Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t easy. It requires many hours of hard work, money and brain cells that seem to drain faster than ever. But don’t be disheartened if you’re thinking of starting your own business (as contradictory as that sounds); I’ve found that once you’re in the swing of things, it’s one of the most rewarding feelings.
Why? Because you did that.
You’ve worked hard to where you’ve got to, and seeing things come to life is incredible to achieve and celebrate.
This post is my way of sharing my story, personally and professionally, with those who want an honest, no-nonsense insight into how starting a business can be. Every day is a learning curve, and there are definitely some things that I wish I knew more about before making the leap.
A bit about me:
Don’t worry; I won’t talk your metaphorical ear off. There’s really only so much you can say before it starts sounding like a job interview, and you’ve just been asked to talk about your best qualities.
Right! So I was born in-. Just kidding.
As a neurodivergent person, I found that working for other people didn’t appeal to me all that much. I mean, you always need money, but I thought, why not build something from the ground up that you can wholeheartedly say is yours? You work for yourself, pick your hours, and the credit will (almost) always be yours.
I won’t lie — it’s been difficult. There are days when the tasks pile up to the ceiling; you have no idea where to start, and procrastination blares like a siren.
But seeing the results of your labour and the happy faces of your customers makes those slogs worth it.
What I wish I knew:
Time:
Time, my god; what a pain in the backside. There are only 24 hours in a day, but it never seems to be enough. Definitely a necessary evil, but an evil at that, especially being ADHD and time management is not a strong suit on your good days. And everything just takes so much longer than you think it will, even when your processes are locked in, and efficiency optimised.
However, that doesn’t mean that everything will go down the toilet if you don’t do everything in your To-Do list. Sometimes, I find that getting even one thing done does wonders for motivation. Arranging tasks in order of priority doesn’t come naturally to neurodivergent people, well, at least for me. Knowing that I have ten tasks in a list that need to be done means that there’s ten tasks, and I have no idea where to even start. Splitting big tasks into smaller chunks can help with that.
One thing I try to keep in mind is splitting the tasks into preparation and get-done.
Preparation is the items that you would need to get “Task One” done. So, for example, it may be that you’re writing out a budget. You’d (probably) need paper, pens, and the way you can find all your bills.
Even if you only get the preparation step done, it’s still one step closer to getting the whole task done.
Small steps are still moving in terms of progress.
Planning:
Even the most meticulous planner can be thrown into disarray at the slightest change.
One bit of advice I was given at college is never to delete the photos straightaway because you never know if that photo that didn’t quite go to plan is the one you love the most.
I’ve found that this advice translates to general life as well. Nothing is ever “perfect”, but what is? Don’t get me wrong, I have found myself obsessing over the smallest of details to the detriment of my mental health and remaining brain cells. One thing I’ve found with extreme perfectionism is that it removes the ability to recognise that mistakes are a part of a learning process just as much as the final product.
An keen eye for detail is one thing that ADHDers thrive in, but the inner critic loves to jump to the negatives and focus on those rather than embracing and celebrating the achievements of what you’ve made. Putting out your best work is one thing I always strive for, but when you’ve stared at the screen for hours, the recognition of “good enough” is a whisper in the noise of paralysing fear of failure.
“If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly.” – G.K. Chesterton
Everybody started somewhere. Learning takes time, so be compassionate with yourself.
Like with learning any skill, generally, you’re not going to be an instant prodigy as soon as you pick it up. That’s why it’s called practice; you do the thing repeatedly until you’ve mastered the basics; then, you can give yourself more challenging tasks.
Summary:
I think the biggest thing to take away is getting started, no matter what you want to put your brain to. Everyone will start somewhere, so what if it isn’t great to begin with? Learning is a process, and failure isn’t apocalyptic. When (not if) you fall over a hurdle, the bravest thing is to get back up again, ask yourself what can I do better this time around and go for it again.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with the quote, “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly”?