Hey Andrew Niepodam,

A few months back, my business partner got on a consult call with a lad from our hometown.

Still in his 9-5. But he wasn't your average guy sitting behind a desk doing nothing. He was already working inside an agency selling AI services. He knew his way around a discovery call. He could scope out a project, handle onboarding, get on sales calls. He had real skills.

He just didn't know what to do with them on his own.

So my business partner walked him through everything. Industry pricing. How to position himself. What to charge. How to go out and actually get clients without relying on someone else's brand to carry him.

Then he made a few introductions.

That's the bit people sleep on. When you're in the right network, a single intro can change everything. He put this guy in front of people who could actually use what he had. Founders. Agency owners. People with real problems and real budgets.

He even looped him in with me.

I'd been becoming a bottleneck on sales calls. We needed someone sharp who could jump on calls and help with delivery. So we brought him in, threw him a few calls, and boom deals got closed.

All the while, we're still making intros on his behalf to others we know. Because when someone is genuinely good, you want to have them around. You want them doing well.

Then last week I got a text from him.

I'll let you read it for yourself.

€27k. One month.

This is what happens when you've got a real skillset, you get put in front of the right people, and most importantly, you paid your way into the right room.

He would not have had that month if he hadn't booked that consult call.

That's the part nobody talks about. The access. The intros. The people who can slot you into opportunities you'd never find scrolling LinkedIn on your own.

Skills matter. But skills without positioning, without the right network, without someone who's already done it pointing you in the right direction, that's just talent sitting in a drawer.

If you're reading this and you've got a skill — sales, delivery, tech, whatever and you're still trying to figure it out on your own, maybe it's time to stop figuring and start investing.

The right call changes things.

Mike

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