ADD and work career

I had a myriad of ideas… all there, sure I would make money somehow! I didn't need much to start off with, and I loved photography. I started my own photographic business, looked older than my 20 years! I enjoyed the photography, and had been trained by a German Professional – boy, was he hard and strict and meticulous! The best I could have had, in spite of resenting it at the time. ADD Coaching will help with things like structure. He provided the Structure that I needed. He also provided the Skills and the Strategy. These are things I came to learn about much later, and now incorporate in my ADD Coaching. The other thing needed, and covered in ADHD Coaching, is Support. This may be the first essential ingredient.

Photography was great, and I had Thompsons Publications paying me a retainer! The bubble burst, Thompsons restructured, and they decided I was only being used by the Engineering which was 1/3 of the group, so my retainer was suddenly reduced to a third. Better go get another secretarial job!

I had left Zambia under strange circumstances – the owners of the company that my boyfriend was working for disappeared owing over a million Kwacha. We had to move fast as they had not sent in any of the registrations they said they had, meant he was working illegally. I went to London where my dad and mom were living. Worked in Riding School first and gained valuable training. Then found a job in Trafalgar Square, office facing the Nelson's Column statue, working for Solicitors in London as a secretary. Worked in Holland in a riding school again, before going back to South Africa.

With the little experience I had it was not difficult to get a job. The job was great, only thing is that I was not crazy about some of the managers or some o f the people I worked with. The second I found a discrepancy in their authenticity or their honesty, I was unable to respect them. This did not auger well in the company! When doing ADD coaching now, I hear this above statement so many times. It seems to me that an ADD person tends to say and do things that people interpret as disrespectful or even insubordinate! The ADD person is being honest – they usually don't do too well at telling lies.

So I moved through the ranks, alternately working for myself and for a large corporation.

I set up a computer company, and after 4 years of training and supporting a lawyer the lawyer registered my company name (as a thank you gift – it never occurred to me to do this). I was delighted! I had my own company registered. I still had the photographic Studio and was still working for a corporate.

I was also studying for a degree – had discovered something called "Distance Learning" which meant I could work and study at the same time. It was also less expensive than the local university.

As an ADD Coach, one of the things we recognise is when a person is as 'busy' as I was, is this is a typical scenario of an ADD person. Typical too of Entrepreneurs as they don't like working for a boss, they want to be the boss!