A lot of content you breeze past. Some stops your scroll. But every so often, a visual comes along that doesn’t just explain an idea, it locks it in your brain. Kyle Adams’ Warm Growth matrix is one of those rare visuals. In a single 2x2 chart, it captures his philosophy of “Warm Growth,” a mindset that favors resonance over reach, and connection over clout, when building an audience. It doesn’t just tell you what Kyle believes, it shows you. This is what makes it a signature framework: a...
9 days ago • 3 min read
Hey, Reader — It was 32 years ago this past week when I walked into a bookstore and saw Working Solo on the shelf for the first time. I can still picture the cover and the quiet thrill of holding a physical idea that had lived in my head for years. For a LinkedIn post, I snapped this photo with two cupcakes to celebrate 32 years. At the time, I thought I was writing a book. What I didn’t know was that I was launching an idea that would ripple far beyond me. Back then, self-employment was seen...
16 days ago • 3 min read
We often think visibility means doing more: more posts, more projects, more ways to show what we can do. But I believe real visibility comes from selectivity. When I taught portfolio prep to art students, this lesson surfaced every semester. They’d bring in thirty images of their work, eager to show everything they’d made. But halfway through, their strongest pieces were lost in the clutter. They needed to understand this key principle:Your portfolio is judged by its weakest component. So...
23 days ago • 2 min read
Back in art school, sculptor William Daley gave a talk about his work. Someone asked where he got his ideas. He dropped a line I still think about: “Originality is in direct proportion to the obscurity of your sources.” Some of us chuckled. We knew his sculptures were inspired by symbols and shapes created thousands of years ago: simple, elegant, and geometric. (We also knew his humor.) By the time those ancient influences moved through Daley’s hands, the work had become unmistakably his own....
30 days ago • 3 min read
I’ve been thinking lately about how we return to things.Not out of nostalgia, but because the timing is finally right. For example, I’ve recently returned to studying French. Not due to a big life change, but because I was ready to circle back. I started in 4th grade, continued through high school, and a year in college. Then it went dormant. Years later, there was a burst of intense study, and I even spent a month in France learning and living with a French family. But life moved on, and the...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Sometimes the biggest breakthrough in your work comes from who stands next to you. We’ve been watching a string of Robert Redford movies at our house this past week, kind of a tribute marathon after hearing about his passing. One thing I didn’t know: he almost didn’t get the role that made him famous. When Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was being cast, the studio had other names in mind: Jack Lemmon, then Steve McQueen. Even after those fell through, they thought Redford was too...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Welcome to the second issue of SOLO Field Notes. Each week I’m sharing a quick story and examples that spark ideas for standing out as a solopreneur.Today, it’s a story from my fridge. Humor and delight go a long way in standing out. Here’s a recent favorite find: the bottom of a tub of Ithaca Hummus. Just as you’re finishing the last bite, you see this line: “If you’re licking this clean, another tub must be in your future.” Now, to be fair, I wasn’t exactly licking the container. 🙂 But I...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey, Reader — One of my favorite parts of this summer was wandering through Muir Woods in Northern California, among those ancient redwoods. Have you been? Here’s a photo I snapped. Yes, that tiny figure in the lower R corner is a grown woman — these trees are enormous. The park map had two kinds of trails: solid lines and dotted lines. The solid ones were official and well-marked. (I made it to Bridge #4.) The dotted ones? Unpaved paths you could follow, but at your own risk. It struck me...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
What Comes After the Shapes? Over the past 12 weeks, we’ve explored the power of visual frameworks together. From circles, triangles, and squares to paths and networks, we’ve seen how simple shapes can explain, clarify, and inspire. This series was never about design tricks. A well-drawn framework can do more for your product or service than a dozen paragraphs of text. It helps your audience understand quickly, remember clearly, and see themselves inside your story. That’s persuasion at its...
2 months ago • 2 min read