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TL;DR - 21-year-old entrepreneur, ran semi-successful business, faced burnout, got diagnosed with ADHD, seeking advice on a ‘service as a product’ design business, and need to validate it so I don’t waste money that my father wants to lend me to run ads.

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I’m 21yo entrepreneur with a bit of an unusual journey and I need advice.Long story short, traditional education system didn’t suit me, so I was always learning stuff on my own. Even thought I come from lower working class, I was always into entrepreneurship, literally selling YouTube banners for 0.5$ when I was 12.

After huge success with my Discord development agency last year, my journey took a turn for worse is when I experienced severe burnout, leading to a year of inactivity. There wasn’t a single day where I didn’t think about how I’m wasting time. Few days ago, I got diagnosed with ADHD. I decided to take meds and it was like putting glasses on for the first time, so without missing a beat I jumped right back.

Now I’m at a crossroad. I have an idea for a “service as a product” design business, I made the MVP on the freelancing site I ran my last business on, since I have a bit of past clients to try to contact there. Problem is, all the money I’ve earned is gone and I literally had to ask my dad to lend me some money to run ads from his saving budget. He agreed to lend me a bit to get started, but I need to validate my idea to him. I definitely feel bad asking him for money and would feel even worse if I at least can’t get assurance this is something that could work.

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This is where I need your opinion and advice if this is something viable (of course any advice in general would make my day):

  • General idea is that a client can make unlimited design requests for a flat monthly fee, instead of having to work with multiple freelancers or pay in-house designer (which can be costly, especially at times when they don’t have work for them)
    • Do you think this is something viable?
    • Do you think there is a market out there for this?
    • What would be the best way to promote this?
    • What would we the best way to communicate the value to potential clients?

I always try my best to give advice to people when they need it, so I really hope you guys can give me guidance this time 🫶

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  • AverageJohnnyTWOPBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I completely get your view on ADHD terms being thrown out there a lot, especially in todays day and age where everyone has problem focusing.

    If it makes my point any more valid, getting diagnosis where I’m from, especially if you’re an adult is extremely hard, but my ADHD was so obvious that the journey wasn’t as painful.

    Now that I’m on meds there probably isn’t a need to run my business any different then everyone else, but before meds my business and I suffered through a lot because of inability to complete and finish tasks.

    I know ADHD is hard to understand, but first imagine it as 100 thoughts at max volume apear in your head every minute. You start doing task a but remember there are tasks b,c and e which are also important then oh that’s a nice car, I should reply to my friend, who’s arguing outside, where are my keys… Task A is long gone.

    Focusing on a task is like holding your hand above a stove. If it’s at 1, you can hold it for a long time. Sure it can be a bit uncomfortable and if you do it for too long it will be painful. Now imagine that stove is at 10, how long would you be able to hold your hand above it before moving it? And what about next time? Your brain will tell protect you by increasing the uncomfortable feeling so you move it away quicker.