Tom Crithclow

The Strategic Independent

 
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Episode Notes (by minute):

-2:30 - The genesis behind Tom’s thinking and work around the topic and framework of The Strategic Independent

-3:30 - How Tom’s Strategic Independent collection of work is foundational to Tom’s thinking, and also helps him connect with potential clients

-5:00 - The importance and benefits of developing your own career narrative, especially as a freelancer, consultant, or self-employed

-6:00 - How blogging has been a key piece of Tom’s identity. He thinks identity can evolve and blogging is efficient and affordable way to do so as well. Tom’s "small b blogging” style exposes his thinking, compared to traditional “how to” or “case-study” blog posts

-11:00 - How Tom focuses on quality over quantity with blogging engagement

-15:00 - The importance of asking for context when starting freelance work. The more context you have, the more information you have to solve bigger problems at a company, while also protecting yourself from a “context collapse.” Please see blog post for more information about The Strategic Independent framework.

-21:00 - Why understanding the full user experience is a valuable skill-set as a freelancer

-26:00 - How Tom’s views and work has changed in today’s environment. He typically works on-site for 2-3 days, and can no longer do so these days. This limits the amount of context he can learn, resulting in having to proactively communicate more with clients

-29:30 - What “executive sparring” is and how you could think about trying to find clients that way. This style of work is said to be more resilient as well.

-31:00 - The importance of exposing your thinking for potential clients to learn more about you. Often, executives have a lot of ideas and do not think that others think the same way. Blogging can help you connect the dots with them. Tom has gotten inbound leads more often when he exposes his thinking, compared to “case study” type of blog posts.

-35:00 - The importance of the ability to have peers be able to make “strong introductions” for you and the work you do.

(Note: these are quick notes and takeaways by David Nebinski. Please see the episode for more accurate information)