Adult ADD and Money

ADHD Entreprenuers

ADHD Entrepreneurs is an excellent post about five habits that are consistent among successful ADHD entrepreneurs. The article was in The Huffington Post and was written by Michael B. Laskoff, the CEO of AbilTo.com. A couple of interesting points in the article was that successful ADHD entrepreneurs had the habit of hiring people with diverse skills that complimented their strengths, they also had a knack of knowing when to depart in order to re-focus their energies on a new business idea.

ADHD Career Advice

With the struggling economy, more adults with ADHD are coming to Adult ADD and Money looking for advice  on how to deal with ADHD as it relates to their career. Because I am not an expert when it relates to career advice, I have listed three very useful articles for ADHD adults looking for career advice: 

• Top Ten ADHD Traps in the Workplace     (ADD Resources)

• Job Layoffs: How ADHD Adults Can Avoid the Cut    (ADDitude Magazine)

• Acing the Job Interview: Career Advice for ADD Adults    (ADDitude Magazine)

Success Stories Adult ADD / ADHD (Notehall.com)

I am always looking for great stories about adults with ADD, I especially like stories about ADD entrepreneurs who start a business to deal with an issues that affects many people with ADD. While surfing the internet I found an article from the Rancho Sante Fe Review about Sean Conway. Conway founded a company called Notehall.com that allows college students to purchase notes from lectures on-line. Although I do not have ADD, I would have found this a tremendous service in college, because I could not take notes and pay attention to a lecture at the same time. Sean was recently featured on ABC's show the Shark Tank. 

Shark Tank is a show where entrepreneurs give a business pitch to get the shows venture capitalists to invest in their business.

"Attention deficit disorder: Not just for kids"

Here is an excerpt from an interesting article by Andy Halloway that gives employers information on how to deal with employees with ADHD. This is a good read for both adults with ADHD and for people who have to work with ADHD adults.

Threatening an ADHD-affected employee might work, if the threat is immediate, the consequence severe enough and the task inescapable. But that’s a horrible way for someone to live — and to manage. Yet some with ADHD do that themselves as a form of motivation. They effectively create an artificial sense of urgency by waiting until the deadline before springing into action.

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What type of business should you start?

Owning a small business can be a great career path for an ADD adult. However not all new business opportunities are ideal for adults with ADD. Many ADD entrepreneurs make the mistake of impulsively jumping into a business opportunity that they are truly not passionate about.

Owning a business where you create or manufacture a product could be a good fit for ADD adults.   In this type of business you have more flexibility with your schedule. There is also a lot of room for creativity with the products that you can create. The process of creating your product can also be stimulating. The potential downside of this type of business is that it typically involves higher start up costs and more initial planning. The penalty for not making a production deadline can be costly and ultimately ruin your business.

Owning a service business ( landscaping, consulting, disc jockey, etc.) works well for many ADD adults. This type of business has more flexibility than your typical nine to five job. You do not need a lot of start up capital, this allows more room to experiment without fearing the repercussions of failure. It also allows you to have several service businesses at one time, which can be very stimulating. The downside of owning a service business, is that you only make money when you are actually working.  ADD adults sometimes struggle with creating structure and doing the behind the scenes work to get and keep the customers that allow you to work on your passion. Since you do not need a lot of start up capital, there is often intense competition for work, this can be discouraging.

Owning a retail business can have mixed results for ADD adults. If you own a traditional brick and mortar store you have the ability to be creative with the design and the merchandise that you are going to sell. However that feeling can be fleeting, the schedule involved in operating a retail store can be very overwhelming. Many people find that dealing with the public all day, every day can be frustrating.

You can also use a web based business as your main focus of dealing with your customers. Selling you product using the web as your primary source for customers can be difficult unless you have a unique or rare product.  Using the Internet for a service business (consulting, web site development, marketing) can be beneficial as your business does not require face to face interaction.

I think a major goal of owning a small business is to be able to fit your passions, strengths and work style into something that you enjoy doing.  All of the creativity and fresh ideas involved in starting a business can be so stimulating that you often overlook whether the business itself is a good fit for you.

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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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.

Best of ADD Small Business Tips

Owning a small business can be a very good fit someone with ADD.  Here are a few of my best tips for ADD Entrepreneurs:

Flaunt Your Strengths

Delegation a Challenge for the ADD/ADHD  Entrepreneur

Structure: the Double Edged Sword

Finding right position key for employees with ADHD

I came across an intersting article by Andrea Kay. It is a short article about getting help and being accountable for finding the right job when you have ADHD.

" "I've got ADD," Daniel told me, when he called to talk about his career. "I need help, but I've got ADD," he repeated. He must have told me 10 times. He's not the only one. There was Janice and Jane and Mark and others. And they insist they have problems in their careers because of their condition. "

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ADHD can bring on self-doubts despite ability

I have attached a small excrept from an article by Jane M. Von Bergen at The Philadelphia Inquirer.  What I liked about the article is the examples of people who have set up systems to help them overcome some of the challenges of dealing with ADHD.

The only thing good that career salesman Alan Currie could say about himself on the day he accepted a high-stakes sales job five years ago was that at least he managed to sell himself into a job.

He didn't deserve it, he told himself.

"I'm a complete fraud."

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