I’m going to start a 2nd store. Got the idea today and bought the domain for $1.96. I’ve been dropshipping for 2 years now and know all the tricks. Much of the issues I have with the autistic innovator will not apply to this new store.
It will dropship within the US and only sell to the US. Already know suppliers I can use. It’s going to be a 100% plushies store. Bought the domain:
plushies.shop
This is my livelihood and all I know how to do, so might as well have 2 stores.
I have quickly learned it is impossible to get plushies from anywhere but China. Squishmallows are made in China too. All the plush brands are manufactured and shipped from China.
But the issue with that is the manufacturers decide to sell these plushies themselves that they're making for the brands.
So you have to be super careful to not unknowingly sell a trademarked product.
Looks like I'm going to be competing with myself. My autistic store vs plushies store. 😆
@ashleyspencer Obvs don't know your field, but I had similar around the Millenium as a C/C++ contractor. All stopped. I never thought I would work again until in 2011 I found a company that were specifically looking for 'legacy skills', and I've been banging out C and Perl since.
It;s kinda "there's always a niche - but you have to find it!"
@bytebro I’ve seen a lot in the e-commerce space (my field) say they’re looking for entrepreneurial spirits, but maybe they mean that for people who are in completely unrelated industries. Not someone with an established online store themselves.
My contractor income isn’t very many hours per week, so I’ve basically been FT with my business for a while now. I’ve just relied on the low paid contracting to get by. I’m used to dedicating myself fully to my store.
I spent about an hour looking at my future city’s tourist website. So much to do and see around there!
I told my BFF he can come stay with me anytime, and I found some stuff he’d like that we can do there.
And I found some neat stuff for me and my partner to do next time he comes and visits too that he’d really enjoy. His special interest is airplanes and there’s 3 aviation museums.
@Cassandra There’s a money factory too! His other special interest (and soon to be job) is finance and a money factory + aviation museums would be his dream vacation. I didn’t realize I’d be in a tourist hot spot when I picked that apartment building.
#AuDHD tip:
Feed your cat every time you take your ADHD med at the same time every day. Your cat will never let you forget.
My afternoon strattera alarm went off at 11am, but I was so absorbed in my work I didn't see the alert. At 11:45am, Nikita was like umm its past 11am feed me!!
I love how everything can be done online, even ordering moving boxes!
Was able to order boxes, packing materials, tape, and even a set of markers and box cutter all with free shipping to my apartment.
Now to find a service to come pick up all the stuff that got damaged when my bedroom flooded multiple times, along with some other stuff. Junk haulers or whatever they're called.
I finally did my dishes today. It’s embarrassing how bad they were. Small win of the day!
I get so AuDHD focused on all my work and absorbed in mental stimulation that everything around me in my living space gets pretty bad. I’ll know I need to clean it up, but it’s hard to make myself do it. Common ADHD problem, I guess.
I’ve been trying to do at least one small cleaning thing a day. First it was cleaning up all the cans, next day throwing out trash, today the dishes. One day at a time.
@ashleyspencer Don't let anyone tell you that not a big accomplishment. We shouldn't have to be embarrassed for having a brain you have to fight to do the things. Congrats on the win!
I’ve been putting off writing more of my book for a while now, but have recently become more motivated to write it. I got on Atticus and wrote a few sentences today, but then my cat distracted me and I stopped.
How often do you work on your writing? Sentences a day, paragraph a day, section/chapters? Or a few times per week? What keeps you writing?
It’s a non-fiction book. If that makes a difference.
@ashleyspencer@writing I got writing advice at university.
Most valuable lesson: Track the hours not the letters.
So You can get a habit of spending one hour per day at your desk - "writing"
It could be busily typing - note taking - musing - sorting chapters - anything that is connected to the writing process.
Tracking progress in numbers is good for conversation and when you already have a deadline with a publisher
I made a little folder in my shop email for all the nice emails from customers. I read them all and had a good cry.
There were SO many people trashing my store (and me) for selling and marketing to autistic people.
My first year, I felt guilty making a fair profit and charged so little as a result that my store profited $200 in 2022. But realized this year I deserve to be paid for the thousands of hours, and thousands of dollars, I’ve dedicated to my business.
@niamhgarvey I’m sure I’ll find it when I move out lol. I have a little bin thing I keep all my stim toy and stim jewelry product samples in, and some of my chew necklaces too. It might be buried in there.
We use DeepL (host installed it) and the translations read like they were written in English. We’ve had it for a while, but I never really used it much until recently. It’s also nice too because people on this instance don’t have to only post in English.
So those of you new multilingual folks, you can post in other languages too. We can all still read it with the translation feature. :RainbowInfinity:
Because, even though I convinced myself that I made peace with ignoring Twitter notifications, I couldn’t stop myself from monitoring views, likes, and bookmark counts. Which in the process I’d see nonsense quote retweets, some of it was upsetting. So I muted and deleted my notifications. Now I can’t monitor the ads interaction even if I wanted to. They’re all gone and I’ll never see them.
Forget being a general data analyst, I need to be a Marketing Analyst.
I’m only 50% of the way through course 1 out of 6 courses and I’ve absorbed every little detail. I’ve scored a 100% on every practice quiz and graded quiz. And there’s no greater resume experience than the effect the knowledge is having on my store. It’s already got me thinking like an marketing analyst.
I’ll still do both certifications, but I might get through this one faster.
@Cassandra I’ll try to remember that. Think I’ll order some restaurant food delivery. All I have to eat is ramen and cereal since everything in my freezer rot. Should eat some real food at least.
@ashleyspencer Personally I also think that's a reasonable, approach but some other instances seems to plan that... Guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.
The number of instances is an interesting point. And, more than I expected.
When non-autistic people see 'stimming', they might think stimulation, when often it's to self-calm ("Uniquely Human" suggests 'self-calm'). If non-autistic people were more aware that 'stimming' is often an effort to self-calm, maybe they could learn to inquire as to the #autistic person's perceived comfort level and autistic people would be reminded to speak up about that.