The I Am [Dot. Dot. Dot.] Podcast

Ep#29 I Am...Unraveling ADHD in Motherhood and Entrepreneurship

• Kristen Werner & Mia Steel • Season 1 • Episode 29

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Struggling with ADHD while juggling the hats of motherhood and entrepreneurship, I realised I was far from alone when Beck Craig asked me (Mia) to join her on her podcast  to unravel the tapestry of our experiences.

This week we're laying it all out on the table, from the revealing moments of our late ADHD diagnoses to the reshaping of our careers and lives as parents. Beck and I were both called to pivot from traditional roles, myself bidding farewell to nursing and Beck waving goodbye to the expected, all while navigating the choppy waters of remote work during a global pandemic.

If you've ever felt like you were running a marathon with your shoes tied together, this heart-to-heart is for you, unveiling the strengths and reframed perspectives that ADHD can bring to the entrepreneurial table.

This week's conversation delves beyond the hyperactive boy stereotype and into the rich, intricate world of inattentive ADHD, especially as it shows up in women.

We discuss the double-edged sword of social media—how it can be a lifeboat for self-care and simultaneously a siren call to burnout. Beck and I explore the creative spark ADHD ignites within us, fuelling innovation and a zest for 'brain first' living.

Our stories underscore the paradox of ADHD: the potential to feel shackled by shame while also possessing the key to a treasure trove of productivity and joy. Listen in for a candid, empowering discussion that might just reshape how you view ADHD and its role in the dance of life.

Check Out Bec Here @thebeccraig

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the I Am Dot Dot Dot podcast.

Speaker 2:

The podcast for busy mums who want to consume useful shit for their biz and their life. Here we tackle the things we know are holding mums and women back in their business.

Speaker 1:

We're not afraid to tackle the big shit, the bullshit and the good shit. We go from mum guilt to confidently learning how to kick ass in this digital space.

Speaker 2:

We will discuss the world of digital marketing and share life's tips and tricks for getting it done.

Speaker 1:

As six-figure business owners with over 10 years of digital marketing and brand experience, and mums to young kids, we get it, we share it and we own it. So buckle up and let's go. Let's go. I think we did a good job.

Speaker 1:

Crazy, crazy couple of weeks for school holidays for me and I've been out and about with the kids holidaying and doing all the things to reboot, relax and get ready for term two. Mia has been back into the swing of things and this week she is talking to Beck Craig on Beck's podcast, the Magnetic Marketing Podcast. Now, the conversation they have we know you are going to love because it is all around Mia's late ADHD diagnosis are going to love because it is all around Mia's late ADHD diagnosis, her journey to realizing what ADHD has done for her and what it's doing for her and really looking at that brain first way of living, and so the discussion that Beck and Mia have is really, really interesting. It's insightful if you've been diagnosed with ADHD later in life or maybe it's something that you're considering. I'm not going to lie, it's something that I have definitely been considering. Slash thinking that could be a situation I'm in.

Speaker 1:

But as we go right now, what's been amazing is listening to Mia's story unfolding of how we've built the Hive Hub Collective, how it's been intuitive in her journey, I suppose. But all things aside, this discussion between Bec and Mia is really, really wonderful and we wanted to share it with you on our podcast today. So settle back, get yourself a cup of coffee. Mia and I will be back in your ears next week, but for this week, enjoy the discussion with Bec and Mia. Okay, let's go.

Speaker 3:

Welcome to the Magnetic Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, bet craig, and today I'm speaking with mia steel from the hive hub collective. If I said that, right it's like a little tongue-tied, right it is a mouthful um.

Speaker 3:

Today we're going to be talking about adhd and business and what I'd love to really do today is talk through.

Speaker 3:

Obviously, I'm with Mia today.

Speaker 3:

She has been diagnosed with ADHD and I know that she is highly creative and very exciting and I feel like you're totally in the right work and the right business for your personality and I'm sure that I'm not sure of your age.

Speaker 3:

I'm sure you can go through that with us, but I'd love to hear your story.

Speaker 3:

But when it comes to obviously having a career and being in you know you're not obviously in your teens anymore and we are older women in life now. But then I'd love to talk through the perspective of a woman who, who does have a business, who has had a career and has had this late like diagnosis slightly later, so after career, after kids, all that sort of stuff and I'd love to talk about how that has impacted your journey before knowing a diagnosis and maybe some management skills around that. But also, what does it now gift you? Knowing what you, where you're at right now and how you can propel and help people, support people in the same sort of situation, maybe to recognize their self gifts around ADHD and how you manage it through business. So, mia, I'm gonna let you take the mic and tell us who you are and maybe give us a little bit of a personal note and a personal picture on who you are when it comes to you know obviously your business, but also personally in your personal life. Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2:

So I'm 38 years old, I've got two small kids and I had a pretty long career in the healthcare sector. So I was a nurse and a paramedic and you know, growing up it wasn't obvious that I had ADHD. Generally I was a very quiet young girl. I ticked all the boxes, I got good grades, you know, in primary school and it wasn't until high school where a few things started to happen that, you know, at the time I didn't think was ADHD at all as I got older and only realized the last couple of years that it was ADHD. But when I look back I can see some patterns.

Speaker 2:

But you know, I went through life basically thinking that you know, I had to have this career and I did the university degrees and I got the good job and I ticked all the boxes and quietly sort of just struggled on the inside. I had trouble holding down a job. I always wanted to pick up and move everything. I was always looking for change and excitement and taking risks and doing all that sort of stuff and at the time I didn't realise that it was ADHD. And it wasn't until I had my kids that I just got to this point where it was just all too much. I was just so burnt out that I couldn't go back to work. I was due to go back on road the very next day my maternity leave had ended. I stretched it out as far as I could and the night before I just emailed them and I said look, I can't come in, I'm done. And I had no plan B. I was just like, shit, okay, I've got to make something work. I was frantically looking online for online jobs and it was COVID at the time. So I randomly scored an online job, you know, taking phone calls on the COVID hotline, and it sort of dawned on me that I was like, wow, I can, you know, work from home and you know, work when I want to work and you know I can, the kids can be at home. And that sort of propelled me into this sort of online, remote working sort of world that I didn't really consider beforehand. And then I had this big realization after COVID, like a lot of people did, that we were about to build a house and I just thought I don't want to be trapped. I feel stuck. I feel so trapped. Let's sell everything, get in a caravan, do the trip around Australia. I don't know how I convinced my partner to do that. But he did. And you know we sold everything and jumped in a caravan and I had this laptop job.

Speaker 2:

And it was just by chance that I was doom scrolling on TikTok and I came across this video talking about user generated content that you know you could get paid to create content online and get paid for it. You didn't have to be an influencer and you know I'm a bit of a risk taker. I said, fuck it, I'm just going to do it. And next minute I know I'm a full-time content creator. I completely replaced my wage doing all these videos and for the first time in my life I felt like my creative juices were just flowing, because in healthcare it's not a very creative space to be in and it all just came out and I loved posting on TikTok and you know I was meeting all these amazing people online and doing all these videos, working with brands, and it sort of just snowballed to where I am today.

Speaker 2:

But it was through that journey that it was more of a self-discovery journey, because I was getting to be creative again and I started to notice TikToks talking about ADHD and I really, really resonated with them and I had it in the back of my mind, I'd watch the videos, I'd relate to them, and then it started to get a little bit too close to home and I thought, wow, this is making so much sense.

Speaker 2:

I think I might have ADHD. And then I went through the process and got diagnosed about six months ago now. So, and that diagnosis and that realisation has changed everything for me and I just wish that I knew this, you know, 20 years ago, and I would have led a very different life. I wouldn't have tried to stay in that career and do the university and, you know, tick all the boxes. So I'm very, very grateful for this path that I've that has led me here today. And yeah, it's. I love business now. I thrive, I I'm so creative and I'm really leaning into who I am instead of trying to mask it all and bury it all inside. So, yeah, it's been a great, great journey.

Speaker 3:

Oh my God, end of episode. That was so good. That's my life. I was like that makes sense, we don't need to talk about anything else. No, I do love that and I was going to ask you you, you know who you are obviously personally, but obviously who you are professionally as well.

Speaker 3:

So, 38, I thought I was like when I was saying it, speaking at the introduction, I was like I think she's like early 30s. I'm not gonna say okay, we're close, we're 80s babies, we're safe here. Um, but yeah, it's, it's such a common thing you, the 80s babies, anyone in their 30s to 40s, you know, getting this diagnosis now, because there is this conversation. There is and I wouldn't say that it's being normalized, but definitely there is more of a conversation around this and I think a lot of people are obviously being woken up to potentially this could be a part of their life as well because of that. And tell me, what have you discovered?

Speaker 3:

Um, tell me about ADHD from a perspective of I don't want to assume and I don't like obvious. There's a lot of things that I do that I'm like potentially, I think, but I don't have a diagnosis, and so I would love to get your, I guess, perspective and obviously coming from a place of being, you know, diagnosed. Like what is I? What is ADHD? Let's go to, like, even that 101, and I know we were speaking earlier around brain first, so I'd love for you to cover, I guess, a general synopsis around why ADHD. Like what is it that you've learned about it? Because this episode is about you know ADHD, and then we're gonna, I guess, bring it together with business. What did you discover? Obviously there's your journey in working out the symptoms that were going on for you and how it made you feel. Why ADHD and what is it from a perspective of a 38-year-old woman with two young kids. Tell me more.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so growing up I mean, even until recently, I'd never learned about ADHD. I didn't know much about it. I actually did three years of psychology at university before I did my nursing and I didn't really learn about it then. I didn't come across it much in my nursing career. No one in my family had been formally diagnosed with it. So it was this you know thing that I think everyone thinks of, like it's just a young boys thing. You know, it's the hyperactive young boys. They're naughty in class and that's sort of that stigma around that. And it wasn't until I started learning more about it on TikTok and the algorithm was doing its job for me, sending me all this stuff, that I was like, wow, okay, this is not what I thought ADHD was at all and women present very differently. And you know, it's only now that we're having these discussions about ADHD that a lot of people are sort of relating with that. And I think it's even now since I've been diagnosed, I still have trouble speaking about it with other people because there's still that stigma of, oh, everyone's got a little bit of ADHD or what do you? You know, you've got your life together, you're really successful, like what are you talking about. So I think people don't really understand that, especially for women, that it's very internalised, it's very. I was diagnosed with inattentive more so. So I'm not that hyperactive. You know version that everyone relates ADHD to. You know version that everyone relates ADHD to.

Speaker 2:

And now that I look back on my life and now that I understand this disorder and what it's about, that, I can piece together a lot of things in my life leading up to now, especially when I had my kids, where I was like, wow, yeah, that's ADHD all over. So things like drinking a lot of alcohol you know I've binged drink since I was 15, right up until, you know, six months ago, taking big risks, not being able to hold down a job, always looking for change. So I would move houses and cities and states constantly just trying to fill that hole. You know troubles with relationships, staying in relationships, putting myself in you know risky situations. So there's lots of little things along the way.

Speaker 2:

That sort of now that I know what ADHD is and now I know how my brain works that I can tie back to so many things in my prior life. So, yeah, it's it's. Yeah, I'm glad that it's being spoken about more these days because it might be able to help other women who are feeling the same, that they just feel like something's not right and they're not sure what it is. And when you look into ADHD, yeah, it can be a lightbulb moment for a lot of people.

Speaker 3:

And it's neuro, so it's brain. I know that you said filling that hole and it's neuro, so it's it's brain. I know that you said filling that hole. Is this? Um, from what I understand and I could be very wrong and I know we're not experts that's not what we're talking through right now but, like, is it a dopamine hit? Is that? Am I getting that right?

Speaker 2:

yeah. So from what I understand, I don't really know a lot about you know the technical neuro side of it, but you know ADHD brains are actually physically different. They don't, they're not able to produce enough dopamine. So therefore we go and seek dopamine all the time to get that sort of hit. So whether that's alcohol or food or you know change. So we're always seeking that dopamine. So, and when we don't have it, you know you feel pretty shit. And I've recently been medicated and even now I can feel that change, that I'm not seeking those things as much as I was before, because the medication is, you know, increasing that dopamine in my brain.

Speaker 3:

So on a daily basis, does it feel more neutral, like how would you describe before and after? Obviously, before you're seeking it, so you're looking for it and then you're getting it, and then it still feels. Did it still feel empty for you on the other side of, like you know, change, like if you moved house, were you like, okay, great, now I can move on? Were you seeking it next as well then versus now? Obviously a bit more new, but are you able to do that? A little bit more yeah.

Speaker 2:

So before medication, yeah, I was always looking for change. You know, taking big risks like selling everything, jumping in a caravan, quitting jobs, moving towns and all that stuff. It's just constant. I could never. I never felt happy and content where I was. Um, I've only been on medication for a few months, so I don't I'm not sure if that's going to, you know, change everything for me, but I'm definitely calmer. Things have slowed down, I'm not as anxious. I don't even think about alcohol anymore, so I can definitely start to see it improve with the medication. But you know, medication is not a magic pill. It's not going to fix everything. But I think the main thing is understanding how my brain works. Now is a really big help because I can see my patterns and I know oh okay, that's why I'm doing that. Let's take a step back and have a really good think about it before I go and do that thing.

Speaker 3:

That's crazy how good when it comes to, obviously, you work online. So there is the conversation and at this point in time I'm actually on a seven-day, no posting space, because, honestly, on Saturday I woke up, I had a little menti beat and my husband pretty much stood up and got my period straight away and I was like, ah, maybe this one. There it is. I spent the last 45 minutes crying and being all over the shop to you. Sorry about that, but I definitely was like. I was like my intuition is just saying just jump off socials for a week. And Aaron was like just do that then. And I'm like I can't. We've gone to Bali in two weeks. I've got stuff to do. He's like just do it, just follow it.

Speaker 3:

And I was like, okay, thanks for the permission slip, he's quite normal. And so I was like I'm just going to go off. And I was like I just need the noise to turn off for a bit. And honestly, I've been doing this for eight years Like I'm. It's not something that I need frequently, I don't. I don't struggle with it usually, but obviously there's a dopamine hit in the scroll hole Like how do you go? Do you have schedules, or has it ever been a problem for you being in the online space. Obviously, tiktok's pretty consumptive and it's a fun platform. I have learnt so much on TikTok in TikTok University, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Amazing.

Speaker 3:

But tell me, like, is it just drinking? That was kind of obviously. You've described the moving like how do you go with business and being on social media? How do you, I guess, do you struggle with that being that addictive dopamine hit in that format, being in the work that you're in? Obviously creativity. I want to talk more about that next. But have you ever struggled with that and, if you have, what were the symptoms? Just for the listeners out there, what were the symptoms, maybe, and how do you manage that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So TikTok's been huge for me and it's like a dopamine hit every time you get on there. And I definitely still struggle with that. I still have nights where I'm up at one o'clock in the morning scrolling TikTok and I'll go oh shit, like it's so late, I'd just put your phone down. Um so, but I mean, it's hard when it's your job and you know being on socials and keeping up with trends and knowing what's going on and posting all the time, when it's part of your job it can be difficult. But I'm like you. I sort of I go hard and then I get to this point where I'm sort of burnt out and then I won't post for ages, I'll just recoup and just sort of switch off a bit. And you know it is hard because you know posting it's your income, it's you know. Know, if you stop doing the thing, you stop getting income.

Speaker 2:

But I think it's really important to just realize that, okay, I'm scrolling too much, it's consuming me. You know, watching too much content can be detrimental to your own business because you start comparing yourself to other people and you're, you know, consuming instead of creating. So I, I know when I'm getting too far into this doom scroll and I'll just have to turn it off, and just you know, it's just being aware. Aware of that, and I've also started putting things on my phone like apps that sort of lock you out of those platforms for a few hours at a time, so you can't just dive in there and and like I'll be watching TV and the ads will come on and I'll automatically pick up my phone to go and scroll, because it's just like I'm just trying to get a hit from somewhere. Um, but putting those apps on my phone has really helped because it's like no, this is not the time to just sit there and scroll. So, yeah, those apps have been helpful as well.

Speaker 3:

I love it. You're like from the eighties watching TV with ads. Who are we For, the people that are probably going to go spend half an hour looking for an app that can lock you out? What's the name of the one that you use?

Speaker 2:

Oh, good question. I've only just downloaded it recently because I catch myself all the time it's called Opal. I'm sure there's there's many of them out there, but I think you can actually do it inside the iPhone. Have a Google anyway. But yeah, it's been helpful because I'll go to look at the app and it'll be like faded out. I'm like, okay, that's great.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and give yourself like, set yourself a timer to go searching for those apps, because we always find how easily we can get, and I mean it's made to be that way. Like you know, facebook and you know, playing the pokies is the exact same strategy. I mean, here we pull the news feed down like we would at pokies you know pulling an old school pokies, you know machine down, where we, you know everything it refreshes and we get new stuff. Like it's the exact same thing as gambling for our brain, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3:

So setting that time and the whole idea, a lot of apps, and you'll see this with your kids. Like you know, they don't, you can't look at the time while you're inside a lot of apps and I don't know if people are aware of this. But that whole point of that is that you do get lost in your time in that. So I find sometimes just telling Siri that you need to set a timer for half an hour I do this with my kids all the time and I find that I could yell at my kids for like half an hour to get off you know a phone, and or I could set a timer for half an hour and they hear it straight away and they turn the phone off themselves. And it's like that pat, that neurotransmitter or that neuro, you know, pattern interrupter. It can really really help you. I think when I was doing network marketing, we used to do this say, set a timer, you know, scroll, get inspired or whatever for 10, 15 minutes, and it's as simple as saying hey, siri, set a timer for 20 minutes. Yeah, and it can. You know, pop, pop you out, but opal sounds like a good app as well.

Speaker 3:

Um, so tell me, do you think your adhd and your crew like, do you feel like it's a strong, like a lot of people would feel shame or guilt? Or, like you know, especially in the before, you kind of look at it from a perspective of what can I do with this? Did you feel like shame or like did you feel bad about having it prior? Or, you know, obviously you said like you could never get happy or joyful, like for those people right now who might be in that space. And I know, like I've got two young boys and I listened to a lot of Maggie Dent and I'd love to be the perfect mom and I'm totally not, but I really do feel in my heart. I'm like if, when we shame them and I can't help myself sometimes I get so frustrated with them, but shame them as little kids that can be so detrimental to them as adults. And yeah, boys that grow up and they're like I'm nothing, I can't do this.

Speaker 3:

You know all that sort of stuff that breaks my heart when it comes to and I felt that like I felt that when I was younger I don't know if you did as well, mia, but when it comes to you feeling and I've done a lot of professional personal development. Do you feel like the progress to where you are now? Did you ever feel that shame? Or what would you say to somebody who is maybe feeling that and versus like, because I see, when I see you online and I you know, obviously we had a conversation before we jumped on now and I'm just like, I just see a bright, joyful, like, break that black and white world where it's just like, it's playful, and I'm like more of you, more of you speak, more, tell us more you know. Um, so I encourage that and I'd like to know do you think the creativity and the absolute chaos that ADHD can bring is a positive thing? Um, and what have you felt prior, maybe before around that shame or guilt, if you have?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I don't think. I definitely think it's a positive thing. Um, I don't know what the statistics are, but it's something. I don't know what it is, but one in three entrepreneurs have ADHD. So you know this, this creative, risk-taking, problem-solving type of mind is perfect for this space.

Speaker 2:

And you know, before I realized that I had ADHD and before I got into this online space, you know I felt like I had to stay in a job to keep everyone else happy. And when I first started posting on TikTok, you know I was mortified. If anyone that I know came across my account and found out what I was doing and I was you know I was creating this content for brands so they would use them as ads. And you know my friends would screenshot the ads and say is this you Like? What are you doing? And you know it was really embarrassing and, but I just had to keep reminding myself that I'm doing this for me. I've never, ever, felt so content and happy in a job like I do now. It's just been such a game changer for me.

Speaker 2:

So whenever I feel embarrassed or, you know, shameful about, you know, having a career on TikTok, I just have to remember that this is for me, and this is for my family, it's for my brain, it makes me happy and if I let that get to me, I would still be nursing or I'd still be in ambo and I'd be miserable and burnt out.

Speaker 2:

So, um, there is definitely, you know, some self-development that you have to go through to. You know, get to that stage where you just have to block everyone else out and just do what's best for you and live that sort of brain first life. But, yeah, I think having an ADHD brain is perfect for you know, working online in business as an entrepreneur because I don't know about you, but I really struggle with people telling me what to do and being at a certain place at a certain time and repetitive tasks, and you know all that sort of stuff and when you're your own boss, you have complete freedom to work when you want, where you want, how you want, you can be as creative as you want. So I just I'm I'm grieving a life that could have been different if I hadn't known all of this, you know, a long time ago.

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's potent yeah.

Speaker 2:

And so you said brain first.

Speaker 3:

Could you describe and, I guess, give the audience a bit of ABC 101 and what is brain first and what could we compare it to?

Speaker 2:

yeah. So I've only been really thinking about this lately, since I've been diagnosed. Brain first to me is living a life that puts your brain first above anything else. So before I learned about my diagnosis and I was I was doing things. I was, I was a people pleaser diagnosis I was doing things. I was a people pleaser for one. I was doing things to make other people happy.

Speaker 2:

I was in a job because that's just what I thought you had to do. You know you get the job, you do all the things and everything that I was doing was not brain first. I wasn't happy, I wasn't creative. You know I was pushing my body outside boundaries. That you know was good for my health. You know I did love being an ambo at times.

Speaker 2:

It was a good job for my brain, but it wasn't a good job long term for my physical health. You know, doing the long hours, the 14-hour night shifts, the you know seeing all those awful things. It wasn't a brain-first job for the long term. But I guess if you're in a career or in a situation where you're not putting your emotions and your brain first, then I feel like it's a really tough life to get through and it's almost like a constant daily struggle, and I didn't really think about all this stuff until I found out that my brain was different and that my brain works differently. So therefore, I have to do things that maybe aren't conventional but are putting my brain first, above anything else, and in turn, that makes me a better person and a better mum and all the things.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, one of my friends from primary school.

Speaker 3:

She's going through a diagnosis at the moment and she was like look, I know we haven't seen each other much over the last 20 years, but I can probably guarantee, as someone who knew for the first, you know, seven years of your schooling life I can tell you right now that the girl who was always running around, who was always joyful, who was always happy but always needed to exercise, is probably and she's like I've seen your career, you know post, you know post babies and stuff, and she was like I can almost guarantee that, I would say that.

Speaker 3:

But she also has done, she's very analytical and she looks at a lot of research. And she also said but I can also say she's like I could, I could say that you've been masking it, but I would also say that you've been managing it because I have always had, um, I've been um, I am like you, I the rebel, don't tell me what to do, I'm not good with authority. And this is probably why I put up a TikTok saying you know, is this a genetic thing or is this also overlay with trauma? And because I was like well, I saw a TikTok or I don't know something online that had said most entrepreneurs are the rebels and they don't like being told what to do. And this lady had said I can almost tell you the type of upbringing that you've had you know.

Speaker 3:

I love that you've just referred back to. Our brains work differently. And classic case Like I've got two boys, two completely different boys, and if I hadn't discovered Maggie Dent, who kind of puts the types of, you know, the boys in the rooster or the lamb behavior, which is like just two different kids, like I think, like even up to the 80s and 90s kids, in those generations it was one way, it was black and white, it was one way of working, one way of parenting, one way all that stuff. And so even Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about this with his brother. He's like how can you know, two of us have the exact same trauma, that's exact same upbringing, but one goes one way and one goes another.

Speaker 3:

And this is the thing is that when we can understand ourselves, you know, I guess, as parents as well, when we can understand, like, more about the brain and behaviors and personality types and all that jazz, we can parent differently and we can do a better job. But you know, know, I feel like I'm going through a reparenting um phase for myself, um, and so, yeah, it's, it's definitely one of those things where I have always been able to manage and mask really well with exercise. But also exercise is good for us because it does give us those over means. And the question is you know what is the better addiction, what is the worst addiction? And it's like we just I think the acceptance of it and the conversation around is so positive right now I'd love to know from you do you exercise, is that something that you help, that helps manage it? And like routine, like what are the top top?

Speaker 3:

I guess my question is like for you, for you talking and sharing with other people right now in business, because we know when we're in business, we're not in business. It's not just business, it's business and personal. Like we have to look through our personal self because, more than likely, we're passionate about what we do and we do do it outside of the nine to five grind and so and there are going to be personal parts like that we bring into our business because it's who we are. Like personal branding or not, it doesn't matter. More than likely, most creators are a personal brand. But when it comes to like your top two tips for somebody who might be seeing symptoms or might be diagnosed and struggling with how they're gonna like integrate this with their business online, um, what would be like you can do more than two, but what would be your top two tips to share with someone so they can improve their business? That might be, you know, in this world where they are experiencing you know, symptoms like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think a huge one for me is surrounding yourself with like-minded people. So getting yourself into a community with other entrepreneurs who just get it, because nine times out of 10, you know your family and friends don't really understand it, especially if you've got ADHD. They're not going to understand the way your brain works to begin with, but they they might not understand why you're doing it. You know it's just a you know silly TikTok job and what have you. It can can be really difficult in that sense. But for me, even from the start of my journey, I've always surrounded myself in a community of other people who are creators and entrepreneurs and that's just my outlet. I know I can go to them at any time and have a chat about business and you know people not getting it and you know when business isn't going well you need someone to talk to, because generally you know family and friends won't understand that. And for me, a lot of my friends don't even really ask what I do because it's just so foreign to them that they just sort of don't even go there. So definitely surround yourself. And even now that I've been diagnosed with ADHD, speaking with other people who have ADHD has made me feel so much better because I'm like, I'm not the only one that thinks like this. I just thought I was weird, um.

Speaker 2:

So, just yeah, getting yourself in the room with other people that are like you is really, really important in business and, and, um, if you're being diagnosed with ADHD and I'm still on a bit of a journey, um, of finding out how to find balance in this space I I've really struggled with, you know, eating and my weight and not exercising. I still don't have, you know, a regular exercise regime. I find, with um, now that I know it's possibly because of ADHD that I can't stick to things, I'll start something, I'll get bored of it and give it up. Same with dieting, and so I'm still trying to find that balance of when to put the boundaries up, where this is my time now and this is business time now, because it all seems to overlap. So I'm still, yeah, working on that side of things now that I know my brain works this way.

Speaker 3:

I love it so good. I just have one last question for you, so we'll make it short and sweet, but tell me something. Look, everything's probably exciting for you, but talk me through something that is exciting for you that's coming up either personally or professionally over the next six to 12 months.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so our membership Hive Hub Collective. I randomly met my co-founder on TikTok and she quote unquote probably has ADHD herself as well. She's undiagnosed, but the writing's on the wall there and we've got so many like. Our brains just work exactly the same way. We bounce off each other all the time. We've got all these amazing ideas and we're planning an in-person live creator event um this year for people like us me, you who have these creative minds, who just want to, you, you know, come together, meet, network, you know, create, you know content together. So that's a big, exciting thing on the books for us. And when you've got your own business and you're an entrepreneur, you can actually bring your ideas to life and turn them into tangible things. You know, when you're in a nine to five, it's really hard to do that. So it's exciting space to be in and just having the freedom to create something out of nothing is, yeah, super exciting for me.

Speaker 3:

I love it. Thank you so much for chatting today. I can't wait to share this and if anyone has any questions, please. I've got in the show notes. You can go straight to Mia's TikTok, but I'll also pop the High Puff Collective in there as well so you can go and check out what you guys do there. Thank you so much for our chat today.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for having me back. It's been great. See you Check the podcast. We've got so many good ones too.