That’s why my kickoff meetings always involve validating what the client wants as far as business outcomes instead of blindly trusting account executives and sales.

On the other hand, part of the reason I never desired to go independent is because working for a company, we do have a sales department to get clients, a legal team, and finance to chase payments. I can just concentrate on the client and the project.

Honestly, you’re in the bravest part of the process. We call it “professional services” but same thing… you’re the one who has to deliver on whatever was promised to the customer, which was totally outside your visibility.