Number one, the ability to focus. Focus can be one of the more obvious traits found with someone on the spectrum, but when it comes to being self employed there are infinite directions you can take. Focusing on executing the very thing in front of you is key to long term success. Focusing on the right things, and going 10 miles deep to find the best answer has really served me well in my software testing business Spectrum QA. As an entrepreneur you need to learn about tedious things like unemployment insurance and reading through legal contracts. Often this can be overwhelming to anyone starting a business, but by leveraging my superpower of focus I am able to knock one thing out after another, before you know it you’ve hit your critical milestones for the week, or caught an unfavorable contract clause someone tried to slide past you.  Number two, thinking outside the box. Spectrum brains are powerful and by default differently wired. Do yourself a favor and google an Autistic brain vs non-autistic brain. I think you’ll be very encouraged with what you’ll see. For those of you driving right now, I’ll help you out. The spectrum mind has seemingly 10x the neural connections of the other brain. In business you can use this to your advantage to think of new ways to sell your product or service.  Innovation is the name of the game, and so I’ve been very cognizant from the onset of my business to ask the question, how do most people solve this problem, and how could I rewrite the book when it comes to providing best in class testing support for growing companies? The answer, go way up stream to the root of the issue to ensure a better outcome for all stakeholders. Another example of thinking outside of the box in my company, is leveraging a team of people on the spectrum as a competitive advantage for finding bugs in software.  Most QA companies compete on price, but I don’t want to be caught in a race to the bottom. Thinking outside of the box I asked myself, what if I hire the best testers in the world in a group of people most overlook, or would never be considered for the job in the first place? 9 years ago I read an article in the Economist magazine about European QA companies exclusively staffed by people on the spectrum. The amazing news? They were crushing the competition because of their ability to focus and be exceedingly forthright about their test results. Today there are more companies like that popping up, which is phenomenal, but I wanted to take that a step further. So I decided to become the first spectrum led and spectrum staffed qa company. However, I think it would be a disservice to create a neurological echo chamber, and so its my plan to have a blended team of people on and off the spectrum so that both groups can grow in empathy as they work together daily.  Number three expertise. Fellow spectrum dwellers, there are probably several core topics you know better than 99% of the population. Perhaps its the Titanic, a personal favorite topic, or Sino-American trade policy, another personal fav. You could create a podcast, youtube channel, or class on that very topic. I’ve heard it said the riches are in the niches, and what that means is people that care about very specific things like software engineers enjoying powerlifting. They tend to love apparel with phrases that only people of that subcategory would understand. You could build an entire business around one of your passions because you’re a bonafide expert on the topic and going to work is not a chore because you love it so much. As an aside, who would have thought 10 years ago video game players would make an income comparable to a pro athlete? If you know of any pro-gamers on the spectrum please let me know because I’d love to do a podcast on that topic.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hacking-neurodivergence/support