Neurodivergent Mates

The 15 Minute Chat - Resilience as a Neurodivergent Entrepreneur

• Will Wheeler • Season 3 • Episode 59

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Ever wondered how to stay afloat when the entrepreneurial waters get choppy, especially as a neurodivergent entrepreneur? Join me, Will Wheeler, as I unveil a personal story packed with resilience and perseverance. Discover how the journey of entrepreneurship isn't just about building a business, but about nurturing a mindset that refuses to give up, even when the odds are stacked against you. From the grind of managing a side job to fund your dream, to the critical task of assembling a team that clicks, I lay bare the real obstacles and the strategies that have helped me weather the storm.

This episode of NeuroDivergent Mates isn't just about the trials; it's a heartfelt testament to the enduring power of resilience. Listen in as I share the crucial support mechanisms that have been my lifeline, offering insights on how you too can remain steadfast in your pursuits. Whether you're grappling with tough decisions or grappling with the idea of quitting, this conversation is a rallying cry to fellow entrepreneurs to remain committed and strong. Prepare to be inspired by tales of grit and tenacity, and gain some valuable advice on thriving as a neurodivergent entrepreneur.

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Speaker 1:

You're listening to NeuroDivergent Mates. Hello and welcome to another episode of Neurodivergent Mates. I'm your host, will Wheeler, and to tell you the truth, I just wanted to actually try like a new little segment I've been really just trying to get my head around called the 15-minute chat, where I just get on and talk about a topic that's been on my mind a little bit recently for about 15 minutes. I think the biggest thing for me was that I was sitting at home a lot of the time. I'd share certain things on social media, all of that type of stuff and I thought you know what? It'd just be cool to be able to jump on whenever I feel like it and just share something that's on my mind and maybe able to share some advice, all of that type of stuff. But before we do get into it, let's do a little bit of housekeeping. If we haven't already done so, please subscribe, like and follow to all of our social media pages. We're available on TikTok, facebook, instagram, x, twitch, youtube, linkedin, and if you haven't already done so, please go to anywhere where you check out your uh podcasts, all of that type of stuff, and please subscribe and rate the show. You know, we'd really love that support. Also to a big shout out to our sponsors, neurodiversityacademycom, for all the work we're doing over there. Please, if you haven't already done so, please go and check it out. Also, too, you know some of the discussions I might be talking about may be triggering for some. If you need help, please reach out to a loved one or call emergency services. I'm not a doctor, you know. This is a space for sharing experiences and strategies, so please feel free to reach out to the most important people that you can. Now also, too, if you've got some questions while I'm going through this, please feel free to just put it into the question box there and hopefully I know there is a little bit of delay through the social media platforms If I get it in time, I should be able to answer that question there. Cool, cool, cool.

Speaker 1:

So today, what I really wanted to cover was resilience as a neurodivergent entrepreneur. I think that you know it can be tough entrepreneurship, and you know and I think the reason why I got to this was last night I posted up a post about, you know maybe, some of the struggles I have, or all of that, especially as a neurodivergent person yourself or as an entrepreneur. You're doing so much work there and it's really hard to see the return on investment. So, you know, I really wanted to come on and speak a little bit more about that. You know how we're able to deal with it.

Speaker 1:

I know for myself that it has been a hard journey, I think, with a lot of the support mechanisms around me. Definitely having a lot of resilience has helped me. Don't get me wrong. There's been times where I've just wanted to throw in the towel, and it is hard. It's definitely not easy. Business is not easy and anyone who goes into that type of field you know I take your hat off to you it's definitely not easy and being able to stick to it is the hardest thing. So you probably see a lot of people you know try to start a business at some point and once you really get stuck into it, there's a lot of things that people don't realize. Where are you getting the money from? A lot of the time you've got to work another job just to be able to support your business, all of that type of stuff. So yeah, it's definitely hard. So why don't we look at the?

Speaker 1:

You know, the first thing I wanted to really talk about was overcoming challenges. Okay, so what do those challenges look like? So I suppose, for me, a lot of the time, a lot of the challenges have been a lot of different things. So, um, I think the biggest thing has been building our team, to start with. Um, finding the right people for the team is definitely can be difficult and, more than anything, I think, finding the right people who are going to gel with the team. That's really important. I think there's really great people out there and you know, I think as well with, say, people who don't fit in with the team. That doesn't mean that they're bad people, it just means that they don't fit in with the team, and that's important as well.

Speaker 1:

And I think the hardest thing for me sometimes has been trying to I'm trying how do I word this? Trying to work in with certain people, or having to make bad decisions, or not having to make bad decisions, but having to make decisions that are tough. You know, maybe you have to, you know, disagree on something that is really close to someone's heart, you know, and that can be really difficult within entrepreneurship. Maybe you want to try something with someone and it doesn't work out, and you know, I think those can be the real challenges there a lot of the time. I think the other obstacles that I face and if we're looking at it from a neurodivergent perspective, what is it that we struggle with as neurodivergent people that we need to be able to maintain to run a successful business? So, you know, is that time management, is that remaining organised, Is that filling out certain documents that need to be presented in a way for certain people to be able to understand what you're getting across?

Speaker 1:

I think the biggest thing for me is that I've been able to, and the AI world has been almost like a life changer for me. You know, a lot of people talk about how AI will take our jobs and all of that and, look, it probably will take some people's jobs. You know, that's just how you know technology and that works, and it's unfortunate that that's what happens. But for me, ai, especially as business owner, has definitely changed the way I do things. So you know, I'm able to.

Speaker 1:

You know so back in the day for, for example, if I was going to write a report, I would write a report with so many spelling mistakes. I had no idea about what type of um, uh punctuation needed to be in place. All of those types of things. So that was really difficult for me. But now, um and and the thing was I used to write stuff out. Now I I'd have to give it to my partner or my mother to check over, which takes time. This day and age I can just go through it, put it into ChatGPT and it fixes everything for me. It is like a life changer for me. I feel so much more independent all of that. So you know, if you're able to utilize certain types of technology, that's going to play a huge thing in overcoming your challenges.

Speaker 1:

There I will say as well, if there are challenges you do have, it is important that you do something about them. You know it's. I don't think it's good enough to just say, look, I'm neurodivergent, so you know you have to expect that I'm going to be late. You know I think, yeah, okay, I get that, but we really do need to be making an effort because at the end of the day, it's not an excuse. We do need to put in the right things and tools to be able to help us to be able to achieve the best for ourselves and, potentially, our customers and clients as well. So you know, that's a real important part I wanted to look at.

Speaker 1:

But you know what and I think that flows in nicely to stuff like so dealing with setbacks, for example, now setbacks, example, now setbacks especially for neurodivergent people that can be hard because we we don't take things that well, if that makes sense. So when there is a setback, it can be very hard to get back on our feet and get back into it, and I think for me that's been definitely a hard thing. When I first started out in business, it was very difficult because one I couldn't find a good business partner. I'd try and try and try and it just didn't work. But then I ended up finding my business partner, who I've got now Prateek, who works in Neurodiversity Academy, and you know we click awesome. Look, there's going to be problems here and there, but we're able to work through them and I think that's the end. You know, I feel comfortable coming to him with an issue. If we have issues, we've got each other's back all that.

Speaker 1:

And you know, I think also to time, don't just rush, don't just rush into. Well, I think the thing is like you know, it's probably good to try people and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't, um, and you're only going to find out by working in with the people. So, you know, I think that's where it is really important to just trial and error is really important. So, you know, dealing with those setbacks I've found having someone else there to be able to support me, or vice versa, has been really helpful to be able to move forward and maybe not get so stuck on something, especially with neurodiversity academy. We've got our advisory board now and I think for such a long time I was so stuck on certain things I just didn't know how to push forward there. So, you know, having advisors who are working in certain industries or certain things has been so helpful to be able to get that ball rolling a lot quicker than what it was maybe before we had an advisory board. Or even having business partners and all of that type of stuff. So you know, I think that's where it's really, you know, important to be building mental endurance as well. So when I talk about mental endurance is and I've got some notes here to the side here so it sort of helps me get through it strategies you've developed to maintain resilience while balancing the demands of entrepreneurship. So you know that could be learning to take breaks.

Speaker 1:

I think the biggest problem for me when I first got into business was I was just like work, work, work, work, work and I just burnt out big time. I've never had such a big burnout in such a long time because I've been able to, I suppose, balance a lot of things. Spend time with my partner is great for me. To get away from. Just sitting down watching Netflix, watching the football, speaking to my friends, having a drink with someone, whatever that looks like has been so helpful for me. But also, too, I think you know, balancing that is really important. So not going out and drinking all the time not, you know, still focusing on what you need is really key, but, you know, not going away from that type of stuff. Also, too, I think the biggest thing, as well as your support networks I think your support networks are going to be key and if that's mentors, if that's people you can just call and chat, I think that for me, um, just being able to have people I can talk to has been so helpful. It can just there's going to be times where you just feel so down and out and I know it can be hard to want to talk to people around that time there, but it's vital. So having support networks there, I know you know someone called out, someone messaged me today and said look, will, let's catch up for a chat shortly. I really need someone to talk to and you know what. My door is always open. You know for that type of stuff because I know what it's like. So, yeah, it is difficult at times there, but you know if I can close this off because we've only got about a minute and a half to go here.

Speaker 1:

Advice for other neurodivergent entrepreneurs is just keep at it. You know, if you've got a dream that you're working towards, if you've got something that you know you're really passionate about, yes, at times it's going to feel like nothing is happening, but if you stick at it, you're going to see the little things happen. So it might be things like you'll get a meeting with a really interesting person. You may have someone reach out to you to say, hey, look, you've done so much for me that I've been able to do this. You may see growth within yourself, and those are the things that it's all about. I think that's the wins right there.

Speaker 1:

So when you get these small wins, I think it's so important to celebrate them wins. I think it's so important to celebrate them. So it could be that someone you get, your first person who wants to buy your course or whatever that might be. Celebrate it, you know. Go out for a dinner or I don't know whatever that looks like to you. Go for a walk with your dog or something, I don't know, whatever that looks like to you. That's what it's going to be all about. But look, thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate it. This was just a trial. I wanted to trial a 15-minute talk here. It's gone pretty well. So thank you so much for listening. Now, if you haven't already done so, please subscribe, like and follow to all of our social media platforms Also platforms also to. If you haven't already done so, check out um. Go to any podcasting platform um, subscribe to the podcast and also to rate it as well. My name is will wheeler and thank you very much for listening to neuro and david mates. Till next time you.