Welcome back to The Lightbulb!

After exactly 400 Lightbulbs, I took a couple weeks off to replenish my creative juices and the last stretch of summer was the perfect time.

The hiatus also gave me an opportunity to reflect on the direction of this newsletter and the business it supports.

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While I was out, I stumbled across a Seattle Times article featuring Coyle’s Bakeshop, a local bakery celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The owner Rachel Coyle is quick to say “not much has changed” but then goes on to mention all of the tweaks and experiments that have continued to improve her products and her business.

Most notably, she says didn’t used to sell chocolate-chip cookies because even though she loved making them at home because she “wanted to be taken seriously in the male-dominated field of baking.”

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But then, as she noticed more children in the neighborhood and in her shop, she remembered some prescient advice:

And hence…she now sells chocolate chip cookies, marrying a long-time favorite goodie of hers with a lucrative new audience.

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Well, my “chocolate chip cookies” are Intellectual Headshots — crisp, memorable, visual IP assets that articulate your expertise and attract dream clients.

I’ve been making a form of them since I came out of the professional womb as a young BCG associate. It’s just how my brain simplifies and explains complex ideas quickly.

And I know the value of them to solo consultants intimately because besides selling them, I use them in my own business. Even in this newsletter.

I just always packaged them as an added feature of a larger service.

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If you’ve been on this list for a while, you might remember all the iterations and pilots I’ve tried out — Signature Service Intensives, coaching packages, signature POV power hours, etc.

They were all well-intentioned and valuable offers, but the real gems — the distilled visual assets themselves — were always buried.

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Finally, in the past 6 months, I’ve gained measurable traction (even a waitlist at times) selling these Headshots as a standalone 1:1 service, so I’m doubling down on "The Headshot Sprint" (fka The IP Builder Sprint, rebrand underway).

And in keeping, while The Lightbulb has always been about monetizing your corporate expertise as a solo consultant, I’ll now be focused here on how visualizing that expertise is the critical step in that process.

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So, yes, continue to expect emails and frameworks from me about:

• Recognizing your unique lens
• Finding your lane of efficient self-deployment as a soloist
• Reflections on building a solo business myself

But with 90% of my revenue coming from building visual IP assets, expect an outsized emphasis on making visualization of your expertise as accessible as I can, including:

• Case studies of actual client Headshot sprints
• Tips for effective expertise extraction and visual articulation
• ‘In the wild’ examples and research proving the advantage of visuals over other formats

All through the lens of, and in service of, building a unique and defensible solo consulting practice.

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So, perhaps not quite as warm and tasty as one of Rachel’s chocolate chip cookies, but I do hope you’ll find it valuable and keep coming back.

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I’m glad you’re here. See you tomorrow.

💡

-Wes