Adult ADD and Money

Why ADD Adults make great entrepreneurs

The idea of being an entrepreneur can seem pretty daunting to an ADD adult. Often the fear of failure holds potential ADD entrepreneurs back from achieving their dream of opening their own business.

Here are three examples of successful businesses founded by ADD entrepreneurs. The reason why I put The Peanut Cupboard first is that success should not be completely defined by how much money you make, success is measured by the individual who owns the business. Sometimes just keeping to your vision can be the definition of success.

1.  The Peanut Cupboard

2. Jet Blue

3. Kinko's

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Money to Burn

Want to make your friends think you have money to burn. If you are like most of us, you do not use dollar bills to light your fancy cigars. However with this simple experiment I found at Chemistry @ about.com you can make it appear that you are burning a dollar bill with out actually burning the money. The secret is soaking the money in a solution of 50% alcohol and 50% water. When you light the bill on fire the alcohol is actually burning and because the bill is wet the bill never catches fire. This is better use of money than most of the stuff I actually spend money on.

Want to make your friends think you have money to burn. If you are like most of us, you do not use dollar bills to light your fancy cigars. However with this simple experiment I found at Chemistry @ about.com you can make it appear that you are burning a dollar bill with out actually burning the money. The secret is soaking the money in a solution of 50% alcohol and 50% water. When you light the bill on fire the alcohol is actually burning and because the bill is wet the bill never catches fire. This is better use of money than most of the stuff I actually spend money on.

Goal Setting

Setting goals for what you want to do with you life is the first step in financial planning. Setting goals gives you the framework for how much you want or need to earn and what you want to spend. However, setting goals can be a challenge for many Adults with ADD. Common problems that ADD adults have with goal setting include:

• Having too many goals.
• Underestimating the time needed to complete the goal.
• Lack of research to ensure whether the goal is reasonable or attainable.
• Not breaking down long term goals into smaller achievable goals.

Setting life goals can give you the motivation and direction needed in order to better manage your finances. While goal setting is not easy for the ADD adult, there are several things that can be done in order to improve the probability of reaching your goals:

• Make sure you goals are measurable and have a specific time frame. Ambiguity and Procrastination are major enemies of goal achievement.
• Share you major goals with others. This can be difficult for many ADD adults because of past failures, and from the negative feedback from past failures, you don't have to share your goals with everybody but if you share them with a few nurturing people it can do wonders to your odds of achieving your goal.
• Use visualization techniques. ADD adults retain information better when it is presented in a visual fashion. Examples of how to use visualization in regard to goal setting include using visual aids of the goal you want to achieve ( if you want to graduate from college, you can make up a picture of you in your graduation cap and gown), tracking your progress by using color charts, and using diagrams instead of lists to set your goals.
• Make sure to review and revise your goals every once in a while. Your goals need to reflect the changes in your life and the changes that you want to make to your life.

Setting goals for what you want to do with you life is the first step in financial planning. Setting goals gives you the framework for how much you want or need to earn and what you want to spend. However, setting goals can be a challenge for many Adults with ADD. Common problems that ADD adults have with goal setting include:

• Having too many goals.
• Underestimating the time needed to complete the goal.
• Lack of research to ensure whether the goal is reasonable or attainable.
• Not breaking down long term goals into smaller achievable goals.

Setting life goals can give you the motivation and direction needed in order to better manage your finances. While goal setting is not easy for the ADD adult, there are several things that can be done in order to improve the probability of reaching your goals:

• Make sure you goals are measurable and have a specific time frame. Ambiguity and Procrastination are major enemies of goal achievement.
• Share you major goals with others. This can be difficult for many ADD adults because of past failures, and from the negative feedback from past failures, you don't have to share your goals with everybody but if you share them with a few nurturing people it can do wonders to your odds of achieving your goal.
• Use visualization techniques. ADD adults retain information better when it is presented in a visual fashion. Examples of how to use visualization in regard to goal setting include using visual aids of the goal you want to achieve ( if you want to graduate from college, you can make up a picture of you in your graduation cap and gown), tracking your progress by using color charts, and using diagrams instead of lists to set your goals.
• Make sure to review and revise your goals every once in a while. Your goals need to reflect the changes in your life and the changes that you want to make to your life.

Pay attention! Adult ADHD makes job difficult

Here is an interesting article I found on (Your ADD/ADHD News). The article is about ADHD in the workplace it was written by Czerne M. Reid in The State. What I like most about the article is the short sidebar about "coping with ADHD in the workplace".

I have attached a short excerpt:

At work, adults with ADHD tend to be either “frustrated and struggling,” or “successful and struggling,” Sussman said. It’s not that they get bored more easily — they just don’t tolerate boredom. In addition, people with ADHD don’t do well at taking orders — but tend to be good entrepreneurs.

Two Years Ago today...

Two years ago today, I started a little blog called Adult ADD and Money.  I am proud of myself for maintaining this website and for being able to share my ideas and viewpoint with others. I am amazed that I have been able to make a little money while doing this. I am thankful when I realize that I have made a small impact about how some of my readers think about and manage money. Since I have been busy lately and I do not have time to create new content, I will share with you the first article that I wrote for the blog.

Before you go out shopping write down everything that you want on a list. (Stick to the list) It will help to limit impulse buys. I was tired today and forgot to write down a list and I purchased cookies that I did not need to buy. Almost all stores are set up to take advantage on shoppers who are impulse buyers(One of the main traits of adults with ADD). I think setting up a list is more important when you are planning on going shopping at large department or warehouse stores, there are many times that my wife and I have gone to the store with the intent of only purchasing a few items, but left with a cart full of items that we did not need. (We seemed to always forget one of the items that we went there for in the first place)