Good morning, friends!

If you’ve ever put a creation out into the world, you’re familiar with the excitement and the terror that comes with it. I’m in this weird place of limbo right now because I’m totally finished with my first book, HIDDEN GENIUS, but I still have several months until publication. (Read more about the book-writing process here.)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s an exciting time! I have testimonials from fellow writers James Clear and Morgan Housel, and it’s probably the most surreal feeling on the planet. If you had told me five years ago that James and Morgan would like my book, I would’ve cried and then died. But here we are! Check out the updated cover with James’s testimonial at the bottom:

That’s the exciting part. The terrifying part is that what if I publish the book and then there’s … crickets? Well, I recently saw this tweet from fellow debut author Chelsea Banning, who had this very fear become her reality. She tweeted:

Chelsea Banning Author @chelseabwrites

Only 2 people came to my author signing yesterday, so I was pretty bummed about it. Especially as 37 people responded "going" to the event. Kind of upset, honestly, and a little embarrassed.

1:35 PM ∙ Dec 4, 2022

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80,314Likes3,452Retweets

And then magic happened. A number of the world’s most successful authors, including Neil Gaiman, Jodi Picoult, Cheryl Strayed, and Margaret Atwood, shared similar stories.

Gaiman said, “Terry Pratchett and I did a signing in Manhattan for 'Good Omens' that nobody came to at all. So you are two up on us."

Picoult remembered: “I have sat lonely at a signing table many times only to have someone approach…and ask me where the bathroom is.”

Strayed empathized: “I'm sorry that happened to you, Chelsea. I know how awful it feels, as it has happened to me too. Almost every author I know has had this experience at some point in their career. It isn't a reflection of you or your work!”

Atwood reminded her that it’s a rite of passage: “Join the club. I did a signing to which Nobody came, except a guy who wanted to buy some Scotch tape and thought I was the help. :)”

It’s a good reminder that the creative process can be lonely, and you’re not guaranteed applause at the end.

What helps is to reconsider your definition of success. Here’s mine: If even one person’s life improves as a result of this book, I will have succeeded. So I want to thank you, the person reading these words right now, for supporting me all these years. If you want a copy of HIDDEN GENIUS, you can pre-order below:

Pre-Order Hidden Genius Here

THE PROFILE DOSSIER: On Wednesday, premium members received The Profile Dossier, a comprehensive deep-dive on a prominent individual. It featured Laird Hamilton, the big-wave surfing legend. Become a premium member, and read it below.

The Profile

The Profile Dossier: Laird Hamilton, the Big-Wave Surfing Legend

You can’t talk about big-wave surfing without mentioning Laird Hamilton. Hamilton is considered one of the greatest surfers of all time, but he’s also something of a surfing outcast. He never went pro partly because he sees surfing as an art that can’t be “judged” with scores and partly because he hates losing. Like…

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4 days ago · 7 likes · 4 comments · Polina Pompliano

PROFILES.

— The entrepreneur building a digital vault [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— New York’s cannabis czar
— MI6’s top female spies
— TikTok’s problem child
— The director behind ‘Harry and Meghan'
— The app transforming the music industry

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The entrepreneur building a digital vault: Tony Fadell once led the team at Apple that created the iPod, and he also co-founded Nest and created its smart thermostat, which Google then acquired. Now, he’s got a new project on deck: Fadell is trying to build the iPod of cryptocurrency. Ledger Stax is a hardware wallet that acts as a physical lock for digital secrets. When you own cryptocurrency, your balance is protected solely by a private key that can be devilishly hard to keep safe. Ledger’s wallets act as tiny vaults. Fadell believes he will redirect the crypto field, just as he helped kick off digital music and the smart home. (WIRED; reply to this email if you can’t access the article).

“We know this technology will matter in the future, because a lot of humanity, if not all of humanity, will own digital items.”

New York’s cannabis czar: The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) is New York’s regulatory body created in September 2021 to usher in the era of legalized recreational weed in the state. Chris Alexander is the bill’s architect and the executive director of OCM. Here’s how he’s building New York’s budding market from scratch. (New York Magazine)

“In the war on drugs, obviously weed won.”

MI6’s top female spies: Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service — also known as MI6 — has four directors-general. And for the first time in history, three of them are women. They work in the most important and rapidly evolving areas of spycraft. This is the first time that female SIS officers have ever spoken on the record, and it makes for a fascinating profile. (The Financial Times)

“There’s a paradox at the heart of this job, because we’re deeply ethical, but we also have to tell lies.”

TikTok’s problem child: Young creators like Roselie Arritola (who goes by Jenny Popach) are posting suggestively sexual content, often with parental approval. Arritola is one of TikTok’s most controversial teen stars, with 7 million followers. Her popularity stems in part from hypersexual posts—what she describes as “shock-value content”—in which she twerks in string bikinis, body rolls in hot pants, or drops innuendo in captions (“When men can go to jail for being with you”). TikTok wants popular creators like Arritola on its platform, but she’s posting content so risqué that the trust and safety team doesn’t seem to know what to do with her. (Bloomberg; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

“If parents aren’t going to protect their own children, society has to step up and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ ”

The director behind ‘Harry and Meghan:' Encouraged by friends to document their dramatic decision to “step back” as senior members of the British royal family and assert their financial independence, Harry and Meghan shot more than 15 hours of personal video in the early months of 2020 as they completed their plans to exit Buckingham Palace for good. Then they shared it all with documentarian Liz Garbus and her husband, the producer Dan Cogan. (One thing this article doesn’t address is that Netflix paid north of $100 million for this documentary). (The New York Times)

“It’s very personal and raw and powerful, and it made me appreciate the incredible weight that went into their decision.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The app transforming the music industry: Social media app TikTok is reportedly on track to make nearly $10 billion in revenue this year, mostly by selling ads against what is essentially free programming. That’s because the genius of TikTok’s business model is that the entertainment is almost entirely composed of user-generated videos, which cost a tiny fraction of the $17 billion dollars that Netflix, for example, spent on professional content in 2021. The app is transforming the music industry. Is that a good thing? (The New Yorker)

“The leverage she gained through TikTok has allowed us to keep her masters as well as her publishing.”

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. For access to an additional section of weekly audio + video recommendations, become a premium member below. ✨

✨ Pre-order my new book, HIDDEN GENIUS below: