignments.
So next time you're wondering if there will ever be enough work to keep you fully occupied, have another look around at you is winning work and why, and whether partnering and collaborating mighht open a few more doors for you.
This is not necessarily a speedy growth hack, but its the gift that keeps on giving.