Room for one more?

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I'm Peter. See the sig for pics and look here (AVEN profile) for me talking about stuff.

I was diagnosed with asperger's about a year ago, am depressive and just coming out of a major depressive episode. Now I'm trying to sort out my life and am struggling to set up a business, but depression, organisational problems and so on keep getting in the way.

Welcome Peter!

I've dealt with depression in the past. Not fun. Glad to hear you are digging your way out.

Have you ever heard of the organization SCORE.org? Its retired business men and women who are interested in mentoring newer entrepreneurs. Although its an American organization I'd think a business plan is a business plan regardless of where the business is located. They offer help via face-to-face (probably not an option in your case) or via e-mail. Just a thought.

Anyway, I'm glad you found WP and hope you enjoy it hear as much as I have.

BeeBee

Welcome to the wonderful planet of Wrong. I love it here, it is like my home or something...

I visited the score site, but it looks very US-centric and intimidating. I'm currently working with Business Gateway (http://www.bgateway.com), a UK organisation along the same lines as score, but they're not really equipped for dealing with asperger's. I've just recently gotten in contact with http://www.disabled-entrepreneurs.net/, who're hopefully going to help with asperger's and depression-specific things.

Right now I'm trying to do market research, but it's kind of hard when you're not good at approaching people and get stressed out in RL encounters. I did a small poll here - (AVEN poll), but I really need more data.

Thanks. I'm sure it'll fit in well with my internet addiction.

I read the thread on AVEN. Your ideas look very interesting.

So....your target market is 16+ hobbiest. I'd think having a booth with some protypes out and a survey out might work. People could come in, play with the sets, and tell you what they liked, didn't like, and what other things they'd like to see.

The only issues then are

1) Finding a gathering of the target market.

2) Making the protypes.

3) Writing the survey.

4) Working the booth.



There are reasons I could never be an entrepreneur BUT I admire you for being one.

I'm sure others will be more helpful....

Right now I'm also working on prototypes, but it's progressing about as quickly as the market research. I'm trying to learn to render as a means of rapid-prototyping, but I'm just starting out with that, and I'm also reading about tools and manufacturing methods, materials (MDF looks promising) and so on.

Reading some of the posts of aspies in employment has reaffirmed my conviction that self-employment is the only real option for me, however hard it might be to get it up and running.

The list was actually somewhat helpful, and got me thinking about a few things. Sometimes it takes a nudge from outside to get my brain heading in a particular direction. I'm always open to suggestions and ideas, and use them to fuel my imagination. Without fresh input, my mind tends to dry up and I get depressed.

Hello

I'm new here as well. Your discussion on employment caught my interest. If I had to do it over again I would go about the idea of being self-employed possibly. Though I don't worry about that now since I am not working. If I was going to do self-employment I'd invest into having an answering service. It would mean a cut into my salary but at the same time the service would be able to address questions to my business or leave me messages, etc. If I was doing it over again and I had to be employed by a firm I'd do something having to do with the technical field and programming. I wouldn't do a people job where I had to talk to customers who had complaints. Customer service wouldn't be a good thing for someone with AS, thus the answering service could be a very handy way to address that issue.

welcome to Wrong Planet. I've had Depression as well. It's a Nightmare to go through. I'm also getting my life back on track as well. You'll like it here.

Shelby Munro

Hi Peter,

I also suffer from depression, and have organizational problems.

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

Hi Peter. I recognize you from Ooops Wrong Planet Autistic Adult Picture Project (yes, I went through every single pic and read everyone's info-- all five pages). Good to see you here.

PS- I see Ooops is still down. I sent jypsie my pic as well, and then suddenly CRASH!! ! hehe, hope it wasn't my pic that did that, lol.

I should really update my profile there. Forget the plumbing thing - that never came to anything. E-business all the way!

People seem to remember the pic I've got for my av, so I use it wherever I go now. It's nice when someone starts with "Hey, I remember your pic from..."

So, thanks.

Hi, Peter! Good luck to you and your new business!

Welcome!

Welcome to WP! Good luck mate - I am at a crossroads myself, and think self employment is probably my best option if I can work out how to go about it. Depression sucks.

Dunc

I saw an article on answering services on a small-business news site (http://www.startups.co.uk/YdIxMjFojVE7hA.html), and though it looked quite good. It's been reccomended to my that I get a secretary or partner to make up for things I'm deficient in, so an answering service might be an economical compromise.



Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about it and swap ideas. If you're in the UK, I'll have specific info about who to call and stuff; otherwise I at least might be able to give you some pointers, and I find that batting info between people can lead to to new and interesting directions being explored.

Here, there's discussion groups for people starting their businesses, but you pretty much have to have all the details sorted out before they'll let you in. Right now I'm a bit shut out in the cold and left to my own devices, though I do have an advisor that I see occasionally, the DEN people and courses that I go on. I've got a whole bunch of IT courses coming up (all free), with one on the 18th about OSS in business.