Exercise: Work The Network
Your current network is likely to be less useful for life outside; you’re likely to need a new one. Build one systematically and strategically. It’s not hard.
If you haven’t already left your corporate job, for goodness’ sake start before you leave.
Use your preferred social media channel, reach out to people over email, go to events if that’s your thing. You need to dispel any awkwardness or anxiety about connecting with strangers. Firstly, they’re only strangers until you’ve established a connection and secondly, most people are pretty happy to expand their relevant network.
Don’t scattergun, but equally think of networking as something you do every week - systematically and deliberately; you’ll be surprised how adding in more nodes to your network starts to snowball.