Why neurodivergents choose self-employment

Do you ever catch yourself stuck between “I want to work for myself” and “Wait, how would that even work?”

Same.

For us neuroqueer folks and other marginalized identities, balancing traditional job searches with the dream of self-employment can feel like a full-time job on its own.

In this post, I’m sharing what it’s really like to move from the corporate world to carving out a career that fits you. We’re talking about understanding your strengths, navigating the challenges of the job market, and figuring out how to build a business that aligns with your values (without burning yourself out in the process).

Spoiler: Trying to do it all on your own? Not the move. Finding your people and creating accountability can make all the difference in turning dreams into action.

If you’re wondering what self-employment actually looks like and how to start taking small, actionable steps toward a career that works for you, this message is for you.

What leads us to entrepreneurship?

Obviously, a lot of our clients find us during the job search process, seeking traditional employment. And there’s a reason that a lot of entrepreneurs are also neurodivergent: because “traditional employment” is not built for us.

We’re in a tough job market where finding a job is difficult overall. Being neuroqueer adds another layer to the process—worries about masking, burnout, having a safe workplace, etc.—and this doesn’t even get into the difficulty of finding a company to work for that aligns with our values.

There's only so much that you can do to find jobs like that, to apply to them, to get the offer. Some of my clients have been applying to hundreds of jobs, and they haven't been able to find quite what they want to do.

And it seems like a natural step for a neurodivergent person to consider that very tiny voice in your head that's like, “maybe I could just work for myself.”

Nearly 30% of entrepreneurs have ADHD. That’s huge. For me, I was tired of reporting to the cishet white man who would write their company values in a way that sounded really good, but their day-to-day practices went completely against that.

There’s only so much of that you can take before your brain just nopes out and says, “Fuck it. How hard could it be?”

I’m not here to lie to you—it’s hard. But so is employment. Kind of a “choose your adventure”, but both adventures are going to be difficult in their own way.

As I was coming up with the idea that became Colorful Futures, I was daydreaming about getting a job at a coffee shop. I could have a little social life, a little structure. I could get free coffee and food, maybe some benefits.

And then I pictured myself in that role. Not just the good parts, but the bad parts too.

I pictured myself going through the day and thinking through all the frustrating things I can’t control. I knew I’d be underpaid, and it gave me flashbacks to all the jobs I had where I spent half the day pissed off, resenting it, resenting my team, resenting the customers, just resenting being in this role instead of at home building my own thing.

What has historically happened for me that made me realize over and over that I’m not going to thrive in a “traditional” job? How many times am I willing to play this game?

So yeah, self-employment is scary, but it’s also empowering. Do you want the hard work of trying to fit within these systems that fuck you up, or do you want the hard work of being able to build something really beautiful and help other people in the process?

What I’ve seen over and over again, in myself, my team, and my clients, is that values alignment is the most important aspect of working. It’s not just a matter of making a business to make money—my clients want to build businesses because they want to help other people, they want to market for organizations that are mission-driven, and they want to make a larger, more positive impact on the world.

Get your ideas out

In my experience as a career coach with CF, I’ve seen similar patterns and struggles in my entrepreneurial clients—struggles that match my own challenges when I set out to start Colorful Futures. I knew I wanted a business… but how do you go from wanting a business to deciding to start a business to actually making money with a business?

What I’ve seen with the clients I’ve worked with is that they tend to focus on that end result of making sales and earning income and getting that stability, but the business isn’t set up. They have ideas for marketing and offers, but it’s unclear how to actually get there.

We start, as most of CF’s coaching work starts, with career discovery.

Through career discovery, we define where you’ve been, what worked, what didn’t, what you like and dislike, skills you want to keep growing, and those you don’t enjoy using.

For example: You have a background in sales, and you like consulting with clients, creating solutions, and delivering an organized project—but you hate cold calling. This is very important data!

Or maybe you’re in media and production, and you love the organizational aspect of it, the systems, the doing something different each day, but being in the media industry with long hours just isn’t it anymore.

Starting with career discovery is great because it doesn’t have to be part of a linear process. The purpose is to discover the data points about what you like and don’t like so that you can notice patterns and reach conclusions.

When I was developing Colorful Futures, I used a digital whiteboard to brain dump all my questions and ideas. I wanted something that felt like Post-It notes, without having to actually cover my walls in Post-It notes. My brain was exploding with all these different ideas, concerns, and questions, forming a chaotic storm of thoughts in my mind that made it impossible to actually make any decisions.

I ended up with 40-50 notes. There was no organization. Because the point at this stage is not to organize or categorize anything. It's just to get everything out that's in your brain. Get it out, so that now it's in front of you and it's not just swimming in chaos.

I reached a point where I dumped out everything that had been on my mind and then I tried to get myself to keep making notes, but I was out of ideas. I reached a natural stopping point, and as I zoomed out of the whiteboard and looked at everything from a distance, I started to notice categories and patterns.

If you can observe those ideas, those concerns, those questions, instead of only experiencing them internally, it's a lot easier to have a more objective view and notice where things belong. Your priorities become so much clearer, and natural next steps become obvious.

Know your why

It’s not about the money. My clients find entrepreneurship because of a deeper calling, a desire to impact the world around them, a drive to provide something missing. It’s almost annoying that we also need to make money with our work, because I think neuroqueers could be out here changing the world for free if they didn’t have to worry about paying bills.

So yes, making money is important for a business, but it’s not the reason WHY you wanted to start. Whether you’re freelancing, providing a service, or selling your wares from a brick-and-mortar store, what is the thing that will keep you getting up in the morning feeling like your work matters?

Knowing your deeper reasons for becoming an entrepreneur can also help you tune out other people’s unhelpful criticisms. Most well-meaning people assume that a corporate job is stable and secure, while self-employment is a risky money pit.

But the reality is that traditional work as we know it (especially in the United States) is not built for us. The story is that it’s selfish, privileged, unrealistic, or insert-whatever-word-here to start a business—but frankly, it’s unrealistic and unsustainable for us to be going through these corporate workplace systems that burn us out until there’s nothing left.

You look for a job, you mask the interview, you get the job, you mask at work, you burn out, you get fired or laid off or quit because of the burnout, and then you start over. And that window gets smaller and smaller. Maybe your first job lasts four years, your second job lasts three, your next one is a year until you’re like, “I need to get off this fucking ride.”

Take the next right step

Notice that I didn’t say the right next step.

At this stage of the game, most steps you could take are important and necessary, but the overwhelm of deciding where to start can stop you before you even begin. So just choose a next step and follow it.

Look over your piles of Post-Its and choose one to start. Maybe it’s marketing strategy, or brainstorming offers, or researching healthcare options for self-employment.

Need a hand? We’re here to help! Book a vibe check with Caitlin or Liora today.