Front Matter

The Positioning Manual for Indie Consultants

Philip Morgan

Ibex Publishing
Taos, NM

Bulk Orders
philip@opportunitylabs.io

First Edition, 2021

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021904493

Kindle ISBN: 978-1-7367975-1-8
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-7367975-2-5
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7367975-3-2

Dedicated to those who, out of desire to serve, are willing to press the publish button before they are certain.

Acknowledgments

I owe a debt of gratitude to many people for helping with this book.

My wife, Cheryl, whose love, patience, and encouragement has been essential, and who has given me an invaluable window into a world where sunk costs almost never interfere with moving forward in life.

The trees, creeks, and landscape of Carson National Forest near Taos, NM, that lent me sanity and calm during a personally difficult time.

My parents, who filled our home with books and music, helped me learn to question, drove me countless times to the Mocksville public library and the far better ones in Forsythe County, and created enough stability at home that I didn't leave there a broken person. These are priceless gifts and privileges that live on in me today.

Jonathan Stark, for challenging me to specialize years ago.

Blair Enns, whose Win Without Pitching Manifesto was an impactful experience that supplied me with the concepts I needed to begin exploring the domain of specialization.

David C. Baker, who has long offered warm support for my work and who included me in a wonderful writing retreat in late 2019 that helped push this book over the finish line.

Simon Wardley, who has generously shared and furiously advocated a helpful and democratizing way of thinking about business strategy and in so doing, has modeled an approach to leadership I find incredibly inspiring.

Sarah A., Ian C., Eric W., James S., Thai W., Bernhard W., Aaron S., Liston W., Nadia C., Kerry N., Tom K., Neeraj H., John H., Leah W., Rob W., Hamza G., Ben W., Martin R., Lee B., Keanan K., Amit S., Curtis C., David S., Rob S., Drew U., Judd L., Aleth G., Andrew C., Aylwin S., Luke D., Craig D., Jonathan B., Atul P., Michael P., Gustavo N., and Gary H., for agreeing individually to beta read and collectively to convince me to throw away a well-intentioned but overdone first start to make way for something better.

And finally, I thank the 2,154 readers of the previous editions of this manual, especially all those who wrote with thoughtful and challenging questions that helped me pierce the epidermis of expertise on this topic so I could bring you this much improved version of the manual. I couldn't have done it without y'all. Thank you.