ADHD and Entrepreneurship: Building a Business on Your Own Terms
Did you know that people with ADHD are 300% more likely to start their own business, according to Garret LoPorto of The DaVinci Method?
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it because people with ADHD often have many of the traits required to be successful in business:
Creativity, curiosity, outside-the-box thinking and problem-solving, risk-taking, impulsive action, hyper-focus, high-energy and a hunger to do things their way.
While many of these traits can be seen and harnessed as superpowers, there’s no doubt that some of them can also present significant challenges.
The ultimate mission for business owners with ADHD is to learn how to harness their strengths and skills as superpowers while also putting supports in place to mitigate their challenges.
As a business owner with ADHD myself, a mom to a child with ADHD and a business mentor who works with other ADHD business owners often; I have a unique perspective and experience when it comes to the intersection of ADHD and entrepreneurship.
Although I don’t claim to be an “ADHD expert”, I think there’s a lot of value and power in sharing our experiences with others who are on a similar path.
In addition to this blog post, I’ve also created a FREE guide: The ADHD Business Owner’s Guide to Thrive in order to share resources, tools and tips that other ADHD business owners may find helpful.
Our journey with ADHD.
The road that led to my own ADHD discovery and diagnosis was when our son was diagnosed.
The soonest we could get in for an assessment was 6-months, so during that time I poured myself into everything I could find and learn about ADHD to guide and support him, as well as continuing to work closely with the school and our family Dr.
When it came time for his assessment it was an incredibly in-depth process and included parent interviews, teacher interviews, an overview of his medical and health history, a complete review of his school file, online questionnaires and in-person sessions with him.
Everything suddenly made sense.
After going through the incredibly in-depth process with him, working with all of these specialists and learning everything I could about ADHD - like how it’s often inherited from a parent and presents differently in women and girls - I couldn’t help but look back at my life through the lens of ADHD and see how so many things I had always struggled to reconcile suddenly made sense.
I made an appointment with my family Dr to chat about my suspicions that I may have ADHD too.
During our appointment she asked me a series of questions, conducted a preliminary assessment and then agreed that we should pursue it and referred me to a specialist for my own evaluation.
After going through a similar process with a thorough review of my medical and personal history and various intake forms for myself and my family to fill out, I was diagnosed with ADHD too.
ADHD and entrepreneurship.
Looking back I can definitely see how my ADHD has been at the centre of my entire entrepreneurial journey:
In fact, one thing I discovered throughout this process was how without even knowing it I’d learned to adapt by designing my business in a very “ADHD-friendly” way. Not only that, I was using many of those same principles to guide and help others who couldn’t relate to the “traditional ways” of doing business.
Designing an “ADHD-friendly” business.
When it comes to designing an “ADHD-friendly” business, I’ve learned through various resources and my own experiences that it’s all about highlighting your strengths and skills and then finding ways to support the areas that you find challenging.
For me this means:
Designing products and services around my strengths as well as things that interest and excite me.
Creating scalable offers so I’m not trading time-for-money or working 24/7.
Promoting my business in ways that come naturally and feel fun to me.
Having spaciousness in my schedule to avoid over-stimulation.
Becoming aware and tuning into my patterns and tendencies.
Freedom and flexibility to fill my cup and pursue new ideas.
Creating systems and automations to save time and outsourcing tasks I find draining such as bookkeeping, customer service, etc.
In addition to intentionally designing my business this way, I also love learning about different tips and tools I can use to make business and life easier, so I created a guide to gather all of these tips and tools in one place to help other ADHD business owners do the same:
You can grab your free “ADHD Business Owner’s Guide to Thrive” here.
Additional ADHD resources.
My ADHD journey has been eye-opening and life-changing and I’m grateful to not only have all of this newfound knowledge and skills to support myself, but also be an example to my son of how to thrive with ADHD.
Whether you’re a business owner who’s been diagnosed or suspect you may have ADHD, here are some of my favourite resources to help you along your journey of self-discovery:
I hope you found this post, my free guide and these resources helpful!
If you have any questions about my experience or the resources I’ve shared in this post, feel free to send me an email: info@sarakelly.ca or shoot me a DM on Instagram.
xx