This podcast was created on the lands of the Ngunnawal, Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung Peoples.
Hello, hello, and welcome to F Them Fish: AuDHD for Grownups with your neurodivergent besties, Callie Elward-Barrett and Jayne Gurton. This is the podcast where we talk about neurodivergence in real adult life: work, relationships, burnout, overwhelm, identity, and all the weird little things that make you think, ‘surely it’s not just me.’ We’re honest, occasionally sweary, and very much not interested in pretending to be polished.
Grab a beverage, or body double some life admin with us in your ears and let’s get started!
What happens when you leave a secure job, build a business around the work you actually care about, and then realise the workplace structure that used to hold you up is gone?
This week, Jayne flips the script and interviews Callie about what it’s really like to become a neurodivergent entrepreneur. They talk about the hidden executive functioning cost of working for yourself, why client work gets done while the business-building stuff gets pushed aside, and the strategies Callie is using to stay afloat, including separating what’s critical from what’s merely important, celebrating small wins, and creating somewhere to put the side quests.
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
03:43 Jayne’s eye emergency and medical dismissal
09:39 Neurodivergence, healthcare bias, and the medical passport idea
14:11 Productive recovery weekend, and the floordrobe clean-out
17:14 TEDx news and neurodivergence in aged care
20:02 Should you leave your job to become an entrepreneur?
20:53 Why Callie left a secure government role
23:00 The real challenge of working for yourself
25:06 Why workplace structure matters more than you think
27:30 Client work vs business-building
29:06 Are ADHDers more suited to entrepreneurship?
30:32 Mask switching, family life, and the pressure of doing everything yourself
33:24 School holidays
34:22 Things that used to work but don’t anymore
42:58 Strategies that are helping now
51:08 Why it was still worth it
59:08 Wrap-up
If you’re an AuDHD or ADHD adult wondering whether to leave your job, build something of your own, or just trying to understand why everything feels harder without external structure, this one is for you.
Got a question, story or hot take? Email us at fthemfish@gmail.com.
Find us on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok at F Them Fish: AuDHD for Grownups
AuDHD for grownups: honest, funny conversations about work, relationships, sensory overload, identity, and the stuff nobody explains after diagnosis.