Case Lab
For every "$10k/month" screenshot there's a course being sold. Case Lab does the opposite: we find a real solo-income play, check the evidence, and break down how it actually works — the niche, the system, the tool stack, and the honest gross-vs-net most headlines skip.
Two kinds of case live here: ones we find and verify, and first-hand ones of our own — my real projects, my numbers, my mistakes and pivots, told post-factum. Anything not yet finished, we don't promise; we report what actually happened. Analysis, not advice.
A real, documented case: a Finnish host auto-charged against its own invoices and sent penalty reminders before the due date. How I used AI to research it across two languages and get every charge cancelled — in about half an hour.
Justin Welsh published a $10M cumulative journey from a one-person creator business — newsletter, courses and community at ~89% margin. We break down the case: the audience-to-product engine, the honest 'solo (with an asterisk)' truth, and why cumulative revenue isn't an annual salary.
A first-hand build report: I made a donation-tools app that reached 1,000+ users worldwide and thousands of daily visits with no backlinks and no marketing — and sold zero premium. The audience mismatch that caused it, and the rebuild into a free, affiliate-monetised aggregator.
A first-hand build report: I built the whole technical engine for a niche sports e-commerce store — a custom CRM, inventory, accounting and auto-invoicing — and made it sell on autopilot through SEO and a moat of free utility content, with no advertising spend.
A first-hand build report: I built a free invoice-creation tool with a premium tier, and it converted ~4% of users to paid in its first month. What 4% actually means for a freemium micro-SaaS, and why building fast then refining on live clients beat planning it perfectly.
A first-hand build report: after years doing affiliate marketing in one regulated financial niche, I added a classifieds marketplace on top — where people pay a small fee (€1.5–4.5) to list. The result is daily paid postings and a second, passive income stream from the same audience.
Marc Lou published a $1,032,000 solo year across a portfolio of small digital products — and, unusually, also reported that it was ~20% down on the year before. We break down the case: what he actually sells, how build-in-public is the engine, and the honest gross-vs-net most $1M headlines hide.
A one-person Etsy print-on-demand shop has done ~$168.8k in lifetime sales since Oct 2022 (~$135k in 2024 alone), with detailed monthly income reports showing ~45% margins. We break down the case: the niche, the no-inventory model, the brutal Q4 seasonality, the tool stack, and the EU VAT trap most POD sellers walk straight into.
An operator built a 180-article content blog on Pinterest traffic, monetised it with display ads, then sold it for $13,000 — ~$25,500 total return over ~1.5 years. We break down the case: the niche, the build-and-flip model, the honest small-numbers read, and the tool stack.
Rob Percival, a Cambridge maths grad and ex-teacher, made one sale in his course's first 24 hours and went on to 2M+ students and reported revenue from >$2M to >$5M. We break down the case: the niche, the income model, the honest gross-vs-net, and why it quietly became a small team riding 2014 timing.
Senja.io hit $1M ARR (~$83k MRR, 3,000+ customers) with no funding and no employees rush — built in public over nearly four years. We break down the case: the niche, the build-in-public growth engine, the timeline, and the honest lesson it holds for solo builders.
A 22-year-old runs five faceless AI YouTube channels generating roughly $40-60k/month — verified by Fortune from AdSense records. We break down the case: how it actually works, the tool stack, the honest gross-vs-net, and why most who copy it earn nothing.
Not sure which kind of solo you are? Find your path, or start with the guide to building a one-person business.