Issue #28 - Finding Your Unfair Advantage

October 15, 2025

Hey Starterpreneur,

Every successful entrepreneur has an unfair advantage. Most just don't realize what theirs is.

Maybe it's the 15 years you spent in corporate finance that taught you to spot bad investments from a mile away. Maybe it's growing up bilingual in a world going global. Or maybe it's that weird combination of being a former teacher who understands psychology and loves technology.

Your unfair advantage isn't just what makes you different—it's what makes you irreplaceable.

Here's what's inside this issue — and a sneak peek at what's coming next week: We're exploring how to identify and weaponize your unique strengths, a tool for mapping your advantage landscape, and why next week's "The 30-Day Revenue Challenge" will help you turn any advantage into income...

The Unfair Advantage Audit (What Makes You Irreplaceable?)

David was a struggling web developer for three years. Decent skills, fair prices, but nothing special. Then he remembered something: he'd spent five years working in medical offices before learning to code.

That's when it clicked.

Instead of competing with thousands of web developers, David became "the developer who understands healthcare." He spoke HIPAA, understood patient workflows, and knew the pain points doctors faced with their current websites.

Within six months, he was booked solid at 3x his previous rates.

The 4 Types of Unfair Advantages:

1. Experience Advantage

  • Industry knowledge others don't have

  • Skills from previous careers that transfer unexpectedly

  • Life experiences that give you unique perspective

2. Network Advantage

  • Relationships in specific industries or communities

  • Access to decision-makers others can't reach

  • Cultural or linguistic connections

3. Resource Advantage

  • Time, money, or tools others don't have access to

  • Geographic location benefits

  • Existing audience or platform

4. Insight Advantage

  • Unique way of seeing problems or solutions

  • Combination of skills that's rare

  • Pattern recognition from diverse experiences

The Unfair Advantage Audit Questions:

Experience: What have you done that most people in your field haven't? Network: What communities or industries do you have unusual access to? Resources: What do you have more of (or less of) than your competitors? Insights: What do you see that others miss?

David's unfair advantage breakdown:

  • Experience: Healthcare operations + web development

  • Network: Relationships with medical practice managers

  • Insight: Understanding both the technical and regulatory sides

  • Result: $150K annually in a "crowded" market

The multiplication effect: Your unfair advantage isn't just one thing—it's how multiple advantages combine. David wasn't the best developer OR the best healthcare expert, but he was the only one who was both.

Weekly Spark

💡 Business Startup Idea Of The Week: "Industry-Specific AI Training" Use your industry expertise to train AI tools for specific professions. A former lawyer could create legal document AI, an ex-teacher could build lesson plan generators. Your domain knowledge + AI = unfair advantage.

🛠️ Tool Of The Week: Miro Create visual maps of your skills, experiences, and connections. Perfect for conducting your unfair advantage audit and seeing how different advantages might combine into business opportunities.

📚 Book Of The Week: "The Unfair Advantage" by Ash Ali & Hasan Kubba The definitive guide to identifying and leveraging what makes you unique in business. Essential reading for anyone looking to stop competing and start dominating their niche.

🧠 Mindset Hack Of The Week: "Your Weird is Your Wealth" Stop trying to fit in. Your strangest combination of experiences, interests, and skills is exactly what will make you irreplaceable. Embrace the intersection.

Weekly Build Challenge

This Week's Mission: Map Your Unfair Advantage

Your advantage-discovery challenge:

Day 1-2: Experience Inventory

  • List every job, role, or significant experience you've had

  • Include hobbies, volunteer work, and life experiences

  • Ask: "What did I learn that others in my field probably haven't?"

Day 3-4: Network Analysis

  • Map out communities, industries, or groups you have access to

  • Include professional networks, cultural connections, geographic advantages

  • Ask: "Who can I reach that my competitors can't?"

Day 5-6: Resource & Skill Assessment

  • Identify unique tools, platforms, or resources you have access to

  • List skill combinations that are rare in your field

  • Ask: "What can I do that requires this exact combination of abilities?"

Day 7: Advantage Integration

  • Look for overlaps and combinations across all three areas

  • Identify 3 potential business opportunities that leverage multiple advantages

  • Pick one to explore further next week

Document everything. The goal is to see patterns and connections you've never noticed before.

Creators Corner: What's Next?

Next week, we're launching "The 30-Day Revenue Challenge" - how to turn any unfair advantage into your first $1,000 (or next $1,000) within 30 days.

I'll share:

  • The rapid monetization framework that works for any advantage

  • Case studies of people who went from insight to income in under a month

  • Daily action steps to turn your unique value into real revenue

Plus, I'm documenting my own 30-day experiment: monetizing my background in behavioral psychology + entrepreneurship to create a new income stream. You'll see every step, success, and failure in real-time.

Your Next Step

Your unfair advantage is already there—you just need to recognize it and activate it.

Stop trying to compete on the same playing field as everyone else. Find the game where you have advantages others don't, then play that game relentlessly.

What unfair advantage did you discover this week? Hit reply and share your biggest insight from the audit. I read every response and love seeing what unique combinations of experience and skills you all bring to your businesses.

Until next week, leverage your weird, embrace your advantages, and build something only you can build.

Your entrepreneurial ally,

Basat

P.S. The most successful entrepreneurs don't have the best advantages—they have the clearest understanding of what their advantages are and how to use them. Clarity beats capability every time.

The Starterpreneur - Helping ambitious creators build profitable businesses, one unfair advantage at a time.