Something-Like-A-Business-Audit

Recently I filled in a questionnaire in response to an Autistic Autrepeneur Coach. I was thrilled that this meant I accidentally carried out a little business/aims audit as a byproduct!

Here's my responses with a little more from me:

Describe your current business/business idea

I am a clown and street-theatre artist, aiming towards building my own company. I have my own company, Bureau de Chaos, but it is very much a solo endeavour at present! I would like collaborators and associate-artists and a bank of performers. Maybe even someone to help with admin. Oooohhhh that'd be nice. And a producer to make sure I follow through on ideas.

True story! I really would love more collaborators. I have many, but they all exist far away/online in my world at the moment. A quick fix would be a visit to Hull and/or London, but I still am holding out hope that there are other clowns in Nuneaton/surrounding areas. There has to be!

What is the biggest challenge that autism presents to you as an entrepreneur?

Self-doubt! When I create I am at my most authentic and unmasked, but I'm aware this state of flow sometimes means I say or do seemingly inappropriate things. I don't always read the room well when I'm super excited about an idea and end up pitching to the wrong type of person or accidentally insulting someone or pi**ing them off.

Again, very true. I piss people off more than you'd think. Or as much as you'd expect, depending on your current opinion of me! This means that naturally I can be quite shy about proposing ideas and seeking Arts Council funding as I fear being laughed out of the room. Wait... I LIKE laughter!? I am a clown. Perhaps more practice in safe risk-taking is needed.

What is your number 1 business goal?

Profit!!! Big profit. The kind of profit where I don't have to do so much scrambling around any more and some things just run in the background and I can focus on being creative.

Pretty straight-forward. I do *a lot* and have acquired some pretty niche talents. You'd think I'd be making all the money by now. I am not! Again, I think this comes from an innate fear of putting myself out there. Perhaps I should get FLO to make the funding applications. *Her* self-esteem knows no bounds!

What does it mean to you personally and business wise to hit that goal?

Personally this would mean my family gets to live a comfortable life. We really scrimp and save at the moment. I'd like to pay off the debts from when I've invested too quick in special interests and then dropped them, (ADHD,) or applied for loans and had my business crash, (Covid.) Business-wise it would mean sustained confidence in what I do. My business wouldn't just be seen as a hobby or a side-project, I'd be competing with the biggest entertainment companies in the West Midlands/UK/World!

Ahhhh, Capricorn Ambition™... I am naturally ambitious. My practical brain/day-to-day self confidence doesn't always match this.

What would you like to get help with?

Believing in myself. I'm getting better at this, but it still takes an awful lot of work. I'm trying to unlearn what success is *supposed* to look like, and attune better to what success is for *me.*

As above. I would like my ambition to happily coincide with what is attainable and right for *me* and my artistic/autistic(!) flow/Flo(!)

So there you have it! My something-like-a-business-audit. It feels good to pop it down on paper, (well, digitally,) and we'll see where we are in February 2024 perhaps!

Now... must get Flo to look over those funding applications 👀