Launch day for the book was exciting, exhausting, and also quite…ordinary?

It’s always funny launching something digitally. And remotely.

You work, work, work for months and months, and then the finish line is pressing a button or two, and voila! it’s LIVE.

And for a little while, that’s it.

You’re still in your home. At the same desk. In front of the same screen.

No confetti cannons, champagne toast, or party montage like the movies.

Just an invisible switch flipped, and your project is born.

Then you just go refill your coffee. Grab a bowl of cereal.

But then, the congratulations start rolling in.

Some kind public words from friends old and new.

None have actually read the book (yet) but they’re just excited to celebrate with you.

Then the humbling waves of interest arrive.

Family members chiming in that they bought copies for even more-distant relatives who “need to read this.”

True authorities in my space offering glowing public recommendations to their audiences.

My grad school alumni group chat, who I simply thought might help show some LinkedIn love, instantly start sending ideas for a half-dozen cities I could visit to host events on the topic. Someone even offering their guest room for a yet-to-be-scheduled trip.

DMs start coming in with messages like, “I needed this today. My role’s being eliminated next month.”

Or “I took sabbatical this summer because of burnout. I just read your whole book on my Kindle - thanks for giving me a lot to think about.”

Later on, I take my typical afternoon walk, this time in the Seattle Arboretum, and incidentally end up at the same lookout where I remember reflecting on closing my first indie consulting project in March 2023.

Same person staring at the same view, just carrying around a lot more perspective and a fresh dash of authority.

And later in the evening, the Amazon charts update to show my little self-published book and that bright orange parachute as a #1 Best Seller in two different categories.

An ego-metric in many ways, but an objective validation of the work just as well.

Back home, I run out of steam to write back each thoughtful commenter individually, but tapping love back to a scroll of long-familiar names really does warm my heart. I have to trust they know that.

And then I realize this outwardly ordinary-looking day was truly anything but.

Thanks to all of you for supporting the launch of The Expert’s Privilege. This won’t be the last you hear about the book, but I aim to get back to a regular Lightbulb cadence and back to the carousel of topics that landed you here in the first place.

In the meantime, if you still haven’t gotten your copy of the book, please take advantage of the last few days of launch pricing on the Kindle version (just $2.99 USD).

Several of the reader reviews have mentioned that it’s an enlightening read even if you’ve been out on your own for a while.

Talk soon...

💡

-Wes