People have been asking me where I get my leads from and how I make a living by being a solo creative.

The truth is this

It's all been word of mouth and referrals. It's been a surreal experience.

I've held back on sharing this because I believe early celebrations usually lead to inevitable downfalls, especially when I'm just keeping it going and doing my best.

However, I've been able to sustain myself for a little over a year now. I attribute that to keeping my head down and doing the work. As a result, it's gradually created a system of trust that invites new clients onboard.

"Ok, but what if you don't get referred anymore?"

A good friend asked.

It was a good question. I was stunned.
"Yeah, it's possible," I laughed nervously.
"That would suck," I thought to myself.

Up until that point, it never crossed my mind that the system I had was bottlenecked by me. I can control the quality of my work, but I cannot control the goodwill of others.

Mid-shower, it hit me

If I'm relying on clients to refer me to strangers, what's stopping me from referring myself?

Years of creative reps prepared me for designer deadlines and marketing pressure, but managing a business is something else, man. I didn't expect to learn about tech support, AI automations or sales funnels. And yet, there I was, creating a CRM on Notion, doing cold outreaches and automating new leads. Where this all leads to, I'm not certain.

One thing's for sure, this experience has made me appreciate databases. They're boring in practice, but brutally efficient. It feels similar to logging your workouts because the numbers don't lie. No one wants to do it, but if you stay consistent at it, you already know what's working and what needs improvement by month 2.

However, it still feels like a very different process for me. Terrifying even, but I want to get better and I know that if all I'm willing to do is all I already know, then all I am is who I already am.