I think I found my tribe ☄️ · ADHD Focus Founders

I think I found my tribe ☄️

This is my first post, which means I’ve overthought it, over-edited it, and finally decided to just hit “post.”

It’s a relief to find a community of real, like-minded founders. People balancing vision, focus, and the chaos that comes with it.

Short bio: I burned out of my 9-5 after clashing with management back in 2018. It's disheartening to feel like no one was in my corner when my main philosophy is to do the best I can in every situation. Results may vary.

I enjoyed the work. It was analytical, self-driven, and paid the bills. I didn't particularly enjoy being on the wrong end of unempathetic managers who prioritize their numbers over their people. Good people who work hard have hard times, and I'm reminded of that now as the roles are currently reversed.

I dabbled in a new job with various struggles. My days were interspersed with insomnia, panic attacks, and feeling like a total disappointment. I kept looking.

Then, I thought I found my calling in ASD therapy as a Registered Behavior Technician. Covid hit, and the day after I got my RBT certification we entered lockdown. I guess the universe was telling me, not this either, try again.

I took a job as an art teacher just to feel useful. The pay barely made up for the gas money to drive there. Then, the school shut down my department after 1 school year. Try again.

I took the opportunity to have my first child. Raising her is the best and hardest job I'd come across so far.

Enter 2023, my husband wants to start a business with his long-time colleague. They are technically brilliant and business challenged. They ask me to take the helm and help them bring their visions to reality. Why not? I go back to school in the fall for my MBA, and we officially register our business in December.

I forgot to mention, we're bootstrapping in a highly technical and capital intensive industry. It's so much fun.🫠

Fast forward to today, we have 3 businesses:

>>A geoscience lab in the oil and gas industry. We have an amazing team with over 50 years combined experience, and proprietary technology the turns drilling waste that no one was using effectively before into millions in added value. Our issue is scale. The process is time intensive and we need to automate. For that we need capital.

>>The same core team created an associated company strictly for data interpretation. We integrate complicated data sets from several disciplines in geoscience, and deliver meaningful reports that operators can actually use. The other guys give raw data alone. Less capital intensive, and came along later in the cycle when the budgets were already allocated. Working on messaging, networking, and building traction.

>>This summer presented a crazy opportunity to buy a business with unique services in an area we wanted to expand into beyond rocks, eventually: fluids testing. We had 1 week to move a lab with 40 years of history before the doors literally shut on us. We remodeled our space, the lab is set up, technicians are trained, and our main instrument decided to take a nap. Clients are chomping at the bit for services to resume, and I'm learning analytical chemistry to fix the equipment on a fixed budget.

All this with an energetic and curious toddler. The insomnia is visiting again, though in a different way. Now, my 3AMs are usually filled with researching what fittings I need to connect a female leur lock to a 1/16th teflon under mild pressures and exposed to organic oils and solvents. Don't worry, I figured it out.

Ok, that wasn't short and it turned into word vomit (a writer's term that's typically seen in a positive context). I forgot to mention I'm also an aspiring fantasy and science fiction writer, which I will return to once I sell my busineses.

Thanks again for having me, and for those of you who made it to the end, you're invited to my celebration once I hit $1 million ARR. It's 3:17 AM and this brain dump will enable sleep again. Good night and good luck to all here.

We've got this.

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