Looking for food between someone else's teeth

Early in my independent consulting days, a long-time business owner in my network tried to give me some hard-won advice.He said:The bottom is lonely.The middle is competitive.The top is collaborative.The context: I was really struggling in those early days.Every decision felt like brain surgeryEvery email took 3 hours to craftAnd every dollar I earned felt like it was won by chasing down 10 gazelles in the Sahara desert.I'd go out to drinks with friends after work and felt totally disconnected -Nothing about my life and theirs felt the same.They were complaining about their bossesAnd I was counting my pennies, wishing I had a boss to blame for all my troubles.It was so lonely.​Then at some point, I leveled up.I nailed down a few clients and felt like I finally had my feet under me.In between laser-focusing on client work, I finally made some time to market myself online, which led to…

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