We help you build a profitable solo business on your lunch breaks, so you can work for yourself and live anywhere.
The default system trades your best years for a salary and hands your freedom back at 67, if you are still healthy enough to use it. You can take it back much sooner. Pick a business worth building, build it in your downtime, and get the guidance that makes it work.
of paid vacation, on average, after 20 years with the same employer.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026
is when you can collect full Social Security retirement benefits.
US Social Security Administration
You turn your skills into a business that helps people solve real problems, with no staff, no investors and very little money to start. Then you decide what you earn, when you work, who you answer to and where you live.
Below are our programs and tools, from an 8-week launch program built with a mentor to short workbooks you finish on your lunch breaks.
For professionals with real expertise, in a 9-to-5 or not. Come with 0, 1 or several ideas. Leave with a business ready for customers.
Not ready to apply? Start with our free training →
A complete system designed for solo founders that takes the guesswork out of your entrepreneurial journey so you can set yours up right the first time.
Not sure yet? Preview all 6 toolkits for free →
Short workbooks that help you build the foundation of your solo business quickly, in 30-minute lunch breaks.
From $37 each. Free with the complete set →
1:1 mentoring from founders who run profitable solo businesses, using the same method as Plan A, our launch program.
3 ways to meet founders who are building what you are building, all in person.
From your first idea to a business that keeps growing, we have a way to help at every stage, with a mentor or at your own pace.
Know when you can afford to leave.
Answer 5 quick questions and get your next step.
Plan a successful move out of your 9 to 5.
Find the idea your expertise supports best.
Find the skill to build on, in 7 lunch breaks.
Start an idea from the expertise you already have.
Narrow them to 1 direction in a free 60-minute training.
Build your offer in 5 days with a free email challenge.
Test it with 5 buyers in 7 lunch breaks.
Choose how much guidance you want.
8 weeks and 16 hours of live 1:1 coaching.
Build faster with a proven framework for every step.
Make a brand you can use everywhere, in 9 lunch breaks.
Get a second opinion on the big decisions.
For founders who have launched and want consistent, ongoing help growing their business.
Meet founders at your stage in person.
Salons, Summit and Retreats with founders like you.
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. Bring an idea and we test it against real buyers, your proof and your network. Bring none and we dig it out of the work you have already been paid to do.
Build with a mentor in Plan A, do it yourself with the Uncommon Toolkits, keep growing with Uncommon Mentorship and meet founders at your stage at Uncommon Events. Start with what fits your budget and your schedule, and add more help when you need it.
Accelerators are built for startups that want to grow very large, and most of them invest money in exchange for a share of your company. A solo expertise business runs on your skills, so you need no investors, no staff and very little money to start. You keep 100% of it, set your own hours and run it from anywhere, even while you are still employed.
What you want
Venture accelerators
Free startup programs
This Uncommon Life
Complete control of your business
✕Most take a share of your company
✓No share taken
✓You keep 100%
No barrier to entry
✕About 1% get into the best known
✓Open to anyone
✓No team, product or track record needed
Work from anywhere
✕Mostly in person, often in San Francisco
✓Online
✓From anywhere, even while employed
Hands-on 1:1 guidance
½Partners shared across a large batch
✕Self-paced videos or email
✓16 hours in Plan A, just you and your mentor
Built for expertise businesses
✕Built for venture-scale startups
✕Built for startups
✓Consulting, fractional, coaching, courses
At 18, I moved from China, on a full scholarship, to the US with 3 suitcases, on my own. By my mid 20s, I was making over 6 figures at a Fortune 500 company in New York City and owned a home. I was winning in life, or so it seemed.
Deep down, I wanted to build my own dream, not someone else’s. So I self-petitioned my EB-1A green card, planned my business on my lunch breaks, and within months quit to start a profitable-from-Day-1 education tech company as a first-time solo founder. Today, I run several solo expertise businesses while traveling the world.
This Uncommon Life is how I help you start yours: build your Plan A on your lunch breaks, so you never have to ask anyone’s permission to take a vacation again.
Follow Stella
My session with Stella was exceptionally informative and truly inspiring. She offered plenty of go-to-market strategies and tactics.
Highly recommend if you’re looking for a no-bullshit, warm, and all-in mentor for your startup.
Working with Stella Guan was eye-opening for our up-skilling platform.
You bring your career history. You leave with 3 candidate directions of your own and the 4 filters that cut them down to 1.
Your strongest directions are already inside the work you have done. We help you find them.
Find out whether your favorite holds up, and exactly why if it does not.
Leave with the direction most likely to work for you and what still has to be true.
No card neededReplay within 48 hours
Employed, laid off or freelancing, get a roadmap for making the move from where you are now.
List the skills companies already hired you for, then turn them into a business idea, step by step.
Work through 1 short lesson and 1 task a day. Finish all 5 and earn 10% off Plan A, our launch program, or the complete toolkit set, your pick.
Get inspired by the world’s coolest solo businesses, one story at a time, in your inbox.
Answer 5 quick questions about where you are and get the next step that fits.
Answer 5 quick questions about where you are, and get the next step that fits, from free training to 1:1 coaching.
You just read about one piece of leaving. The Solo Founder Roadmap lays out the whole first year in order, built around whether you were laid off, are still employed, or already freelance. There are 6 questions, and it costs nothing.
Get a quick answer below, or message our team and a real person replies within 2 business days.
Tap a question for a quick answer.
A real person replies within 2 business days.
