ADHD and Entrepreneurship: Every Week is a Roller Coaster

My attention shifts, sometimes more than it should.

Every week I seem to be coming back to finding my path. I feel like I’ve got good habits in place for creating and researching now, but I get pushed along by trends in the things I read or my shifting priorities in life. Notably, the need to have an income keeps pushing side-hustle level activities into my line of sight.

Luckily, I spend a lot of time in my head. Luckily.

I started much of this entrepreneurial journey with a focus on writing, one of my most marketable skills. I still think that’s the right place for me, so that’s good. From the start, it’s been suggested that I find 1-3 niches and focus on those, also seems like good advice. If I can stay focused, then I’ll be less likely to spread myself too thin.

The issue is that I have a mess of preconceived notions and limiting beliefs about what people want to read. I also haven’t taken the time to really understand you, my reader. Or the reader of the other places I’m writing. That’ll change soon, I promise.

The notable shift this past week? Mindfulness.

While it might not be a surprise to someone reading a newsletter called “Mindfullish”, this tool is one of the biggest, toughest and most useful in my tool chest. I might even call myself knowledgeable in the area. I keep hedging that it’s too “woo-woo,” even though it’s a billion-dollar industry. That changes today. I’m actually getting closer to a simple single sentence of my different offerings.

The Hyper-Abridged Business Plan

I mentioned last week that I want to focus on helping people, and what matters is the fans. Those are still relevant. As I try to ‘build an income’ the other component is multiple streams of income, something somewhat low maintenance and evergreen. Here’s the current breakdown

• Stream 1 - Writing on Medium. I’m earning around $120 a month based on the available content and following over there, but I’ve been unfocused. EOY Goal - $1,500 Monthly.

• Stream 2 - Newsletter subscriptions. Both from Mindfullish & Channeling Chaos. I hope to grow both of these, though I may put more effort into one to get a larger audience in one place. - EOY Goal $500 Monthly

• Stream 3 - Digital Offerings. I’m working on Notion Templates for helping manage different parts of your life. I’m also bringing writing together from the different locations to offer as inexpensive ebooks. EOY Goal - $500+ Monthly

• Stream 4 - Freelance Writing. A stream that I’d like to avoid turning into full-time writing. I like to write but trading my time for gigs isn’t efficient, which is a priority. EOY Goal - $1-2k Monthly

• Stream 5 - Life Coaching. I’m still defining this, but know that I can help people become more mindful to improve their lives and help those struggling with ADHD by using Mindfulness. EOY Goal - 1-2k Monthly.

• Stream 6 - Online Course. I won’t be starting this until later in the year, it’ll be dependent on the needs of my community and where my skills shine. EOY Goal - $250+ Monthly

I have more things in the pipeline, or in my head, but if I can have a consistent $3-5k income it will be enough to allow me to continue on my path and continue to grow.

Clarity is Key

Mindfulness is my superpower. I believe immensely in the good it can bring to an individual’s life, but also how it can improve humanity as well. I’m re-defining all of my “marketing material” so that my offering is clear in this regard.

Last Week’s Numbers

I had a busy week last week, I created:

• 9 Blog Posts on Medium

• 3 Newsletters.

I had good growth of my community

• 92 new followers on Medium

• 15 new followers on Substack

• 6 new Subscribers between Medium and Substack

• 39 new followers on Twitter. LinkedIn remained stagnant, but I did nothing to grow it.

What’s Coming Up

My goals this week…

• Re-write copy for all of my different profiles that make it clear who I am, what I offer, why I’m an authority and give a clear call to action to join my newsletter.

• Publish at least one story per day on Medium and my Monday, Wednesday, Friday Newsletters.

• Spend focused time on outreach to start growing my Newsletter audience.

• Re-structure all of my outstanding projects so that I can prioritize my time better. The new model is

  • Morning for Focused Creativity

  • Afternoon for Learning and Outreach

  • Evening for Reflection and Recharge

Thanks for Reading

As always, I’m grateful for every one of you that reads this weekly update. I’m hoping to put of my personality into my newsletters and have them feel less like a business report.