💡 The Lightbulb

Wes Wheless | Niche Discovery + IP Capture for Solo Consultants

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.

💡 Make time for the mud bath

To close out the topic of feedback-fidelity fit, I’ll share briefly what’s going on behind the scenes of the IP Builder sprints. In case you’re new, IP Builder is a 1:1 two-week, three-session sprint to turn your expertise into a starter set of 4 ‘intellectual headshots’... These headshots are crisp visual assets meant to instantly telegraph your expertise your buyer, frame their thinking in a sticky way, and spark enough curiosity for a conversation. It’s a fun process - we spend session one...

3 days ago • 2 min read

💡 Delay feedback, expect crickets

So what’s the real harm in delaying a feedback cycle? When you misgauge your ‘feedback-fidelity fit’? It depends on the context. I sit on an independent advisory committee for Seattle University. We’re a set of neighbors and local business owners recruited by the City to oversee development on and around the campus. Mostly, we’re asked to sign-off on any major construction project from a neighborhood perspective, and make sure it’s in accordance with a master agreement. Our remit is quite...

4 days ago • 2 min read

yellow and blue metal fence

💡 Feedback-fidelity fit

On an intro consultation this morning, an amazing CMO-turned-independent was showing me some IP she’s working on as the foundation for her new coaching business. A really solid codification of her acquired expertise from a storied 30 year career. Concepts teased out into discrete lessons. Lessons grouped into chapters. Chapters building towards a broader transformation arc. It really was thoughtful and impressive. (And I’m not just saying that because she’s likely reading this.) I had two...

4 days ago • 1 min read

💡 They make it look so easy

I thought it’d be helpful to break down ‘Wide Shoes Only’ from yesterday… Yes, I was (slightly) joking about the money laundering litmus test… But this seemingly silly example actually nails the fundamentals. They found a very real pain point for an underserved market... ...and made a bold (and in many ways, risk-minimizing) branding move by going full Captain Obvious with ”Wide Shoes Only” So what’s going on here? Three big things: They solve a painful, specific problem (finding wide shoes...

6 days ago • 1 min read

💡 Wide Shoes Only

There’s a small chain of shoe stores in my area called Wide Shoes Only. I bet you can imagine what they sell there. It’s a strong enough example of a niche strategy that I could honestly stop right here. But interestingly, I found out about them on a random r/Seattle Reddit thread called “Name That Place”. The prompt was a meme asking “What’s that one shop in your city that’s a money laundering scheme but you can’t quite prove it.” Someone chimed in quickly: “There is a “wide shoe” store on a...

7 days ago • 1 min read

💡 Cheesecake Factory found its niche...long ago

Image via TastingTable About a year ago (Lightbulb #16, to be exact), I wrote about ‘the Cheesecake Factory approach’. As you may know, The Cheesecake Factory is a moderately upscale restaurant chain in the US known for its thick, cross-cuisine menu so extensive, it emits a light thud when dropped on your table. Everyone in your party can easily find something they like, and is generally satisfied with the food… …but you never seek out Cheesecake Factory for a particular cuisine. It’s more...

10 days ago • 2 min read

a tall building with a skylight above it

💡 Recap: 'State of consulting' Q&A

This morning, I attended a Q&A on the current state of the job market for consultants, hosted by Umbrex (a community for ex-MBB-turned-solo consultants). The speaker was Chad Oakley, CEO of Charles Aris - a top retained search firm specialized in placing consultants in senior roles in corporate & PE firms. I’ve met with Chad a couple times throughout my own career journey, and there are few people as close as he is to the pulse of the consulting industry. Given this was an Umbrex talk, most...

11 days ago • 1 min read

💡 Fogging up their glasses

On Monday, I talked about modern ‘cave drawings’ - getting things out of your head and synthesized into simple, visual form. Then yesterday, I talked about the escaping the ‘savior client’ cycle - the one that’s keeping you from committing to a decisive niche. The common thread? Clarity. In your lane. In your message. And in your thinking. But this clarity’s not just for you. It’s bi-directional. Just as there’s comfort in having a clear lane and strategy for your business… …your clients seek...

12 days ago • 1 min read

💡 Just buying time

Last week, I wrote about the trap of the ‘savior client’. That is, when you’re feeling like you should be specializing... ...but then that magic client engagement appears, buying you a few more months of reprieve from actually taking a step toward niching down. It’s a common and understandable trap. But inaction never solves the problem. Over the weekend, I was listening to an episode of Second Act Stories (fascinating podcast, btw). This one was about Joe Malankar, a former BCG partner who...

13 days ago • 1 min read

💡 Modern-day cave drawings

I think the cavemen were on to something. Our problems got more complex. Our language evolved to keep up. As experts, we master the new language of our domain. We speak fluently. We speak confidently. We speak at length. But somewhere in there, it breaks. We understand the complexities. We can explain them to peers. We can riff on a stage or fill a deck. But try explaining it to someone outside the herd? Someone who doesn’t know the lingo? Who hasn’t lived it like you have? We don’t need more...

14 days ago • 1 min read

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.