Ah yes, i maybe should have been clear about that i am self-employed/freelancing so i only do contract work. But technically i could approach companies myself still but that would be quite an investment.

What i usually do, before i respond to any linkedin requests, is to approach previous clients, or companies that directly contacted me, but since most projects i work on usually take a year or longer, the timing is usually not at the right moment. Meaning they no longer need me or just not at this moment.

I've been doing contract work now for almost 15 years and did about 10 projects during that time. I think i'm now in the spot where only 50% of my work comes in through linkedin and the rest is direct contacts, so progress is being made.

It's still amazing though how well that platform spearheaded me into this direction and i'm super happy with the outcome.