We help ambitious people build a profitable solo business on their lunch breaks so that they can work independently and live anywhere.
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.
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
new businesses are gone by year 2.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics
You sell what you already know to the clients who need it, with no staff, no investors and very little money to start. In the age of AI, this is easier than you think.
See how it worksFrom 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Whichever path you start on, you build on a choice you have checked against real buyers, your proof and your network.
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 business idea that actually works, a system completely set up for it, and momentum to acquire customers. We do not promise you a customer by week 8, but we promise that your solo business will be fully functional and ready to welcome customers.
One validated direction for a profitable solo business
A strong offer defined and priced correctly
A product ladder that solves real problems for customer’s pain points
Technology, marketing, and sales system effectively set up
A sustainable, lean solo business system you can run efficiently
Documented customer conversations and synthesized insights
Rolling start, so you begin when you are ready.
Or $849 for the complete set.
Tried-and-true systems for things every solo business has to get right. Built from what already worked for successful solo business owners so that you can set yours up correctly the first time instead of rebuilding it in Year 2.
Each toolkit is an operating system that works on its own, and better as a set for solo founders who want to build their business right, in every aspect.
Turn what you already know how to do into something a market will pay for repeatedly.
Find a market with buyers already spending and few competitors serving it.
Organic distribution when you have no budget, no agency and no team.
Turn what you know into posts that bring in clients.
Close a deal in conversation without becoming someone you are not.
Run lean so your business can sustain itself while it grows.
Uncommon Mentorship is for solo founders who have launched their businesses and want consistent, ongoing mentorship to scale their businesses. You get 1:1 mentoring from founders who already run their own profitable solo businesses, meet 2 or 4 times a month, message between sessions, and work from the same method as Plan A, our launch program.
Members also get first booking for every Uncommon event.
Uncommon Events brings solo founders together in person, from an evening story night in your city to an annual conference and small themed retreats around the world.
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.
Follow Stella
Her strategic insights and practical feedback were both precise and impactful.
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 tests that cut them down to one.
Save your seat.
Free, no card needed. We email you your link to the training room before the session.
Not sure which step comes first? Answer 5 quick questions about where you are, and get the next step that fits, from free training to 1:1 coaching.
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.
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.
Get 1 short lesson and 1 task a day by email. Finish all 5 and earn 10% off Plan A, our launch program, or the complete toolkit set, your pick.
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, usually within a day.
Tap a question for a quick answer.
A real person replies, usually within a day.
