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šŸ’” The Lightbulb

A daily email about monetizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.

šŸ’” Lights out.

Well, when you know, you just knowā€¦ Just a couple weeks shy of a full year of daily Lightbulbs, Iā€™ve made the tough decision to call it quits. I set out on a simple mission to offer my humble take on the path of the solo corporate expert... A daily dose of clarity in the thrilling but uncertain world of indie consulting. And although itā€™s been a true labor of love, the deluge of praise and positive press has proven to be just too much to bear. To be frank, the fame involved with authoring a...

šŸ’” Building your home-field advantage

In sports, you hear a lot about ā€˜home-field advantageā€™. This is used to describe the general trend that teams are more likely to win games or matches when played on their home turf. Some studies show aggregate home-team win rates of ~60% or higher, compared to the 50/50 split you might expect. You could attribute this to familiarity with the field itself, weather conditions, lack of travel fatigue, an engaged fan baseā€¦ At least one study concludes itā€™s most attributable to referee bias. Iā€™d...

šŸ’” "Drowning in doubt"

Remember Kerry? The broadcaster-turned-on-camera coach I featured last week as a best-in-class example of a tight market position? As a reminder, she ā€œturns video-shy lawyers into video-confident lawyers.ā€ I applauded her for leveraging her unique expertise to create a high-value solution to a painful problem for a very specific client profile. Well, she chimed in and offered a glimpse of what went into that decision. And you may be relieved to hear that she, too, toiled with doubt over...
river between rocky mountains

šŸ’” You've been niching down all along

Cold feet about niching? Youā€™re not alone. I work with solo consultants every day, most of whom have found that after a year or two in, theyā€™ve hit a plateau. Their warm network produced a good amount of early work, but now inbounds are either drying up, or fanning out in multiple directions. When this happens, you have two choices: Accept what comes your way, prioritizing short-term conversion at the expense of focus and client quality Or define a strategic niche and become known for it,...

šŸ’” First day of school + IP Builder pilot update

My high school in Dallas used to start our school year on a Friday. Sounds obnoxious, right? Like, why not give us one more summer weekend? Even worse, it was only a half-day. The hell? Youā€™re gonna get us all dressed up in our shirts/ties (a Jesuit boysā€™ school) for a first day of school on a Friday, just to let us out at noon? The practice caused all the communal gripe and kerfuffle youā€™ve come to expect around Daylight Saving time. But by the next day, nobody cared anymore. And on Monday,...

šŸ’” A+ Example: Positioning perfection in 9 words

I donā€™t typically gush over a strangerā€™s positioning and LinkedIn approach, but Iā€™ve been getting served one consultantā€™s videos recently, and honestly, I think sheā€™s knocking it out of the park. Her name is Kerry Barrett, a former news anchor turned on-camera coach. Do yourself a favor and watch just one of her many 1-minute vids and Iā€™ll break it down. Note: I donā€™t know Kerry, and she doesnā€™t know Iā€™m writing this, but I did reach out to congratulate her on a job well done. First, Iā€™ll...
a brown teddy bear sitting on top of a sidewalk

šŸ’” The 'orphaned insight' problem

Iā€™ve wailed the last two days about the trap of personal branding. The type that has you over-invest in looking the part, rather than simply sampling your expertise. The alternative, an insights-led strategy, is nothing to be afraid of ā€” itā€™s just content marketing. Nearly every company with an online presence plays in this space. But don't let the popularity of the approach scare you away from it. Just keep in mind two critical factors: 1. The obvious one: Differentiation You know this one...
A woman standing in front of a coca cola store

šŸ’” What works for them...

Who comes to mind when you think of the big ā€˜branding godsā€™? Perhaps Nike, McDonalds, Coca-Cola? These surface quickly because theyā€™re in our faces constantly. Billions of dollars in marketing budgets. And honestly? Itā€™s easy to see itā€™s money well-spent. Trouble is, we see this kind of grand, brand marketing and, almost by default, we take it as something to emulate or aspire to. Perhaps we don't seek global ubiquity, but maybe some fame, virality, or blanket name recognition. One fatal flaw...
spider web in close up photography

šŸ’” Personal branding is a trap

Can I just say it? I think ā€˜personal brandingā€™ is a trap. At least in the way that most people suggest it to us. Itā€™s seemingly intuitive, right? Iā€™m just one of thousands of other consultants out there - let me ā€œbuild my brandā€ to stand out in the crowd... So you start with new professional headshots. A revamp to your LinkedIn page. A new domain. A shiny website. A custom email address. Maybe even a TikTok account. Sure, these things are each part of the larger puzzleā€¦ Some more important...
focus photography of brown plants

šŸ’” The things that aren't changing

As much as I try to stay focused on whatā€™s within my control, itā€™s hard to tune out the volatility and uncertainty all around. I wonā€™t try to make sense of whatā€™s going on economically or geopolitically. Not in this forum, anyway... But I can share about the things that arenā€™t changing: Great minds lose their jobs every day. New opportunities await them. The solo path removes some traditional safety nets. It also unlocks a lot of freedom to set up your own. Companies still have big painful...

A daily email about monetizing your corporate expertise. Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.