[Icare dixit]

For those of you with their own business, do you do anything different due to your BP?

Any general advice?

[RomanJames2014]

I would say that it's always wise to just have a family member or someone to trust in to help you manage the business in see your bipolar gets crazy.
Mi recommend legally working on some kind of relationship with someone so that they can't just take what they want from your business but so that they can at least help manage what you want.

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[pirilin]

Am I the only one with bipolar that has had businesses all his life?.
I build 'em, get bored with 'em and bust 'em.
The challenge and the struggle are gone by year three. No more thrills.
The money starts seriously rolling and I change my last name to Rockefeller.
Two years later, broke again. Time to start all over again.
Only this time there will not be a next time.

[Icare dixit]

Thanks for your advice and sharing of experiences.

I still have difficulties keeping focus and not just thinking around the corners of business (which is easy, a pretty simple game, a maze you can observe from up high), but also of my mind (a BP maze, no perspective: very difficult game, lots of paradoxes, you never know exactly where you're at).

I try to conditionally plan, so that I do certain things only when in a certain (BP) state, and keep a very narrow focus and fixed trajectory, but it's difficult (still a fun game). I miss opportunities: there is a considerable cost.

I can really only do what I do now. I know that anything not planned during many depressions might work during a period of mania, but won't last.

I'm not able to work with anyone as an equal, which is fine.

I am sure there must be at least a few more that run a business or were/are serial entrepreneurs like that.

Boom/build and bust does sound like BP and/or a similar personality. The freedom may have kept extreme problems at bay. Getting bored or under-stimulated is very, very typical, I'd say.

Choosing what to do where (your dependence and the kind of people around you) are important decisions in the "treatment"/use of BP, I believe and have experienced.

[Icare dixit]

Originally Posted by pirilin

Am I the only one with bipolar that has had businesses all his life?.
I build 'em, get bored with 'em and bust 'em.
The challenge and the struggle are gone by year three. No more thrills.
The money starts seriously rolling and I change my last name to Rockefeller.
Two years later, broke again. Time to start all over again.
Only this time there will not be a next time.

Especially the three-year duration of enough "focus"/stimulation is something that sounds very familiar.

A good working hypothesis is that you are indeed BP, I'd say. But I'm no doctor... All pussycats are beautiful, the bastards.

I get depressed or manic after 2.5 years, without exception, except for my current business, of which the planning has taking me many, many, many years, to be absolutely 100% sure that I could do this, in different stages of about three years, broadening the market I operate in (slightly or boldly/disruptively) at every stage, thoroughly planned/envisioned. That's not very difficult given the market I operate in, Internet services.

You must've become better at it each time, right? Anything you've done to keep you grounded enough? Anything to maintain enough freedom? Did you plan a new business venture carefully or did you just moved ahead as soon as you saw an opportunity?

What markets did your businesses operate in?

[Icare dixit]

And why not just one more time?

If you're any good at it, you can maybe become a consultant. Or write a book. Many managers have too much money and no idea what they're doing.

For a management book, all that matters is a creative, paradoxical (preferably), contrary theme and title, really.

[zepchic]

I have my own business. I am seriously considering taking a real job though. I don't know what kind of business you are thinking, but I just try not to get in over my head. Sometimes I have these crazy grand ideas and sign myself up for all types of commitments, then crash and get terrible anxiety about actually fulfilling the commitments. So, my advice would be to take it easy.

[Ocean Swimmer]

It's like Devine inspiration for me.
I'll get a plan. Do it. Get a bunch of clients.
It goes sour if I go manic or ip.
Then I need to wait for motivation again to redo business.
But I've been lucky. Owner operated business acumen runs with my father's genes.

[fishin fool]

I ran my own business for 12 years. I didn't know at the time that I was bipolar.
Looking back now of course I see how it held me back quite a bit.
A good secretary would have been a huge help for me.
The best advice I can give you is to know your weaknesses and don't be to shy
to ask for help with them.

[Icare dixit]

Originally Posted by fishin fool

The best advice I can give you is to know your weaknesses and don't be to shy
to ask for help with them.

I'd like to contract all (first-line) support out to some company if I can afford it and as spill-over support for those periods I need it most. That would be enough: it's a non-tailored services business. It could be worse. I might want/need to isolate when depressed, but I can give support.

There are not that many subcontractors that I need help with that.

People who wanna sell me stuff can wait. Let them try another time.

I know my weaknesses (which are plentiful) rather well, I hope, and I agree it's important to know them. I think I have to learn an awful lot more, also about my BP and my personality. Not coincidentally, I can work on that as part of day-to-day work (some periods more than others). I am a perfectionist but not a control freak. Maybe a control freak, but not in an ad-hoc way.

A family member to support me might not be such a bad idea after all. Quite a few relatives have businesses of their own. Most of my friends are too much like me. I just need someone to keep things going, someone good with (some) routine.

[Icare dixit]

It's just I'm a lot better at negotiating terms than working in any kind of team. A bit product over people. It's a strength as well as a weakness.

What kind of businesses did you run? What products/services? How much customisation? Many different kinds of clients/customers? Variability of cash-flow?

[fishin fool]

Originally Posted by Icare dixit

It's just I'm a lot better at negotiating terms than working in any kind of team. A bit product over people. It's a strength as well as a weakness.

What kind of businesses did you run? What products/services? How much customisation? Many different kinds of clients/customers? Variability of cash-flow?

I ran a construction business. I ran every aspect of the business hiring,
purchasing materials, estimates, meeting with customers and working
on the jobs as well. It could be tough but looking back I think it helped to
keep me focused, at least I think it did.

[Icare dixit]

Originally Posted by fishin fool

I ran a construction business. I ran every aspect of the business hiring,
purchasing materials, estimates, meeting with customers and working
on the jobs as well. It could be tough but looking back I think it helped to
keep me focused, at least I think it did.

How did you deal with sudden severe depression?

I think the great variety of things that you need to do can be stabilising. That you have to and can shift focus. I really can't concentrate on monotonous tasks for long.

But I'd really be afraid I'd run any business into the ground where I'd have to meet with customers, no matter what. Just feeling awful.

I can easily react far too strongly in reaction to opposition, too, either wanting to give up or sabotaging the relationship. Fine or good for negotiations when someone "needs"/needs you, not for face-to-face customer relations. No direct (face-to-face) communication not initiated by me, for me.

I'd love to work in construction, though. I think. But I'd be no good at it. I am probably not meticulous and precise enough (edit: seems paradoxical, but I can't be a perfectionist about differences I can't see. What others find important to be perfect, I generally don't care about, I think).

Maybe demolition would be better. Also less customised, less discussion, less talk. No buying materials. Good for my frustration at times.

[Icare dixit]

Originally Posted by Ocean Swimmer

It's like Devine inspiration for me.
I'll get a plan. Do it. Get a bunch of clients.
It goes sour if I go manic or ip.
Then I need to wait for motivation again to redo business.
But I've been lucky. Owner operated business acumen runs with my father's genes.

It's the creativity, I believe: seeing possibilities to provide something unique and to see new opportunities sooner.

I've always seen it as something I need to do. Something that matches my abilities: basically, putting things together in new, unforeseen ways, quickly adapting to unforeseen circumstances (in the market as well as personal circumstances, though of course I didn't always know the latter would be so important).

At least in my case: the crazy genes co-exist with the business acumen genes.