Everything you’ve said is spot on, and I think you’ve hit everything of substance. Growing a consulting (even a tailored tech solution) business means making it a sales business first and foremost - you can prioritize delivery if you reach a point you want to plateau, but 0 leads is not that point.
i think a lot of people have the misunderstanding that the world works under a "build it and they will come" model.
And it's very easy to deceive ourselves into believing that we're building the right thing.
Even if you have product market fit, and are experiencing the “pull” of a hot market...if you have no reliable distribution channels, you have no business.
Humans are busy, and the problems that businesses solve for in the modern world are not life or death issues. Any product that solves a problem that tons of people are already searching google for, is by definition, going to also have tons of competitors.