I’m not particularly precious when it comes to approving connections on LinkedIn.

I’ll do a semi-subconscious screen for leading indicators of future nuisance (e.g. lead gen services, VAs, book marketers)…

...or those obviously just beefing up their follower count (if someone with 50k followers was actually interested in engaging with me, they’d have emailed or left a note).

But otherwise, I tend to approve and simply ask:

“Thanks for connecting, did one of my posts catch your eye?”

This does a few things:

• timestamps your connection in the DMs
• initiates a conversation at the point they’re most likely to ever respond
• actually gets you some data on what’s bringing people your way

Or they don’t respond, and that’s helpful data too.

I was about to log off on Tuesday afternoon, and I went to clear a handful of connection requests.

I follow the routine process above, approve a few, and then I receive this back from someone in Toronto, a cool 2,000 miles away:

It stopped me in my tracks.

Now, I’ve been actively promoting this book for almost a year. I teased the title and some frameworks on a podcast way back in December 2025 and launched in July.

And throughout, I’ve been really doing it all to get the word out:

• Launch events
• LinkedIn series
• Email campaigns
• Live lightning talks
• Virtual happy hours
• Podcast appearances
• In-person book dinners
• Old-fashioned 1:1 conversations + book sends
• ...and more

Promoting the book has become just part of my work, and I’m happy to report it’s led to dozens of new conversations, reconnections, and a handful of new Parachute Plan engagements already underway.

(Turns out, feeling stuck in corporate really is a pain point urgent enough to pay for help to get out of.)

So why then did this short DM from a new connection leave me a bit…breathless?

Because it's the first documented signal I have of this book spreading organically on its own.

Carrying its own weight, far and wide, without my direct touch.

I can see my sales numbers on a screen. I know these copies are “out there”.

But those are just digital tally marks.

Here was the proof that my book is a real, tangible thing, just living out there in the real world.

Being pulled out of someone’s bag on their ride to work.

Or maybe home from work?

That bright orange parachute and everything it represents striking curiosity in a neighboring commuter.

A commuter who later goes on to tell me he runs a community that could benefit from hearing my message.

And so, the loop continues...

Probably most exciting is that I’ll never know the full extent of these types of “train moments” - analog sparks from reader-to-reader.

Besides, I wouldn’t have even known about this one…

Had the stranger not found me.

And had I not asked why.

💡

-Wes

P.S. Happy to share that The Expert’s Privilege is now available for purchase at Walmart.com, Barnes & Noble, and perhaps most exciting BookShop.org — where you can attribute your purchase and its gross margin to your favorite independent bookstore.

Oh, and if that Canadian commuter was you, please do reach out and let me know -- I owe you one!