💡
The Lightbulb
by Wes Wheless

Turn what you know
into your most differentiated
and lucrative asset.

A daily email for solo consultants — on visualizing, packaging, and monetizing your corporate expertise.

Subscribe to
The Lightbulb

A daily email about monetizing and visualizing your expertise as a solo consultant.

Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.

    No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime with one click.

    Trusted by solo consultants, fractionals, and independent advisors around the world · Over 500 issues · Free, always
    Already a subscriber? See this week's recent posts →
    Wes Wheless, develop my ip
    Who's behind this?

    Wes Wheless

    I'm a solo consultant and the founder of develop my ip — where I help independent consultants turn their corporate expertise into visual IP that attracts better clients at better rates. I've been writing The Lightbulb daily since April 2024, and I personally reply to every email.

    "

    Fantastic email! I've never considered the distillation of insights into IP quite like this. Bravo!

    Jonathan Stark
    Jonathan Stark Host of Ditching Hourly and The Business of Authority
    What readers are saying

    Love from the Lightbulb community

    I think The Lightbulb is a must have for a solopreneur or anyone seeking to get inspired daily to keep getting a little better. Wes is gifted with a unique way of breaking down a solopreneurs' journey into practical bits that is not just a pleasure to read, but truly actionable.

    Bonnie Roche CEO, Maikoa Consulting

    I feel like Wes is giving away far too much value for free. I have saved several and refer back to them when I'm needing direction. If you're looking at starting your own practice, it's a must read.

    Andrew Safnauer ninefivepartners.com

    The Lightbulb inspired me to create my IP and package my expertise into a visual framework. I ended up presenting it at the Arizona Public Health Association Annual Conference and it was a hit! My IP now lends me instant credibility and I feel way more confident speaking to my experience.

    Prabhneet Girn

    The Lightbulb has been amazingly helpful as I've been focused on building my own consulting/product studio. I really appreciate the perspective, quality and quantity of insights that Wes has generated while clearly also using those to build his own unique perspective, IP and business.

    David Fu linkedin.com/in/davidthefu

    I look forward to The Lightbulb every day. It's always good food for thought and often much more, inspiring ideas for how to scale my business or answering key foundational questions, like about what work to take on and how to price it. It's one of the few sources I regularly recommend to others.

    Kristy Mayer-Mejia

    Wes has a way of creating clarity and helping you cut to the core of your value and brand as a consultant. The Lightbulb brings so many things together for me — easily my favourite newsletter.

    Clark Teeple aiproofyourfuture.com
    500+ posts · 10 topics

    Browse the archive by topic

    Each section follows the journey — from the leap to going solo, all the way to landing better clients at better rates. New here? Start at the top. Already a subscriber? Jump to whatever's pulling at you.

    01
    Going Solo
    The identity shift, the leap, the early days. What it really feels like to leave corporate behind — and why the rug you stand on is firmly yours now.
    101 posts
    📸
    Wes's Headshots
    Why burnout stings
    Exhaustion is obvious. But knowing you're capable of so much more? That's the salt in the wound.
    →
    💡
    Post
    The yank of the rug
    Shock, betrayal, disorientation — the emotions of a layoff are universal. But the rug you stand on when you're solo? That one's yours.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Self-employed vs. freelancer
    LinkedIn data reveals a striking gap in who feels in control of their career — and self-employed people lead by a mile.
    →
    02
    Finding My Consulting Lane
    Generalist or specialist? Who do you help, and what problem do you solve? The narrower and clearer your answer, the faster everything else accelerates.
    59 posts
    💡
    Framework
    The consultant's quandary
    Generalist vs. specialist. Productized vs. custom. The two most common forks in the road — mapped into a 2x2.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Watering the weeds
    Why soloists resist niching down — and how leaving all the doors open means speaking to everyone and reaching no one.
    →
    📸
    Wes's Headshots
    The generalist bee
    All those lanes seem attractive to you. But do you stand out to them?
    →
    03
    Distilling My Expertise into IP
    Your years of insight are an asset. But raw experience isn't IP — it has to be synthesized, named, and shaped into something ownable. This is how you do that.
    113 posts
    💡
    Post
    The Consultant's Expertise Loop
    Your insights are the ingredients. Your IP is the recipe. Here's how the most effective consultants turn one into the other.
    →
    📸
    Wes's Headshots
    Something to talk about
    You've built a mountain of insights. They want to see the map.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Not feeling the term "IP"?
    Forget the copyright office. IP just means your unique POV on a client problem, built up over years in your domain. Start there.
    →
    04
    Intellectual Headshots: Making My Expertise Visual
    A picture stops the scroll. A great framework makes ideas click. How to translate your hard-won POV into visuals that build credibility instantly.
    51 posts
    💡
    Post
    Not all visuals are created equal
    Every visual is a tradeoff between speed and substance. Here's which type to focus on if you want to attract client conversations.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Your POV, but make it visual
    Once you have a signature POV, the next move is making it visual. Here's how to start thinking about that translation.
    →
    💡
    Post
    A client's 'headshot': a simple curve
    A real-world example from a former executive client — how a single curve made "black magic" SEO feel predictable and repeatable.
    →
    05
    Building an Audience
    Writing daily. Guesting on podcasts. Getting known on LinkedIn. The long game of putting your ideas out consistently — and why it's the highest-leverage thing you can do.
    56 posts
    💡
    Post
    Nothing beats writing
    AI can help you get started, but there's still no substitute for the act of writing to sharpen and shape your expertise into IP.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Notes on podcast guesting
    One of the highest-leverage visibility moves available to soloists — how to get invited, how to prepare, and how to make it count.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Elusive pop tarts
    The one-woman bakery that built a line out the door by being hard to get. What scarcity and a passionate niche mean for your content strategy.
    →
    06
    Attracting Ideal Clients
    Referrals, warm intros, outreach, discovery calls. The practical mechanics of turning visibility into conversations — with the right people.
    21 posts
    💡
    Post
    You've gotta talk to strangers
    The uncomfortable truth about what actually fills a consulting pipeline — and how to make reaching out feel a lot less awkward.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Molasses in your pipeline
    When your service solves a non-urgent problem, everything slows to a crawl. Here's how urgency changes the whole equation.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Seek out the ticking clock
    What if you could filter your leads down to only those experiencing the same urgency trigger? Here's how to reverse-engineer that.
    →
    07
    Pricing My Work
    Stop thinking in hours. Start thinking in outcomes. How to frame your value, set your rates with confidence, and stop leaving money on the table.
    45 posts
    💡
    Post
    The arbitrary denominator
    Your clients don't run hourly businesses. So why are you pricing yourself in hours? Frame your rate as a fraction of what they're actually after.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Grocery store sushi
    What happens to perceived value when you compete on price. It's a race you really don't want to win.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Rethinking your pricing next year
    Still pricing by inputs and deliverables? A fresh example of what moving to outcome-based pricing actually looks like in practice.
    →
    08
    Delivering Strong Client Work
    Once you're in the room, what does great look like? On expert diagnosis, emotional guidance, and turning your IP into real client value.
    10 posts
    💡
    Post
    Turning your x-ray lens into a client triage
    Your doctor assessed a dozen things without you noticing. Great consultants do the same — here's how to develop that expert diagnostic eye.
    →
    💡
    Post
    Anyone can sell a painkiller
    Painkillers treat symptoms. Vitamins educate. But the best consultants do what a dentist does — they fill the cavity.
    →
    💡
    Post
    You're their emotional guide too
    Great consulting isn't just the deliverable. Your clients need you to hold the calm, objective tone they can't find anywhere else.
    →
    09
    Niche Case Studies
    The best proof that niching works isn't theory — it's watching it play out in the wild. A growing collection of real businesses that went narrow and won big.
    11 posts
    💡
    Very Niche
    Very Niche: Kid-free cruising
    A cruise line that said no to families — and built a fiercely loyal audience by drawing a hard line.
    →
    💡
    Very Niche
    Very Niche: Expert witnesses
    The ultimate specialist — a consultant whose entire value is being the most credible voice in the room.
    →
    💡
    Very Niche
    Very Niche: Allegiant Air
    How an airline built a profitable business by only flying routes nobody else wanted to touch.
    →
    10
    Tools & Resources
    Curated reads, listens, watches, and tools for solo consultants. The good stuff, filtered by someone who's been in the trenches.
    27 posts
    💡
    Recap
    12 Lightbulbs of Christmas [2025 Recap]
    The twelve most-loved posts of the year in one place. If you're new, this is the fastest way to get up to speed.
    →
    💡
    Tool
    TOOL: Map your service evolution
    A simple exercise — inspired by mapping three years of solo pivots — to see where your practice has been and where it could go.
    →
    💡
    Resource Roundup
    RESOURCE: 30+ talks for solos
    Every session from Solo Summit — free, on-demand, and covering everything from referrals to AI to setting up your finances.
    →

    Ready to join?

    One minute a day. Over 500 issues deep. Free, always.

    Subscribe to
    The Lightbulb

    A daily email about monetizing and visualizing your expertise as a solo consultant.

    Give me ~1 minute a day, and I'll help you turn what you know into your most differentiated and lucrative asset.

      No spam, ever. Unsubscribe anytime with one click.