100 issues, one final note
On shaping ideas, building visibility, and working solo
Most newsletters aim to grow forever. This one was built to end.
This is Issue #100, the final edition of Solo Field Notes.
This newsletter started as an experiment. It was a place to slow down, pay closer attention, and test ideas about visual communication and how solo work actually functions beneath the surface.
Solo Field Notes was never meant to be a feed. It was a lab, a space for creative investigation.
What this work was really about
At its core, this newsletter explored a few recurring questions:
How do ideas take shape over time?
What helps clarity compound instead of fragment?
How do we build visibility, credibility, and authority without forcing creativity or burning out?
A central thread throughout was the development of simple visual frameworks, not as decoration, but as a way of thinking. Shapes, structures, and models became tools for translating fuzzy ideas into something easier to see, explain, and communicate.
Across these 100 issues, we explored how design can support consistency, how systems can make showing up easier, and how paying close attention changes the quality of our work.
Thank you, for how you showed up
This newsletter only worked because it was not one-way.
Your replies, notes, and readership shaped what this became. Whether you replied or simply read along, I knew you were there. The shared thinking mattered more than clicks or metrics ever could.
About the archive
This body of work will remain available as a curated collection, a set of Solo Field Notes issues chosen to reflect the core ideas explored here.
The goal is not completeness. It is usefulness.
Think of it less as a newsletter archive and more as a reference you can return to when something feels unclear, overcomplicated, or ready for redesign.
Solo Field Notes now exists as a finished body of thought. Consider it shaped, intentional, and available when you need it.
What’s next
As I bring Solo Field Notes to a close, I want to share where my attention is turning next.
This new project brings together long-running threads in my work: innovation, entrepreneurship, and business history.
I am working on a historical fiction project centered on the Lunar Society, an informal network of thinkers and inventors in Birmingham, England during the Industrial Revolution.
At the heart of the story is a fictional young girl inventor living among real historical figures who were, in their time, the most ambitious innovators of their era.
On February 10th, I’m launching a new Substack newsletter to explore this work as it unfolds, filled with research notes, storytelling, and reflections on how ideas take shape over time.
If you have been drawn to the deeper, slower threads of Solo Field Notes, you may enjoy it.
👉 Learn more and subscribe here:
Terri Lonier’s Lunar Society Letter
What’s changing and what’s not
What’s changing:
Solo Field Notes will no longer arrive weekly.
What’s not changing:
• The curated Solo Field Notes collection will remain available
• The Solo Business School resources continue to be active
• The weekly sessions of Women Solopreneurs Coworking will continue each Tuesday
The form is changing. The foundation is not.
A few creator tools I rely on
As a close, I wanted to address one of the most common questions I get asked:
What tools do I use in my work as a solopreneur?
Here’s a list of my favorite digital tools I use and trust:
Tella for video creation (a great UI, with continual free feature upgrades)
Ecamm Live for virtual camera and presentations (level up your virtual presence)
Wispr Flow for dictation (works across all apps)
Carrd for creating one-page sites and landing pages (test ideas easily and inexpensively)
Teachery as a platform to sell courses and digital products (say goodbye to monthly subscriptions)
These are tools I return to over time, because they hold up and the companies behind them work hard to deliver value.
One last note
From time to time, I step back into focused work, pulling together a short course, a mini book, or a set of visual frameworks when an idea is ready to be shaped more fully.
The Solo Business School remains the home for that kind of work.
Solo Field Notes is complete.
Thank you for walking this stretch of the journey with me.
Until our paths cross next: Stay small. Play big.
Terri
Congrats on a wrap and looking forward to your new project!
This historical fiction sounds just as exciting as all the other learning i have benefited from at your feet, Terri.
Thank you for creating this awesome reference tool. I know I come back to previous issues often, seeking frameworks to show some vague idea I have.