Any aspies here run their own business?

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I was lucky enough to get a job when I graduated but have been stuck there ever since. Too afraid to leave and find a new job (not that I need to as its fairly well paid but not exactly what I want to be doing for the rest of my life).

So I fancy a change. I have a few business ideas which I'm interested to develop. My biggest fear is the whole people skills side of it, for example, networking, sales pitches etc.

Are there any entrepreneurs here who can share their experiences? How do you overcome the disadvantages of having AS out in the business world?

I'm a restauranteur of sorts, a consultant at least and it's really actually fine being Aspie and networking because you talk about your interests (mine is cooking and chefs will talk food all day long) and the relationships are superficial. Our good memory for names, places, facts, etc. will "connect" us to our network because you can go up to Bob and go how are Jill and Danny (his kids, you remembered their names) and he's delighted you asked about his kids (you have picked up on the "ask about family" to business contacts as a "getting closer" move that really doesn't go anywhere [anyone else analyze the mess out of this stuff like I do!? ]) but NTs like this kind of chit-chat.... yadda yadda blah blah... you get the idea?

i have a business which i bought 2 years ago. i was a computer programmer for many years before that on a good salary, but the company i worked for was taken over, and the new owners outsourced my job to an indian company who did the job for about 1/5th the amount i was paid.

i can not "sell myself" well, and i realized rapidly that i was not going to be able to compete with more social applicants for jobs i applied for (the reason i got the first job was that my fathers friend who was a systems analyst knew of my intense interest in programming, because i had written hundreds of programs for myself, and he recommended me).

so i looked for businesses for sale, and i was considering buying cafes or newsagents etcetera, but the advice i got was that i would have to work 12-14 hours per day 7 days a week in order to keep the businesses going.

while the purchase price was surprisingly cheap, the other aspects of the businesses were untenable.

for example, i saw an ad for a cafe in a trendy inner sydney suburb, and it had a turnover of $900,000 per year yielding a revenue of $250,000 per year, and the asking price was $48,000. i was excited, but after some investigation, i found that i would have to hire 3 staff members and pay $150,000 per year in rent for the shop, and i would have to work myself from dawn until late at night in order to make a profit. as well as that, i would have to have a starting up capital of about $20,000 per week to buy stock. after i did the sums, i found that for all my work and headaches, i would make only about $40,000 per year if all went well, so obviously that was not acceptable.

it was a similar situation for the newsagent etc.

anyway, i eventually saw a frozen chip delivery run for $60,000, and the run came with 20 shops who were existing customers. if i did the run myself in my truck (that i would have to buy), i saw that i would make about $1500-$1600 per week in profit for 3 days work per week, and the work could be done in about 6 hours per day, so to start at 6 am and finish at 12pm, and always have the next day off seemed a very good deal for me.

i bought the run for $60,000 and a truck for $16,000, and i delivered the chips myself until about 1 year ago. my AS initially may have made some of my customers nervous (of course they did not know i had AS) because i was not at all sociable and jocular with them, but after a short amount of time, they liked me.

at first they thought i was just a delivery driver, and when they had a problem with the quality of the chips i delivered (which happens from time to time), they treated me like a lowly idiot and they demanded i "tell my boss" that they are not happy, and when i told them that i am the boss, and that i would not ever charge them for substandard stock, and i would replace it immediately, they warmed up to me immensely.

if they had a complaint, i asked them to cook some chips for me, and if i saw that they burned easily (the most common problem) i would agree wholeheartedly, and i would ring the supplier in their presence and blast the supplier and sort out the problem.

they realized that they were more important to me than my supplier, and they felt that i was on their side, and they also liked how forceful i was to resolve the situation immediately.

so they realized i am not a talkative person, and their jokes and merriment do not affect me in any way, but they realized that i was only interested in quality of stock and reliability of delivery, and in the end, all of them were more valuing of those 2 attributes than of my ability to socially involve myself with their friendly remarks.

people are more interested in dedication to their satisfaction than they are in being friends. that is for sure.

as it is now, they would not ever want to lose me as their supplier because even NT's are very happy with satisfactory routines that never vary.

about 1 year ago, i decided to hire a driver to do the deliveries of the chips, and i chose him well. he is friendly as well so that is a bonus, and i told him that if any customer was unsatisfied to ring me and i would sort it out instantly. the going rate for a driver is apparently $140 per day, but i would not pay anyone that much, so i pay him $200 per day and he is very happy with that.

a few months after hiring him, i bought another run that is similar to the first run, and so now the driver has 6 days per week work (which is his ideal arrangement), and i still get about $350 per day profit after paying him, so i am now in a position where i make about $2100 per week for only the effort of ringing the customers every afternoon to take their orders for the next days deliveries.


so i guess what i am trying to say is that when you have a business, you have customers, and customers want a good deal and reliability and continuousness of quality, and if they are confident that you are providing that, you will not lose them.

in fact, they will talk about their satisfaction with other people they know who have shops, and i often get calls from new shops asking me to become their supplier, but unfortunately i can not service any more shops at the moment because i do not want to work my driver any more than his current work load.

i am however thinking of getting another truck and driver, and taking those new shops on.


i have no idea how to start a business with no capital from scratch unfortunately.
some people are successful ebay traders, but i have no idea what to buy or where to sell it, and my advice is to buy an established business (after analysing it) and then improving it.

I do, and have done since high school. From 18 until 35, I was a TV and VCR repairman, and had a CA license to operate that business. I didn't really do so well at the money end though. I liked the job, and failed to charge competitively, and often didn't bother to bill for work done, if I liked the customers. Now my wife and I own operate an avocado farm, and we do fine with her handling the money, and me handling the operations, maintenance of machinery, irrigation, etc. It's a great partnership that is working (God willing) very well even in this economy.

Charles

I set up my own business in part because I really can't function as an 'employee' - I find the never ending elaborate costume party required more effort than the job I was employed to do.

I don't suffer fools gladly, if at all and I am simply not a 'team player'.

Having my own business means I can direct far more of my energies at my work, than when I was working as a day laborer/salary man/ (fill in the blank)

I've run my own business for just over three years now. My experience seems to agree with b9's. I provide excellent service at a good price, I'm reliable and deliver what I promise, and so my customers are satisfied, and happy to recommend me to their friends. Word of mouth is the best advertisement! Being my own boss allows me to make my own schedule; I know what I can manage and usually my days proceed fairly peacefully. I know I come off as awkward and shy to a lot of people, but it seems to make them want to help me by sending me more business!

I've been self employed for about 10 years now doing programming and electronics design. There is no way I'll go back to being employed now. Most of my work comes in through word of mouth and I never need to network (which is lucky as I would be hopeless at it). One very important rule I have discovered is to always listen to your customers. You may think they are crazy but still listen to them and try to understand what they want. It also pays to do your best to help them out if they get themselves in trouble, even if it means working late or over a weekend. Customers really appreciate it if you are willing to go that extra mile.

I was a bit lucky starting my business. In my previous employment I was their only designer and programmer. When I left I carried on doing their work as well as taking over design work for a number of their customers. It suited everyone really. My previous employer still got their design work done and at a lower cost than employing me full time. I got the freedom of self employment with an instant customer base.

Starting from scratch is much harder. Try to start small and build up from there. If you can start up while still in your current job, that will make things a lot easier on the financial side and give you a fallback position if it doesn't go to plan. Avoid borrowing money If at all possible. I know too many businesses that are struggling because most of their profits are disappearing into interest and repayments.

I run an online store, selling herbal products - products which I import, mix, design, and make myself. I have been doing this for almost 4 years now. It's mainly because I have no other option.

I am not able to be an "employee" for others. Often I cannot decipher social intentions, protocol and aspects of organization - things that are natural and fluid for most people. My paradoxical competences, odd habits and behaviors seem to attract suspicious ire from coworkers and employers, and politically I tend to be oblivious to most notions of hierarchy / authority, stepping outside my allowed (unspoken) bounds without realizing it.

I'm in the process of a transition to self employment. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do it but... yes. Probably will lose my butt in the process.