The ADD Business Owner

ADD Energy: It All Balances Out in the End

When you have adult ADD, there will be times when you are really productive, and times when you're not very productive at all.

This means that some days you'll get tons of work done and knock off numerous items on your to-do list, while other days you'll screw around online and avoid work as much as possible. This may seem like a negative way to operate, but consider this:

Most non-ADD business owners work in a slow and steady progression, like so:

Most ADD business owners work in an on-and-off progression. Sometimes being extremely productive, and sometimes being extremely unproductive, like so:

Despite different energy levels, we all eventually reach the same endpoint.

If your energy levels wax and wane, don't beat yourself up. Ups and downs in productivity average out somewhere in the middle.

Business Traps: Now and Not Now

"Not now."
"I'm not there yet."
"I can't think about that right now."

These are some of the most popular phrases that come out of my mouth during the business day. Like most ADDers, I measure time in one of two ways: Now, and Not Now.

This can be an effective strategy when dealing with crises, but it can also hold an ADDer back in their business. When you have ADD, there is always something grabbing your attention. You can spend way too much time allowing distractions to take over in the Now, and important things without deadlines attached can easily become the Not Now.

Here's a great example: Cash flow is slow and you know that you're going to be in trouble in a couple of weeks if you don't come up with a solution to solve the temporary problem. You start off your Monday morning thinking that this problem will be the first one you deal with...

...but when you sit down at your desk and find your email Inbox overflowing. It feels more important in the moment and answering email becomes your Now, while the cash flow problem becomes your Not Now.

And if email was your only distraction, you might be okay. But when you have adult ADD, a busted copier, a lost phone number, or a great article can easily occupy your Now, perpetually knocking the important stuff into Not Now.

Prioritizing and planning your day certainly help, but there's a strategy for this challenge that is often overlooked. It involves a form of "time" other than Now and Not Now: the Business Development Day.

Business Development Days are scheduled work days--preferably once a week on the same day--in which you shut out all the distractions and allow the bigger, long-term issues to become Nows before it's too late.

When you employ this strategy, you not only ensure that your business grows and prospers, you also reduce a great deal of stress!

Want more strategies for time management? Check out Chapter 4 of my book, Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD.

It's All Business at Kid Nation

I've admitted it many times before and I suppose I need to preface this post by saying that yes, I am a reality TV junkie. And even though reality TV has been losing it's steam, there are still a few good shows that are alive and kicking. Kid Nation is one of them.

The premise of Kid Nation is pretty simple: put a bunch of kids with different ages and backgrounds into their own little old-west-style town, and watch how they live and get along with minimal adult intervention. It's kind of Survivor meets Little House on the Prairie.

The kids compete each week for their class status: upper class, merchants, cooks, and labororers. Each class, of course, is paid based on their status in the society. I particularly enjoyed this week's episode because some of the kids got tired of not having enough money, and spontaneously decided to start their own businesses.

Divad opened up a snack bar and cooked some goodies that she then sold for extra cash. Although she was a smart little cookie and I admire her spirit, she did make one mistake. She thought she deserved the "gold star" for her work, a reward given each week to one kid who the town council thinks is doing the most to keep Kid Nation running smoothly. David was working hard in her snack bar, but that's not exactly socialism--it's capitalism. You can't expect to get a prize for being the kid in town with the most money! Hopefully her skills will make her much more than $20K in the near future.

Jared was both annoyed and inspired by Divad's success, and decided to make some souvenir necklaces. They sold really quickly, and he made a bundle of money. Then he declared himself "The Bill Gates of Kid Nation" and proceded to buy himself a pimped out outfit in which he paraded around town. Seriously. He looked like an 11-year old pimp. I wish I had a screen shot. If I had to put money on  which of these kids has ADD, Jared would be first on my list.

Update: I have something better than a screen shot of the pimped out Jared--a video!

This Kid Nation episode reminded me of my own "entrepreneurial"  childhood. Every time I see a kid with a lemonade stand, I think to myself, I bet that kid has ADD! Just about every ADD business owner can relate. Most of us had entrepreneurial brains from the start, and tons of business ideas long before we were out of grade school.

Personally, I had some good ideas, and some not-so-good ones:

Good idea = Creating about 200 flyers for my babysitting services and putting them in every mailbox in my neighborhood. I was 13 and got 4 regular "clients" from that marketing campaign!

Not-so-good idea = Catching crickets in the back yard and setting up a sales stand at the end of the driveway. I was 8 and I really, truly thought that people on their evening walks would want to buy some crickets for their kids. For pets. Really. And not only that, but I was pissed when my neighbor suggested no one would buy them. (Ah, she was a bitch, anyway. Who deflates an 8-year-old's dream of cricket riches?)

What kind of business ideas did you have as a kid? Good ideas, not-so-good ideas, profitable ideas, or crazy ideas, let's hear 'em! Please post your stories in the comments field.