Neurodiversity Business -The Ultimate Starting Out Guide.

I love helping people to start out in the Neurodiversity sphere. So many lovely people helped me when I started, and I always feel a duty to return it in some way. I wanted to condense some of the most useful things I have learned, and pass them on.

Starting out is NOT easy. I spent tens of thousands of pounds to get NTI going, I thought I could handle it, do it all myself, but really needed advice and guidance from those who have been there before. When I started, I was an early stage wannabe speaker, and had just released a book! From the clients I have worked with, and my own experience - I wanted to give the five solid things that you need to grow!

1) MISSION STATEMENT CLARITY - many people reach out to me and say - "I want to set up a charity to get autistic adults in to work" or "I want to become a coach for ND people" etc. Time to narrow that down a bit! It is going for your ideal customer/supporter etc. So here is an example of a crystal clear mission statement - "I coach autistic women and girls to higher self-confidence". Or, "we work with autistic school leavers to find opportunities in the cyber security industry". These are just examples - but notice how much better they sound when clear. This is what potential clients will see, if they are clear on what you do, it will bring more confidence! Simple.

2) THE OFFER - what can you bring to people, that other people are not bringing? Simply saying "my insights, or lived experience" is not going to work. This is an example of a good offer, that ties into a coaching/workplace service. That is - what outcomes are people going to achieve working with you? So lets say you provide training for teachers - your offer is - "we remove unconscious negative bias toward autistic children, using our unique model of training, that boosts relationships between autistic children and teachers, and reduces complaints" etc. Basically, if your programme/training/service has tools/guidance that is easily found on a search engine for free - people tend not to pay for that.

3) A SOLID EXECUTION STRATEGY - So you have an ideal buyer for your service, you have an offer - so what you need to do is have a VALIDATED OFFER. You need to have a validated message to the market and this can involve alot of things - leadership marketing, trials for your product/service, paid advertising and social posting. It isn't a case of throwing it out there to everyone and hoping it sticks somewhere. You need to target the IDEAL person, with your IDEAL offer. When we nail this with our clients, we notice they can generate alot of interest, build a pipeline of work, and command a premium fee.

4) TO OVERCOME YOUR FEAR OF "GETTING OUT THERE" - Something I see very regularly, is working with people who are afraid of getting themselves out there out of fear of judgement. I was exactly the same. Although if you have a solid execution strategy, with a great offer that people are giving testimonials about - then that fear will disappear! I see it time and time again. There is nothing worse, than thinking you have it NAILED and it not working when you put it out.

5) A WILLINGNESS TO INVEST IN YOUR IDEA - Imagine going into Dragon's Den or Shark Tank. Imagine your proposition is "I would like 100k in exchange for 0% equity in my business - plus I have no prototype". Doesn't really work does it? If you are setting up a charity/coaching business/charity or CIC - funders and investors will want to know how much you invested into your own idea.

Without those five things in place, it is going to be infinitely harder for you to launch into the space with the impact your project deserves! Food for thought....

Jude Morrow