Accounting Firm Made Up of Aspies?

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Hi all,

I only recently found out I'm on the spectrum, so I was hoping people with more knowledge/experience could give their opinions on an issue I'm having.

I'm an accountant. I went through two public accounting jobs and lost both of them. I felt like my "bad" work habits and reluctance to socialize were the reasons I lost both. So I decided to go into business for myself. That's gone much better, but recently I've been forced to admit that I'm never going to be able to make any real money at this because doing so would mean hiring employees. I don't like the thought at all- right now I spend most days alone and I like it that way. The last thing I want is to have to deal with someone else being in my bubble all day.

But there doesn't seem to be any way around it. I am not making hardly any money, because there's only so much work I can do by myself. If I want to expand the business, but....that means spending lots more time with people. This, on top of the fact that other parts of my work stress me out (such as tending to last minute emergencies, relationship building with clients, answering the phone- which I hate) has led me to the decision to close my tax firm.

As I begin to notify my clients, they're literally begging me to reconsider or agree to keep being their accountant after I close the business. I've always made it a point to maintain certain normal professional standards, like returning phone calls, replying within 24 hours, etc....whereas other accountants do not. I think my clients are very happy with that. At the same time, I've instituted policies that strongly discourage behaviors that annoy me and clients don't seem to mind at all. For instance, my rates change the later the client is with bringing me their documents- I sugar-coat this by calling the lower rates a "discount" for being early. Or how I charge extra for face-to-face appointments to encourage clients to just email me instead. I've not heard complaints out of any of them.

I'm so torn... on one hand, the stress is eating me alive. On the other, I'm terrified to walk away from a career I've worked so hard to build. This has led me to an idea. What if I hired people on the spectrum instead of NT's? What if I am upfront and tell all my clients about my limitations and make rules to create a comfortable work environment for myself and my employees? Would people really put up with policies meant to severely discourage last minute emergencies? With an accountant who is very responsive...as long as you communicate by email?

Opinions would be greatly appreciated! I don't know if I am kidding myself or what. I guess I am just agonizing over walking away from a profession that is supposed to hold so many opportunities I had planned on moving on to focus on internet retail, but if that succeeds, won't I be facing hiring employees someday to help with shipping?

Help!

what country are you in?

discouraging last minute emergencies is quite desirable in accounting. People just want the score basically.

I like your idea but you will need a mix of people to grow a business fully - at least i believe you would.

I dont think you throw the towel in on this yet. That is a poor idea. You can hopefully engineer a hands off boss scenario if you just want to get on with actual work and even if you did scrap it the fact remains - no man is an island.

Vlinder, it sounds as if our professional trajectories have some remarkable parallels.

First, I didn't find out I was aspie until about three years ago (I'm fifty).

I'm a librarian and while I didn't lose my first two professional jobs, my people skills meant I didn't fit in well despite my exemplary technical skills.

What I did was when my last job started not going well, I took on the job of director at a non-profit public library, which means I'm boss, and it's my responsibility to hire a staff. Much to my pleasant surprise, hiring for me has been very easy. Over the last fourteen years, I've hired hundreds of people, and with only a couple of regrets. What I'm getting at is that if your history parallels mine in that you've had a rough time with people your entire life, after a while we develop a skill for knowing who we can work with and who we can't.

So, what I would do, since you don't trust your hiring skills, is to talk to a temp agency, have them send over a person, and if you get along with them, you hire them.

Maybe I'm reading to much into your remarks, but I hope you don't sell yourself short on being able to hire good people before you even try.

Finally, I would add that what most aspies aren't good at is politics, which is the art and science of persuading people over whom we do NOT have authority. When we employ somebody, we do have authority, and it's a completely different dynamic. It becomes the employee's job to deal with you, and not vice versa, though employees should always be treated well.

I hope this helps....