■YOUR SOLO BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM FOR AN UNCOMMON LIFE

Build Your Plan A, Not Plan B.

We help ambitious people build a profitable solo business so that they can work independently and live anywhere.

■THE PREMISE

The default system puts your freedom last.

Stay in one place. Get a good job. Trade your best years for a salary and a schedule someone else sets. Then, at 67, collect the freedom you were promised.

By then, plenty of people are not well enough to spend it. If we want to thrive, we have to build our own.

But building badly is expensive. That is the whole reason this exists: pick something worth building, and get the right guidance to build it to actually work.

17 to 24

days of paid vacation a year, after 20 years with the same employer. In your first year, it is 10 to 14 days.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2024

1 in 3

new businesses are gone by year 2. 

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics

The way out

Make a solo expertise business your first step out of the 9 to 5.

You sell what you already know to the clients who need it, with no staff, no investors and very little money to start.

■One path, every stage

Every stage of your solo business journey, we got it covered.

From your first idea to a business that keeps growing, we have a way to help at every stage, with a coach or at your own pace.

■WHAT MOST PROGRAMS SKIP

Most business programs ask “What’s your great idea?” We start with “We’ll help you find one.”

Most business programs assume you walk in with an idea, then sell you the build. We start with the choice, because the idea you pick shapes everything you build after it.

A
PATH A

You already have an idea.

We test it for a niche with buyers already spending, few competitors and a low barrier to entry. Then we check it against your proof and your network, and cut what does not fit.

B
PATH B

You have no idea yet.

We dig it out of what you already own: your career history, the problems you have been paid to solve again and again, and the network you can reach.

WHERE BOTH PATHS END

We help you find the winning idea that works and execute it.

Whichever path you start on, you build on a choice you have checked against real buyers, your proof and your network.

1
■LAUNCH PROGRAM

Launch a profitable solo expertise business in 8 weeks, built with you.

An application-only launch program for professionals with real expertise. Most founders in it are still in a 9 to 5, and it works the same way if you were laid off or you freelance. You come with an idea or with none. You leave with one direction, chosen over the others, with reasons.

$3,800

Rolling start, so you begin when you are ready.

YOU FINISH WITH
01

One validated direction, chosen over the others

02

A clear number and a date to plan your move against

03

A defined offer and a price

04

A way to be found and contacted

05

A distribution plan you can run alone

06

A documented count of real buyer conversations

We do not promise you a customer by week 8. That is not ours to give. We promise that your solo business will be fully functional and ready to welcome customers.

2
■UNCOMMON TOOLKITS

Tried-and-true solo business frameworks, done for you.

$199 each

Or $849 for the complete set.

6 systems for the 6 things every solo business has to get right. Built from what already worked twice, written so you set yours up correctly the first time instead of rebuilding it in year 2.

Each one is an operating document you keep open while you work.

01

How to Build an Expertise Business Model

Turn what you already know how to do into something a market will pay for repeatedly.

02

How to Identify and Dominate an Untapped Niche

Find a market with buyers already spending and few competitors serving it.

03

How to Market Your Solo Business Without Ads

Organic distribution when you have no budget, no agency and no team.

04

Create Social Media Content That Sells for Solo Founders

Turn what you know into posts that bring in clients.

05

How to Close Sales Without Sales Experience as a Solo Founder

Close a deal in conversation without becoming someone you are not.

06

How to Maximize Your Runway as a First-Time Solo Founder

Run lean so your business can sustain itself while it grows.

3
■UNCOMMON MENTORSHIP

Grow your solo expertise business with mentors who already run their own.

Uncommon Mentorship gives you 1:1 mentoring from founders who run profitable solo businesses. You meet 2 or 4 times a month, message between sessions, and work from the same method as Plan A.

Members also get first booking for every Uncommon event.

$199 or $399 a month
A working session on a laptop
4
■UNCOMMON EVENTS

Thrive in your uncommon life meeting solo founders at your stage, in person.

Uncommon Events bring solo founders together in person, from an evening story night in your city to an annual conference and small themed retreats. The first dates are still being set, so you can look at each format now and choose the ones you want to hear about.

Solo business founders talking at an in person gathering
Stella Guan, host of The Shortlist workshop on how to choose a business idea
■FOUNDER STORY

Stella Guan

I came to the United States on a student visa and made it through the H-1B lottery. Then I was laid off, and the visa gave me 60 days to find another employer or leave the country. I did 40 interviews in 6 weeks and signed in the final week.

After that I made myself a promise: no employer would ever again hold the outcome of my life in their hands. So I self-petitioned my own EB-1A green card, with no one sponsoring me, and built 2 profitable solo businesses without raising a dollar.

What got me through was knowing exactly how many months of runway I had, refusing to move the deadline, and doing the unglamorous work while nothing was working yet.

I have run both businesses from more than 40 countries, and that is the part I care about most. Working from anywhere becomes possible once you own your income, so owning your income is where you start.

■FREE LIVE TRAINING, ONCE A MONTH

The Shortlist: find the solo business idea that actually works.

You bring your career history. You leave with 3 candidate directions of your own and the 4 tests that cut them down to one.

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
A laptop on a desk showing a video call with a grid of participants, next to a green houseplant
■FREE TOOLS

Start planning your solo business for free.

1

The Solo Founder Roadmap

Whether you’ve just been laid off, are currently employed with a 9-to-5 job, or have been freelancing but want to stop trading time for money, answer a few questions and get a roadmap for making that transition, built for where you actually are.

2

The Solo Business Idea Worksheet

A template that helps you fill in the skills people have already been paying you or your employer for, then guides you step by step through how to turn that into a business idea.

Ask us anything.

Questions about the toolkits, Plan A, mentorship, or whether any of this fits where you are right now. Send it here and a real person answers, usually within a day.

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