Has anyone here tried starting a business?

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Anyone ever started their own business? Or tried, or thought about it?

I'm about to, but with that said my Dad's career is basically as an entrepreneurial coach so I have it easy.

It wouldn't be a business with multiple employees either, just me offering various services as a freelancer.

I have my own business. I wanted it to be my sole source of income, but the networking and marketing involved in order to get enough clients is near impossible for me. So I now run it as a side venture, with mostly just my first client who I have an ongoing contract with, and odd jobs every now and then. I love it.

(As above, it's just me, freelancing.)

I've considered it, but I don't think I, and a lot of aspies, have the social skill needed to market and network ourselves so that people will know about us.

I did that, years ago. It was modestly successful, although had I worked for someone else for those 5 years I would have made a lot more money. Marketing, networking, business planning, executive function tasks are things that are hard for people with autism. But ultimately it was the inability to scale up that made me leave the enterprise. I could never make enough money doing all the work myself; but I did not enjoy supervising other people, and also it was hard to find people with my degree of talent for the work.

I learned a lot, though, and from that standpoint, it was a smashing success.

I have my own business. Started out as just me and then grew to a still-micro-sized business with six staff, three are part time. It works very well for me because I am self-driven, provide an essential service, and I don't have to have a boss. I never could stand working for anyone else because there were forever conflicts, mostly about doing the job right (I always wanted it done better.) I have worked very long hours for many years, although I have cut back this year. I can largely set my own schedule which really helps because some of the work is emotionally exhausting. Frequently I come home from meetings and have to immediately take a nap. I have been doing this for almost 20 years. Before that I worked many professional jobs, but never lasted more than 18-20 months at any one position, because I couldn't stand the socialization, the time wasted, the low ethical and performance standards.