How to harness your ADHD brain for business success

Starting and running a business with ADHD can feel incredibly overwhelming. If you're a neurodivergent entrepreneur, you have probably been told all the challenges ahead of you a thousand times by now.

However, here's what many in business often overlook: your ADHD brain is no barrier or obstacle to business success.

In fact, it's full of potential that's waiting to be harnessed. Many successful British business owners are neurodivergent, working across a broad spectrum of sectors.

Whether it's your unique problem-solving abilities, creative attributes, the ability to hyperfocus on specific areas or anything else that makes you quintessentially you, ADHD traits align profoundly well with qualities that many admire about successful entrepreneurs.

This blog is here to help you build a set of strategies that work with your brain, rather than against it.

How to start your business with ADHD

Choose an ADHD-friendly business structure

When it comes to launching your small business, it's beneficial to keep the process as simple as possible. Consider these set-ups:

• Sole trader: Minimal paperwork, easy registration requirements, simple to modify and ideal for freelancers or service-based businesses.

• Limited company: Ideal for tax-efficient scaling, more complex but offers liability protection and offers a stamp of credibility that many clients approve of.

Many start as a sole trader and upgrade to a limited company when their turnover hits £50,000 or more annually. This simple process is ideal at the start, limiting your admin that can be quickly overwhelming.

UK businesses must be registered with HMRC, and navigating the legal steps can also be difficult for people with ADHD. Here is a simplified process:

For sole traders:

• Register with HMRC (within three months) via its online form. This should take approximately 10 minutes.

• Set up a simple accounting system or application (for example, Xero or QuickBooks) to scan receipts, automate invoices, and generate payment or review reminders.

• Take out professional indemnity insurance.

For limited companies:

• Register with Companies House (current price is £50 when registering online).

• Select a memorable company name.

• Appoint yourself as a director and shareholder.

• Set up your business bank account within 30 days.

Other tips:

• When handling money, separate business and personal finances using banking apps like Monzo or Starling.

• Automatically transfer to tax saving accounts (aim for 20% to 30% of income) and consider using their intuitive visual spending categorisation features.

Design your ADHD-friendly operating system(s)

At this point, most generic business advice online lets neurodivergent business owners down.

You need systems and project management solutions that complement your brain, not detract from it.

• Use tools like Trello, Notion or Teamwork that offer visual, flexible systems where you can see everything at a glance, with priority labels, time-blocking features and regular allotted slots to capture ideas before they disappear into the ether.

• Many solutions have integrated client communication tools, but others like Calendly can eliminate the administrative headaches of scheduling.

• Templated responses to common questions can save you valuable time and resources for work that relies heavily on your creative input.

How to run a successful business with ADHD

Learn to delegate and trust

Here's an uncomfortable and surprising reality: studies show that business owners spend approximately 32% of their time on activities that drive value and revenue for their companies, as cited by Time etc.

For entrepreneurs with ADHD, this percentage can possibly dip even lower when faced with tasks that deplete focus, motivation and energy.

While the simplest solution is to delegate early and often, to bookkeepers, virtual assistants and specialists in areas like marketing or advertising, it's not always that straightforward.

However, making connections with business owners in your local area or in your industries is a vital step worth taking.

If you can entrust others to help with repetitive, arduous or detail-heavy work that sends your neurodivergent brain into overdrive or shutdown mode, it's exponentially helpful if there's a reliable person or team who can take that job on responsibly and proactively.

This requires you to audit which of your daily business activities genuinely energise or fulfil you.

While some entrepreneurs thrive on interacting with clients, creating content and defining their long-term creative strategy, others like more specific problem-solving challenges, such as:

• establishing innovative tech-led systems

• exploring new partnerships

• onboarding new team members

• experimenting with new tools or approaches

Many neurodivergent business owners in the UK find they connect authentically with clients and partners because of their ADHD, and their ability to think differently, spot connections and bring enthusiasm to projects becomes a recognisable and admirable trait.

ADHD can significantly affect a person's working ability from one day to the next.

The UK's Access to Work scheme can provide funding for support services if this is particularly severe, and can be a tremendous asset for entrepreneurs striving for success and growth without letting their neurodivergence be problematic.

Create a structure that works for you

Regular check-ins and progress reviews

• Consider scheduling regular check-ins with someone like an accountability partner or business coach who understands neurodivergence challenges, or an external membership group like those found through Enterprise Nation's community events.

• Build in regular progress reviews and updates to battle any procrastination hurdles before they escalate to a point where momentum is irreversibly derailed.

Deadlines

• With any project or task, set realistic and achievable deadlines, even if they don't explicitly need them.

• Many people with ADHD struggle to complete tasks unless there is an underlying sense of urgency, or if they have an active interest in them.

Schedule and workload

• One of the perks of entrepreneurship is the ability to set your own schedule and workload.

• If you're more productive in the mornings, you can block your peak focus hours at these times and schedule less intensive admin for times of the day when your energy dips.

• It might sound condescending, but regular breaks help to prevent burnout and while hyperfocus (a common trait of ADHD) feels inherently productive, there is a fine line between harnessing this strength and pushing yourself beyond your creative and productive limits.

Milestones

• ADHD entrepreneurs can quickly become demotivated if results don't match our ambitious visions. Combat this by setting achievable milestones that you can hit regularly.

• Each goal you achieve delivers a dopamine boost that fuels your motivation for the next challenge. For example, instead of "grow my business", try "contact five prospective clients this week" or "create three pieces of social media and website content this week".

• Celebrate these wins (seriously, reward yourself). Your brain needs positive reinforcement to stay engaged.

An asset, not an obstacle

Your sector(s) needs what your ADHD brain can bring – creativity, innovation, authenticity, transparency and bravery to challenge conventional approaches.

Whatever your projects and value propositions, neurodivergence is an asset, not an obstacle.

Many entrepreneurs in the UK with ADHD are building thriving enterprises by working with their brains, rather than against them.

The percentage of adults in the UK with ADHD is, according to recent NHS data, between 3% and 4%, and the business owners among them should not feel they're prohibited from succeeding even with such an official diagnosis.

Your ADHD isn't something to overcome on your entrepreneurial journey. It's the very thing that makes your perspective valuable, your solutions innovative, and your business authentically yours.

Now go build something brilliant.

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