💡 The Lightbulb
A daily email about monetizing and visualizing 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.
💡 First proof
The first physical proofs of my book showed up on Saturday. I’d been tracking the package since Wednesday. Still a little surreal seeing your own book in your Amazon cart, then working its way to your address. I got the notification that it had arrived while I was at the grocery store. And in a strange and very noticeable way, I wasn’t excited. And I definitely didn’t rush home. I was nervous. Nervous because I’ve taken great care to refine and polish something I’ll be proud to give to...
💡 The arch Dana's clients can't unsee
I continue to be wow’ed by the visual creativity coming in from you all. Today, I’m featuring Dana Hetté - a fractional Chief of Staff for founder/CEO/CTOs of small product companies. Dana is a razor-sharp expert and operator in the product world, but even so, a founder might ask “ok, but what does a fractional Chief of Staff actually do - do I really need one?” I’ve watched Dana sharpen her positioning over the last couple of years, and she just recently turned that positioning visual - with...
💡 Curating your 'collective brain'
On a recent episode of Hidden Brain, the topic was the power of the ‘collective brain’ and it punched me in the gut as a flag-waving soloist. On the surface, the concept isn’t earth-shaking — more people, better thinking — but the guest, Harvard anthropologist Joseph Henrich, went into detail about why collaboration activates the human brain: [The cultural intelligence hypothesis] is the idea that really what our brains have evolved and why they’ve gotten so much bigger than our primate...
💡 Comic books + food metaphors
Nicky Bell is a solo founder on a mission to empower sanity checks on AI. As Founder of Powered Analysis, Nicky builds guardrails for AI data analysis to encourage reliable AI adoption. More broadly, as a Maven instructor, he teaches business leaders how to spot and correct errors in AI data analysis before it’s too late. This is an increasingly important skill as AI finds a fast-footing across enterprises of all sizes. But it’s also inherently technical, which is why Nicky uses visuals to...
💡 Recap: State of the consulting industry Q&A
Last week, I tuned into Umbrex’s annual "State of the Consulting Industry" Q&A with Chad Oakley. Chad is CEO of the retained search firm Charles Aris which specializes in placing former consultants into senior FTE roles at industry and PE firms. As I mentioned last year when I recapped the same event, there are few people as close to the pulse of the consulting industry as Chad is, so here are some highlights specifically pertinent to us as indie consultants, and gently paraphrased. Top...
💡 A Lightbulber's two visual home runs
I've been advocating a lot recently for solo consultants to elevate their visual game -- on LinkedIn, yes, but more broadly as well -- in your sales assets, your proposal decks, your client kickoffs. There's simply no shorter path to get your expertise internalized in your clients' head than a good visual. I have a standing offer going: run any of your visuals through my IRIS tool (ratemyvisual.com). If IRIS returns a top critique of "Genuinely Good," send it to me and I'll feature it here in...
💡 Introducing WesWheless.com!
So, you know how all the World Cup host cities are aggressively squeezing in construction and beautification projects ahead of the big event? Here in Seattle, it’s meant new light rail service, airport terminals, waterfront parks and shuttles, accepting tap-to-pay on transit (yes, we were way behind!) Many of these projects had been planned (and delayed) well before FIFA came into the picture, but with a big spotlight headed our way in a couple weeks, everything accelerated and it’s starting...
💡 [WATCH] IRIS workshop recording + debrief
As a Lightbulber, you were the first to see IRIS back in March - it's my AI tool that keeps you honest on whether your LinkedIn visuals are feeding your business or feeding the algorithm. Well, after some additional training, back-end reinforcement and cosmetic upgrades, IRIS made her splashy public debut at the Lettuce Solo Summit last week. If you were unable to join the 200+ live attendees, the recording is now available on Lettuce.co. The session covers: LinkedIn as the Garden of Eden,...
💡 NEXT WEEK: Two free "solo summits"
Feel that in the air? Not just the wall of spring allergens and the tease of summer. Rather, it's apparently workshop season for solo professionals! I wanted to point your attention to TWO free virtual learning summits happening next week. Lettuce.co's Solo Summit One day: Thursday, May 14th Live, hands-on workshops for consultants, coaches and businesses-of-one Sessions on understanding tax strategies, breaking out of the proposal trap, building AI tools for your solo business, and many more...
💡 Seeking out the human mess
On Tuesdays, I try to get out of my environment. If not off my computer completely, at least away from my desk. Today, I ventured to a coffee shop and found myself seated next to a meetup for people practicing their Italian. I don’t know their exact schedule, but I ran into them there last month on a Tuesday as well. A pretty varied crew — old, young, men, women, students, retired — about 8 or 9 people both times I’ve seen them. What struck me this time was how the dynamics shifted as each...
A daily email about monetizing and visualizing 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.