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After several attempts at finding a job that’s right for me and that I can cope with had failed, I decided to work towards self-employment. I have autism, therefore a job where I have to be social, work at a fast pace, where I am around a lot of people, etc would be too overwhelming for me.
I cannot do retail or fast-food due to the pace and pressure. I decided that if I want a job where I can go at my own pace, self-employment is the best option. I am going to go over why I chose this route.
I went through a job program that I thought would help me turned out to not work for me.
Even though I wasn’t ready to work and the program expected you to apply for jobs, I applied and no one called me back.
I was trying to go at my pace but the coach was pressuring me. If I could not handle the coach putting so much pressure on me then how can I handle an employer putting pressure on me?
Even if I didn’t have issues with anxiety, the last thing I did was back in 2012/2013. Employers won’t count something that far back. They look at recent employment.
I never had a job however most employers count volunteer experience or internships. My chances of getting an interview are close to 0 with something from 2013.
Most of us are unemployment. We are seen as lazy to outsiders when really we are jumping through hoops to find a job, but it doesn’t work out.
Even unemployed NTs are seen as lazy when they have applied to every job open but never got an interview or had an interview and still no job.
I will explain why I chose to work from home.
I remember posting on Twitter that I was going to try selling my art prints since no one will hire me and a guy commented that I can do freelance work.
1. Convenience
If I need to schedule a doctor’s appointment, it would be hard to do if I had a regular job. Let’s pretend I had a job. Let’s say I worked from 9-2 Mon-Fri and had weekends off. Say I need to see a doctor and I have to take whatever is available.
Let’s say all that is open is when I would be at work. I would have to take off to go see the doctor because I can’t work around my work schedule. Some people have a hard time getting their employers to approve time off for them.
Also, most if not all jobs change your schedule around. It will be incredibly overwhelming having to keep moving appointments because I thought I had that day off.
I can give my mind time to recover if I need to. I am passionate about blogging and photography and I’d like to start a business with that. I can sell prints of my photos and I would love to do Freelance Writing. Since I beat my disability case, I can take this moment to put into my dream business. I will explain my plans to work from home in a different blog post.
I do not handle stress well, as a result, I have so many health effects like headaches, painful periods, insomnia, stomach issues, weight gain/loss, hair loss. The list goes on. I would be feeling too bad to go into work 90% of the time. What good is going in feeling bad and then getting fired for poor performance? What good is having to be excused due to a stress effect and they complain about me taking too many restroom trips? What good is having to keep calling out due to bad headaches and painful periods? A physical/mental break for a few days is what helps manage the stress portion. Laying down and taking pain pills helps the headaches. I can’t go sleep in the lounge when I get a headache on a normal job.
I can pick my own flow, learning things about how I can learn it, do things that best fit me. No pressure. No hassle.
2. I can bring more value
I can bring more value to being a freelance autism blogger. We all want things better for autistic people. How can we expect change when not a lot of people are talking about it? How can we want changes if autism organizations are not run by autistic people? We want employers to take courses about autism, what good would it do if the course is not run by an autistic person?
If I approach a potential client and they ask me how I can help their site. I can tell them having autism bloggers submit stories helps their credibility because it shows they want to learn how others are affected. It shows they are open to hearing how other people struggle rather than brushing it off.
I write about all sorts of autism topics that will be useful. Rather than nerve-wracking interviews, I can send the potential clients my portfolio with samples of the articles I feel are the best. I am given a chance for the person to actually see my qualities vs a normal job where most of the time we are not given a chance and we’re turned away for little things.
The potential client can look at my blog to see my qualities rather than using a piece of paper (resume). Resumes are good for jobs but it doesn’t let the person physically show their value. I mean how I can show a client the content I produce on my channel and why should they hire me, I can say hey we want things better for us, we can’t expect changes if we’re not talking about it enough. They can read my posts and say ‘Ok. I should hire this person. The topics they bring up have some interesting points.’
3. Better For My Mental Health
Working from home will be better for my mental health. My brain needs time to heal. It takes years to heal a broken mind just like it would take years to heal from a surgery depending on how major it was.
While I was away, when I had the freedom, being in the country, where some of my folks stay, where there aren’t too many people. I saw that’s what I need. I need to be able to give my brain and my body a much-needed break when I can. If I work from home, I can do that. I wouldn’t have that freedom if I had a regular job. I can travel as often as I want. I wouldn’t be able to take off that much on a regular job.
Think of it like breaking your foot. You need to stay off of your foot for it to heal. Think of going into a job that wrecks my mental health walking on the broken foot. You wonder why your foot isn’t healing. Think of Freelance writing allowing me to let my foot heal. I cannot heal my mind if I go into a job that makes it worse, reversing all the work I put into improving my mind. It’s Ok to want to work on you and get yourself straight. You only have one body.
There are hundreds of jobs and hundreds of opertunities But there is only one you.
This blog and my YouTube are my outlets.
4. It’s All I Can Get
I have no skills that match a retail job. My mom wanted me in the retail industry. I feel I could find freelance job editing, writing, etc with the skills that I have gained from YouTube, blogging, etc. I could bring value to a game developer with the skills I gained from YouTube, blogging. ( eg doing a sponsered let’s play of the game, writing a review or making a video review.)
I can write an article promoting the game to help the developer get more traction. I can make a YouTube video promoting the game since I react to game trailers. My channel may be small but that doesn’t mean the video won’t blow up a month from now. I do an off-topic day on my blog so game reviews fit my off-topic days.
Conclusion
Even though the coach was useless, the assistant coach from the program even said my skills would not relate to a retail position like stocking shelves. That could be why I never heard back because the employer questioned how did these skills relate to the job.
This is all I can get where I can work at my own pace. This is all I can get where I can put my skills to use. If I can barely handle stress then how do you expect me to handle the stressors of a job?
If I can’t handle stress and can’t work under pressure then I will not survive in a retail/fast food job. No point in going for it and I don’t last long. I don’t have to face nerve-wracking interviews. I can e-mail a prospective client. I can show them my best blog posts to give them an idea of where I am at.
I don’t need a college degree for it. I found a blogger previously named Creative Revolt, college didn’t work for her. She was fired from her crap job and now she makes a full-time living from freelance writing. She started with no experience. Now she teaches other people how to land clients. She probably learned along the way. On a normal job you can get fired, laid off, the company can close, your hours get cut. Nothing is 100% safe.
So many people are in deep debt from college.
On the other hand, anything is possible.
I can also take a vacation whenever I want. Some folks who work regular jobs have trouble getting their vacation time approved even though they tell the manager beforehand. If I work from home, I am free to take a needed vacation. I just have to know when I want to get away and save up my blog money.
Save up for a laptop so I can save photos that I take.
I am not trying to act like I am better than a 9-5 or downsize folks who work minimum wage. I am trying to warn them that their job will be gone because technology keeps advancing.
When we lost all service wifi, cable and phone the guy from At&t Uverse said people streaming Netflix, Hulu, etc, using firesticks (something you can plug in your computer or TV) to watch shows. He said that is taking his job. Think about it.
Netflix; where you get the entire season of the series vs cable where you have to wait for each episode.
I am trying to show them how much control they would have if they started their own website. At Mcdonald’s, you have no control over if your boss cuts your hours or fires you. You have control over your website.
5. Technology Is Advancing And It’s Cutting Jobs
It will only get worse. Stores are closing because they are losing money. Jobs are being replaced by computers. Min. wage workers probably fear every day that their job will be replaced with a computer or the store they work at is going to close. They fear they will be homeless if they lose their job to a computer and can’t get another job because most of them lost to a computer.
I am not saying grocery stories will be extinct but they will be more like PeaPod where you can order your food online and have it delivered. Instead of those so-called low-skill jobs like stocking items, you will need people who can work a computer to process orders. Every situation is different.
Or the amount of people needed will be greatly reduced because people are shopping online.
My grandma doesn’t know how to work a computer. My mom keeps telling her she needs to learn since everything will be computers soon. Paying bills, banking, shopping, etc.
Min wage workers get treated like dirt either by management or customers. No one should have to take being treated like that so they can pay utilities. This is why I am documenting my journey to self-employment because maybe I can give someone an idea of how they can be their own boss.
Maybe this can inspire some people.
Pretty soon, people will have to learn skills like coding, programming, welding, plumbing, etc because the market is going to favor those jobs more. I rather aim for something I know I will have a future at than a job that can be gone like the wind to a computer.
The internet will always be here. Video games, music, computers, phones, electricity, etc will always be here. If YouTube shuts down, someone will replace them within a week. If you lose your job, do you think you can find another one within a week? Someone folks may be luck and can do so. Others nay bot be.
Let’s say Mr. Beast’s channel gets demonetized right now. He streams as well so he can just stream on Twitch. He can stream on Twitch and he still has his merch/website to help his income. If you work at Walmart and you get laid off, can you find a job as fast as a Mr. Beast simply moved to Twitch? Not trying to downsize. With the advancement of technology, jobs could be online soon. I also think about how quickly you can switch if something goes wrong. I would assume the clock is ticking because bills/rent are due.
Nothing is safe. Whether you work online or at Walmart not one job is 100% fireproof from something happening to it. Unless you have your own job.
Retail/fast-food just isn’t for me. That doesn’t mean I am entitled. It’s just mean I rather take the time to better myself, better my skills so I can get something better than a job where I will barely be paid enough to make it. Most importantly a job that could be automated in a few years.
I won my disability case. I can take this time to invest in my little business. Equipment for my YouTube. Things that will put me one step closer to being self-employed.
As long as you’re doing SOMETHING whoever you live with may be OK with that. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Overall I can have my own schedule. I have several ways I plan to do this which I will cover throughout my blog posts.
I admit I may talking about everything I can’t do or can’t handle. It helped me decided to work from home. I thought to myself ‘ok if I can not be in crowds, under pressure, in fast-paced settings. How about working from home where I can control my environment?’
It makes me feel impowered. I am not trying to make you think I am better than 9-5 workers. I am implying that most jobs are losing money and what if we all have to do some type of work from home or more jobs that require computer skills come in. Because I spend time practicing and building my skills, I’d blow you out of the water.
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