5 Success Tips for the Neurodivergent Online Business Owner

Let’s delve into something close to my heart - how neurodivergence affects online business owners. 

The intersection of neurodivergence and business is personal to me as a neurodivergent woman entrepreneur. You could say that my business approach has been hugely impacted - and I’d say strengthened - by my neurodivergence. 

An example is an emphasis on creating neurodiverse-centered business systems that integrate self-care. My habits and systems accommodate my unique neurodiversity, help me care for myself, and stay regulated. You could even say I DIY’d my own accommodations because no one was going to do it for me, right?

If you’re reading this, the odds are that you’re also neurodiverse. Perhaps you have an ADHD or AUDHD diagnosis. The following success tips focus on empowering you as you seek to flourish and build a successful business.

5 Tips for Neurodivergent Women Running Online Businesses

1. Cultivate Self-awareness

Self-awareness is a powerful tool that will significantly enhance your entrepreneurial path. Neurodivergent online business owners, however, need to be very intentional about developing a clear understanding of how their neurodivergence is impacting their business. This will give them specific data about their strengths, challenges, and triggers.

For example, neurodiversity gives us high levels of innovative thinking and creativity. And we may have general ideas about how this influences our work life, communication preferences, or problem-solving abilities. However, if we spend time journaling about all this, we’ll start to learn the specifics. 

We may identify specific triggers or situations that create problems. This allows us to begin incorporating targeted self-care practices, new habits, or systems to manage the triggers, build bandwidth, and increase productivity.

Practical ways to build self-awareness include: Journaling to reflect on your experiences; seeking feedback; scheduling and tracking your time; or exploring resources and self-assessment tools for neurodivergent business owners.

2. Find Your Neurodiverse Support Network

Seeking support holds particular significance for neurodivergent women entrepreneurs. A network that understands (or is familiar with) neurodiversity will provide unmatched support and insight. It helps us navigate mental well-being, connects us with resources, and offers mentorship and development. It also reduces feelings of isolation, which is common in the online business world. 

Plus, have you ever vibed with another neurodivergent person? I find it so freeing, and full of acceptance and relief. Perhaps this is the biggest bonus to having a network.

3. Create Structure with Plan for Neurodivergence

Planning and creating routines are part of running any successful business. But for a neurodivergent woman, they’re crucial because they provide the structure we need to stay on track.

Planning enhances focus, productivity, and adaptability while reducing overwhelm, decision fatigue, and anxiety. It enables neurodivergent entrepreneurs to tailor their work environments to their unique needs and preferences, meet deadlines consistently, and navigate the dynamic online business landscape without burning out.

Neurodivergent business planning means that everything you plan (your goals, strategies, habits, routines, etc.) should take your neurodivergent needs, traits, and triggers into account. This is about more than a bottom line.

4. Prioritize and Manage Your Time

Effective time management enhances productivity, minimizes time blindness, reduces stress, bolsters consistency and routines, and helps you adapt to variability in tasks or energy. Time management also allows precious rest and creates and protects work-life balance. Neurodivergent individuals need these things to stay regulated and reduce sensory stress. 

There are countless approaches to time management. Strategies like time blocking, utilizing digital tools, and planning regular breaks work for me and my needs as a neurodivergent business owner. 

5. Focus on Self-Care and Emotional Well-Being

Two particular vulnerabilities for neurodivergent women are stress and pressure. Stress and pressure are normal aspects of life and business. This said, we need to recognize whether they’re chronic or if we’re unable to process stress fully. Both of these turn everyday stress into harmful conditions.

Focusing on our emotional well-being through self-care and learning how to process our stress response is vital. It will strengthen resilience, foster executive functioning and problem-solving, and help support overall quality of life.   

Supporting your emotional well-being extends far beyond running a nice bath. It starts with learning about:

• your physiological stress response cycle
• how the stress cycle interacts with your neurodivergence
• and practical ways to integrate self-care practices that help process this stress response into your work and life 

Self-care practices can include journaling for reflection, a 10-minute grounding lunch break, or positive movement that helps your system regulate. I also consider intentional systems, habits, and routines of emotional self-care because they’re great for removing barriers to well-being. Think: a work schedule that prevents burnout while also supporting crucial the flexibility that neurodivergent people need.

Check out my Systems and Templates Masterclass if you’re called to explore how your neurodivergence impacts you as an online business owner. 

You’ll learn how to build functional business systems, and I’ve built in approaches for the neurodivergent woman entrepreneur, too. 

Learn more right here