ADHD (2): Organised Chaos — Running a Business with ADHD

Running a business with ADHD is much like flying a jet that’s faster than your flight plan: immense power, constant noise, and you have to master the turbulence rather than fight it.

Today I’m going to try to give you some tools to help with that. It’s no good trying to force yourself to do things you normally wouldn’t do, because your brain will kick back and you’ll crash nose-first into the ocean.

It Takes Energy

First of all, it takes energy. Lots of energy. You’re going to have to deal with awkward customers (my favourite), unreliable suppliers, late payers, your own energy levels, and a thousand other things I could mention — along with a few I can’t.

It’s Not Easy, But It’s Worth It

Secondly, it is far from easy. For most of us it might be hard to shut down, or even find the energy to go on. But it is very rewarding to see that after years of being told you’re a wrong’un, you actually aren’t — and you’re often more capable than a neurotypical person.

One thing I will say though: it is VERY rewarding, especially when you achieve goals you never thought you would.

Six months ago I set a goal to reduce costs so I could get a pay rise, and I was successful. That’s one of the best things about running your own business.

My Business Model (and Where the Difficulty Really Is)

My business is a fairly standard “tradesman model”.

We take calls/emails/messages to book in quotes.
We visit the customer to quote.
If we win the work, we go back later to do the job.

The day-to-day work — buying materials and doing the installations — is relatively simple. You drive, you buy, you install, you clean, you drive some more. That bit can actually be relaxing: measuring and marking out, cutting timber, and so on. It’s all pretty simple.

It’s the stuff in between that’s hard. So here’s how I deal with it.

No Overwhelm / No Overload

This is the most important thing: if you set too many tasks at any given time, you won’t do any of them… and you’ll end up playing Elden Ring instead.

When I say this, I’m mostly referring to admin tasks: checking your numbers, paying suppliers, creating invoices, and so on.

Use Time Blocks (and Let the Calendar Shout at You)

I rely about 90% on Google Calendar for a few reasons: it’s always there, it can shout at me, and… it’s always there (yeah, I know).

I have three weekly slots:

Sunday: Admin
Monday: Work on the business
Friday: Work on the business (if I have the energy)

Sunday: Admin

Sunday admin is exactly that:

Finances
Cashflow
Profit First allocations
Bookkeeping and invoicing
Paying suppliers
Planning what to photograph/video next week for social posts
Posting flow: Website → Facebook → Instagram → Google Business

Monday and Friday: Work on the Business

Monday and Friday are the times where I can:

Write content
Come up with lead magnets
Double-check numbers (you can never know your numbers well enough)
Research grants or schemes
Do creative and “double-checking” work the business needs

Also: my Friday is my Friday. I’ll work on my business, and sometimes even in my business, but that day is meant for me to do as my mind leads me.

Having that day at the end of the week (my weekends are normally busy) lets me just exist.

Monthly and Quarterly Review Slots

Beyond the weekly slots, I have an end-of-month slot for things like:

Monthly profit and loss
Quote-to-job KPIs
Working out actual profit
Updating stats
Forecasting cashflow based on history

Then we go further out to quarterly. It’s pretty much the same thing, but over three months instead.

One Last Thing

Remember this: if the overwhelm hits you — sitting in a parked car trying to decide where to go is getting you nowhere. Just drive and you’ll start moving.

So when you’ve got a list of a thousand things to do… just pick one and do it.

That’s about all I have for now. If you have any questions about running a business with ADHD, message me or post them in the comments.

Next week: 5 tactics to help you deal with ADHD.