I encourage all of you to check out these links to support these orgs, explore volunteering opps to help people who are battling the disease, and reach out to your loved ones today.

World Cancer Day: worldcancerday.org
ACS: cancer.org

Today I honor my mom, who battled lung and brain cancer with her entire body, mind, heart and soul for FOUR years before succumbing to this devastating disease at the young age of 64. Her name was Cyndi and she was brilliant, biting, and adventurous.

Queen.

If you’re not doing these things, and instead you’re just sitting around waiting for someone in your network to serve up a project on a silver platter, girl you’re gonna be waiting a long time.

The reason I got so many leads “through my network” is because I was consistently doing two things, day-in and day-out.

1. Meeting new people all the time - not just those who might hire me but anyone who might someday connect me

2. Staying VISIBLE with content, nurturing and events / groups

It's going to be hard anyway. Choose your hard.

Likewise, it's no longer true that switching from solo back to full-time will make things more stable and predictable. If you don't believe me, just ask the tens of thousands of people who have been laid off (from big stable, profitable corporate brands) in the last 3 months.

People who are unemployed and searching for their next full-time role tend to view consulting and contract work as an easy stopgap. Something they can pick up fast to pay the bills.

Maybe that used to be true but it isn't true now.

Employees peek over the wall and say "Gosh it would be nice to make your own hours, and have all that freedom and flexibility."

Consultants and solopreneurs look longingly at their colleagues working full-time and say "Man it would be great to have a paycheck and that kind of security."

If you're out here making a name for yourself on Bluesky, I'd love to hear what you've learned about the platform and what you're doing to find your people.

What works? What doesn't? Why?

I think it's going to take a long time, and I'm ready for that. On my other platform, it took me about 2 years to reach 20,000 followers. I know every one of these spaces is different and what works on one won't necessarily work on another.

I'm eager to learn.

I found a better path for me. So many perceive it as the "risky" and "unstable" path (working for yourself). But ironically, I view it from the exact opposite lens.

I feel more secure than I ever have in my life.

Why?

Because I'm betting on myself.