Alright guys I have a quick question. Next week I'm onboarding two new mentors to my startup. Right now they're saying they want to talk once every two weeks/ helping me design and put my demo together but my question is when should I offer the other two equity and how long should our relationship be before I offer the other two equity?
Hi, everyone, I'm a solo pre revenue founder. I just got my first ten active users on my website. I'm going to a government meeting tomorrow to potentially integrate my startup as a B2G startup. So this is a pretty big deal for me at least.
My older brother told me I shouldn't go. In his defense he says that I should try to develop my company further before talking to people but my mom said it's good to make connections right now instead of waiting for the perfect moment but my older brother says I'm just going to look stupid in front of important people.
I just don't know what to do... I have a MVP so I'm going in with something.
I'm 27 years old and unemployed. My brothers ( Victor, 38, and Travis 20) everyone in my house is working and my mom has a chronic heart condition. I'm the only one who's unemployed. I'm a full-time college student but I only do school from home I never physically go to school and I decided to keep it this way mostly because I'm unemployed and overweight.
This morning my family got into another screaming match because my older brother used my credit card to buy food for the house without asking first to top that off my brothers start going places together and coincidentally not bringing me anywhere with them. When I do go up with my brothers they are very irritated and aggressive with me and my mother had a problem with this because I'm often the one paying for food and gas with my credit card. In short when I do go places with them they're very short and snappy with me so I'd rather just give them my credit card so they can buy food or have fun I guess
When they went back upstairs my mom started crying and talking to my uncle about everything that was happening. I know this whole thing is breaking her heart.
Today my uncle gave me a phone call and he said my cousin just moved out of his apartment and he has a spare room. I said the room should go to somebody who actually needs it but he says you need the room you should have it you can stay with me you get a disability check every month so you'll be able to pay a little bit of rent. I agreed but then he said something else that disturbed me. He said I'd have to have a hybrid school schedule. He's fully aware that I'm getting school money and my school gives free bus passes he says that if I want to stay with him I'm going to have to have a hybrid schedule and join at least one college club.
I'm considering turning down his offer due to the demand I have a hybrid schedule at college and joining a club. He yelled at me and said so you like the way you're living? You like hearing your mother cry because she's worried about your future? You like sitting in the house having no friends and being like crap?
He abruptly hung up but then an hour later texted me and said if you want to take my offer you can. I already spoke to your mother.
The thing is I don't know if I should do this or not. Am I happy with the way my life is going? No I'm not but it seems so abrupt plus my uncle is forcing me to physically leave the house and go to school on a hybrid schedule as well as joining a college club. I don't have friends people don't like me at all I've mostly been alone in my room it's been 2 years since I've seriously gone out of the house and interacted with people.
Advice greatly appreciated.....
Hi everybody so I just launched my website this week on Wednesday. A lot of people were excited and said they would sign up once I started posting on LinkedIn.
Unfortunately only one person signed up. They love the website, they've been using it consistently for the last 4 days and they absolutely love it. The other person that uses my website is just me pretending to be another person. The other two who said they would sign up haven't really signed up yet and are starting to become concerned should I worry? And how should I make sure that my current user is happy and continues posting on my platform?
Once again I'm going through the same crap. Over and over again. I honestly hate living at home with my family mostly because I feel miserable and regularly disrespected because I don't have a job. My mom and older brother are always fighting about money and I just realized today my older brother stole 1K from our mother.
To top that off I get so much passive aggressiveness from both my brothers because I don't have a job.
My older brother works as a security guard and my younger brother is our mom's caregiver. I was an unemployed college student until recently I won a small startup grant and I'm setting up my company.
My mom has a lot of anxiety at night ( anxiety with chronic heart failure) so we got her a call bell that she uses but she hasn't used the bell and my brothers
My older brother created new rules for me to follow pretty much. I have to always keep my door open, I have to be downstairs from 7 to 5 in the morning and I'm pretty much not allowed to sleep or at least for the days I'm doing my shifts with my mom. I pretty much have to be awake and up when he comes downstairs in the morning just to keep from my mom and him having a screaming match.
My mom started fighting with my brother. About money he owes her and pretty much the new rules he's put in place for the caregiving. They've been fighting for the last month about this.
I don't know what to do. Before I got this grant I was unemployed and unfortunately I gave my brother over half of my grant money from so I don't have any money.
She's been fighting with him so much that it's not good for her heart and I'm always in the middle of it because I don't have a so-called job.
Everyday I wake up and think about how much I hate my life and hate living at home with my family.
I know that I'm a "bum" and I don't have a job but I'm in college and my mom keeps saying she doesn't want anybody downstairs with her but I'm still pressured to do this.
Someone told me I should try moving out but I don't have a job, my grant is very tiny and I support myself with money from school and disability. In order to move out I'd have to get a job, or figure out some way to make my startup profitable.
Now there's conflict about me even being in my room I just wish I could escape this right now. I don't want to wait or create a plan. I want to leave now.
I want to be able to actually sleep at night and exist without all of this crap. I don't know what to do anymore.
Hi, everyone.
I just wanted some advice on the current situation I'm in. Mostly because I don't know what to do about it and I feel really lost. I'm thinking about giving up on my startup.
I'm 27 years old. I recently won a business grant for my startup and I incorporated it. Originally I was going to turn down the grant because the money is a very small amount and I'm on disability but my mom told me that I should go ahead and incorporate and get the grant money, so unfortunately I did. My mom was very excited, told the entire family.
She even decided to get a call button instead of having one of us sleep downstairs with her like we normally do. Before this she became very aggressive about us staying downstairs and said that she wanted us upstairs and so she will call us if she needs anything but when she does feel sick or anxious she often doesn't say anything unless there's an absolute emergency and she suffers downstairs alone but feels embarrassed and doesn't say anything to us. The top that off she would much rather my younger brother ( the primary caregiver for my mom) downstairs with her and doesn't prefer me at all she had told me she wants me to work on my start up because she sees a lot of potential in it) now my younger brother hasn't really slept in the last week due to these new arrangements.
I don't know what to do at this point. He has come to talk to me about this various times and how angry he is and how I'm not doing it off as well as trying to get Mom to say that I'm downstairs and I can help and she pretty much refuses. I'm not the best caregiver I'll be honest I struggle to stay up at night and she always preferred my brother anyway ever since I Incorporated she's been treating us completely different wanting me to focus more on this instead of being a caregiver. Now my younger brother pretty much does everything. he's the full-time caregiver he hasn't really been able to sleep since I don't do my three days downstairs anymore.
I just don't know what to do anymore I honestly wish I never told my mom. Maybe I should have just not said anything. The whole job conversation also keeps coming up and how I'm unemployed, don't work and don't do anything. I'm in college and I pay rent.
But I'll be honest my mom doesn't even prefer me as the main caregiver and I struggle to stay up at night ever since I started working on this. ( 9 months)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Well guys..... It's actually happened.
Before this I was an unemployed college student.
I've documented my experiences for the last year on Reddit. ( You can look at my past posts for reference)
But last week I just got the announcement that my idea staged startup idea won a grant and they're paying for me to become incorporated + mirco grant.
Around the same time I secured my first real partnership. Last week was a crazy ride.
When my mom found out she was ecstatic. I originally wasn't going to accept it but she told me this would be the perfect launchpad for what I'm building so I accepted it.
My younger brother ( 20) is my mom's full time caregiver and he's downstairs with our mom four times a week. I do three but recently I've been doing less and less/ sleeping more.
I noticed that my brother is doing small stuff like coming downstairs while I'm asleep to care for our mom and letting me sleep in.
To be honest I feel selfish.... And deep down I'm sure he already knew that this would eventually happen since he's quietly taken over.
But this grant is literally no money. It's not enough to pay for a real salary it's more like seed money. I don't want him stuck being the main caregiver just so I can pursue a hobby and I feel like he's already accepted/ knew this was going to happen eventually. He hasn't complained about me doing less night shifts. Yet. He only found out today about the money.
I don't know what to do at this point. I want to see how far the startup can go but I also don't want him being completely alone being a caregiver.
Our older brother works and isn't able/ doesn't want to so I just don't know what to do. He's told me several times that I should pretty much stop what I'm doing and calls me a worthless bum.
My younger brother at some point used to drive me to meetings.
Advice?
So yeah pretty much going through the ups and downs of being a female solo founder and this week has been the most devastating week I've had in a while last week I was very excited I had my first free trial person sign up and I was talking to a developer who could help me build it MVP I even offered to pay and they agreed to the payment when I went to go ahead and pay the fee they completely ghosted me it's pretty much been a week since I've heard from them. They sent me some of their demo projects and they weren't even working. Out of five of the products four of them didn't even work now they're not responding to any of my messages. The person who used my free trial went ahead and ghosted me they said they just weren't interested in my project anymore. Honestly I'm really discouraged last week was supposed to be my transformation week but nothing has worked out.
The top that off every person I tried to make a partnership with has pretty much ghosted me others just kindly rejected. So yeah pretty much I guess my original idea was just terrible. To be honest I'm wondering if this entrepreneurial thing is for me I've never had a week this bad before I've never talked to so many people and they all straight up rejected me all in the same week. I've talked to a lot of people trying to build partnerships or equity into my company but they all pretty much said no. It was polite so I'm not angry about it but it's absolutely devastating
Hey, guys, I wanted to come by and give updates on my progress so far as an unemployed solo founder who launched a startup a couple of months ago.
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Besides a lot of tension and conflict from family ( unfortunately just my older brother) for being unemployed and my mom's chronic heart failure things have been alright I guess.
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I'm starting to hate my older brother less for the things he says about me because my mom's chronic heart failure is stressing out everyone even though he's been this way before my mom got sick the way she is I still understand his feelings so I try not to get too angry at him when he lashes out. I stopped telling my family about my startup since it seems to stir a lot of conflict.
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A lot of people outside of my family say I'm wasting my time being an entrepreneur and I should be trying to get a job instead. I'm in college right now and I could never get a job so I just settled for low paying gigs until I decided to see if I could launch a startup based on my marketing skills I'm learning from college. But at least I have some exciting things to talk about.
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Update 1: getting my first free trial sign up.
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A couple of days ago I had someone sign up for free trial on my website after I shared it with one of my friends and he shared it with his friends that made one of them go ahead and get a free trial. This was very exciting news for me I almost couldn't believe it and I thanked my friend for his kindness.
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UPDATE 2: getting my first mentor.
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In the beginning a lot of people said they like the idea it would gladly mentor me but they all ended up leaving. 7 months into building I just secured my very first real mentor. I was happy, of course. They also work with other startups and scouts for a couple of venture capital firms so I wonder if working with him will help me get my first real company investment.
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UPDATE 3: Going to industry events
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Right now there's a lot of industry events surrounding the current industry I'm building in. So I found getting meetings and talking to people. I wasn't able to secure any partnerships and a lot of people ghosted me.
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Overall a lot of exciting things have happened and I'm very excited to see where my startup will go next.
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Even if I don't become successful I at least enjoy the experience of being a founder and all the things that I've learned from the people who supported me this far.
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Thanks for reading. 😊
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So I ( 26) am unemployed and a college student. I'm also on SSI and I pay 600 dollars in rent. Everyday for the last two weeks my older brother has been talking about kicking me out for not contributing despite me helping with rent. My mom yelled at him about how I paid rent this month and I should have a right to stay here. My brother snapped and called me worthless while he did say sorry and that it was a slip out of his mouth, my mom and my brother continued to fight for another hour about me.
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My mom has a really weak heart and their fighting is so intense now and the worst part is it's all about me. I just don't know what to do anymore. I gave my brother all of my savings from school so I pretty much have nothing and everyday it's always a fight about me not having a job. He gets up every morning and screams at me and or my mom.
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I don't know how to make this stop my mom has a weay heart and every day he's always yelling at her about how worthless I am. It's been going on for the last week I used to happen once every couple of months now it's an everyday thing and I'm worried about it because my mom has a really weak heart. Should I just leave to keep the peace for my family's sake? Should I just completely stop paying rent?
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I just don't know what to do anymore. Right now I'm ( 27F) am unemployed and I help my little brother ( 20) care for our choniclly Ill mom. Tbh our household is really tense. Today I did the night shift for our mom. I stayed up until 3 in the morning then went to sleep. My mom saw I was asleep and made herself some eggs. Which my older brother saw before going to work. He went on a rant about how worthless I am, how I'm too lazy and good for nothing to make eggs and how close I am to being homeless. He's threatened to kick me out before.... several times and how karma is going to catch up with me when I'm homeless under a bridge somewhere. It just came completely out of the blue.
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The thing is on top of threatening to kick me out this isn't even his house. My mom and I are on the lease. My mom let him move back in two years ago because he lost his job and his girlfriend stole thousands of dollars from him. And I helped him buy his car with my school money. I used to help this man pay for his lunches at work with my school funds.
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To top that off my parents are fighting more. Even until 2 in the morning. My mom is angry often. She doesn't even sleep in her room anymore. She sleeps on an air mattress in the kitchen....
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I know that I'm unemployed and I don't have a real job but I'm in college and I do help with rent/ cleaning. I honestly don't want to live here anymore. This isn't the first time I was confronted with how I don't contribute. My mom said she doesn't like the way I make eggs and fought with my brother.
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I'm trying my best to be positive for my younger brother but I just can't anymore. What am I supposed to do at this point? I just can't take hearing this crap from him whenever he gets angry.
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My mom enrolled me in an internship program that helps special needs/ out of work adults get jobs but I don't know how much longer I can take living like this.
So right now I'm an unemployed college student. A couple months ago I decided to launch a startup. My family is okay with it as long as I'm not spending any money on it ( lol I did) and I'm applying for jobs. I showed the company to my friend and he said he really liked it. The next day he showed it to his friends. 5 made accounts and one started a free trial this morning. One person also started sharing it. I am really grateful. I mean these last couple of years have been horrible for me and I never thought I'd have people go out of their way to share.
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Is this a good sign? I've worked on a lot of stuff that failed in the past and I never got responses like this before. I just don't want to get my hopes up
So I've talked about this in the past before but right now I'm unemployed living with my mom. My older brother moved in with us about a year ago. He works but there's a lot of conflict and hostility around the house because I don't have a job. This is the fourth time this week that my mom and older brother got into a fight about me being worthless and not contributing to the household enough. Every time he's on his days off or comes from work it's a lot of hostility and aggression towards me as well as questions about what I contribute and I'm going to do if mom passes away. I noticed that the fights are getting more aggressive and he's low key starting to actually threaten me.
To make this situation even worse this house isn't even my brothers. This is our mom's house and he moved back in after his girlfriend crashed his car and messed up his credit. I used to give him money to help out after she pretty much broke up with him and nearly put him in jail. ( His ex-girlfriend is horrible)
I don't know what to do anymore I feel like I shouldn't have to walk on eggshells in my own home. he wasn't supposed to even be living here. he's here because my mom wanted to help him after his relationship went to s***. Advice greatly appreciated
I'm going to tell a story about getting laid off from my job a couple of years ago. When I was 19 I had a job working in Ameracorps as an environmental technician. I was a really bad worker and I got fired in two months. Despite that three of my co-workers really liked me and we had a great relationship. When I was fired I didn't even have a penny in my bank account but since they knew being young and losing a job like this is devastating they decided to help me however way they could. They gave me my check a week early in full as if I worked two weeks. Even after I left I got another random check sent to the mail. I don't know if it was an accident or if they wanted to make sure I was okay after getting fired. One of my old coworkers even gave me $30 to make sure I had food and something to drink because I was taking the Greyhound home and I'd be traveling for an entire day.
I was a horrible worker and I got fired and I had no money and these people still went out of their way to help me. This is rare kindness and shows that genuine compassion really does exist in this world. I always told myself that the reason why I'm so isolated now is because I'm broke and unemployed but then I remembered this experience. And other experiences.
This morning my older brother decided to be honest with me and our relationship. He told me that I'm worthless outside of giving him money. He says while I am useful because I used to buy him food for lunch, give him gas money, and brought him a gift for his ex-girlfriend when she didn't have any money he said outside of that I'm worthless and once he becomes financially stable he doesn't see a point in us staying connected as slibings. I asked him then why do you say I'm worthless he says as a person you are but you're a good tool when I didn't have anything. He says yes it is harsh but it's unfortunately the truth.
So yes as much as people say financial reasons is why people don't have friends I see time and time again that money doesn't build friendships. If money doesn't build friendships and relationships... What does?
Across the street from my house there's a Smith's. I applied for a job and got an interview. Rejected. 2nd interview with them again two months later they said I had a great resume but still rejected me.
I went to a daycare. Got an interview after submitting my resume. Rejected. Tried again because they wanted to interview me again. still rejected.
Something happens during the interview that makes it so I don't get hired. I don't know what it is
After getting up this morning and getting dressed I realized that right now I'm the most isolated I've ever been in my life. I talk to AI bots and my cat more than I do actual people. Despite the countless times I reached out to people online and tried to join groups. ( Incel, blackpill, neets) I haven't found any success. These groups rejected me. I tried making friends in the real world but it never lasted. First I tried dating sites. In one month I got one date but after the first date he ghosted me thats when I realized I was destined to be alone for the rest of my life and never find love or true friendships.
Honestly I feel like my position in life is natural selection. I just don't understand why people won't give me an actual chance. Can anybody else relate? I don't watch or support incel or black pill content anymore but I could never really connect with people after that. It's just me, my cat and ai and it's a horrible trap.
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I (27F) am currently unemployed and attending college. My younger brother, Victor (18M), is also unemployed and in college. Because we don't have traditional jobs, we have been taking on the night-shift caregiving duties for our mother, who has chronic heart failure (CHF) and severe anxiety. Someone absolutely has to stay up with her at night.
To handle this, Victor and I split the week: I take four nights and he takes three nights. We stay up all night just to watch over her. The problem is our older brother, who works a regular job, constantly monitors us to make sure we aren't sleeping. He treats this grueling schedule like it is a punishment for us not having "real jobs."
There is an immense amount of tension and resentment in the house. My older brother constantly snaps at me, claiming I don't contribute enough to the household or do enough for our mom. The frustrating part is that my older brother does not help care for her at all. Even on his days off, he does absolutely nothing to help. Our uncle lives with us too, and he is exactly the same way. Because my older brother works, he has never actually dealt with the day-to-day reality of her care, yet he micromanages and judges us constantly.
Lately, things have gotten significantly worse. My mom has refused to sleep in her bedroom and is now sleeping on an air mattress in the kitchen. Today, she got into a massive fight with my older brother. She started crying, saying she feels abandoned, wants to run away, and feels like a total burden to everyone.
Victor and I are sacrificing our sleep and doing these brutal night shifts, yet the tension and resentment from my older brother never stop. On top of that, despite all our efforts, my mom’s physical and mental health is clearly declining.
This setup feels completely toxic and unsustainable. Is there anything we can realistically do to fix this situation? What should I do?
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I (26M/F) need to get this off my chest and get some perspective. I know my work history isn't traditional. I’ve been technically unemployed for the last 10 years, but I haven't been idle. I do gig work—freelance writing, resume writing, and SEO marketing—to bring in money. I am also on disability (SSI) and receive financial aid for school, which allows me to pay my share of the rent and buy groceries.
Back in January, I fell in love with entrepreneurship and developed a startup idea. I worked hard and actually booked two meetings with very prominent companies in my city that are interested in my solution.
This is where everything fell apart.
Two weeks ago, my younger brother agreed to drive me to the first meeting. At the last minute, he backed out. My mom, who is chronically ill with heart failure, stepped up and offered to take me instead.
When my older brother, Eric, found out, he went off on me. He told my mom that this business is a complete waste of time. He started listing all of my past failures, saying I've never done anything right and that I’ll never be organized enough to succeed. He brought up a time years ago when he took me to something similar that didn't pan out, claiming I wasted his time then and he won't let me "waste our mom's time while she's battling heart failure."
After that speech, my younger brother piled on. He told me he won't drive me or pick me up, banned me from using his car, and said, "You have money for the bus or an Uber anyway."
Eric is right that I’ve had interviews and projects in the past that didn't work out. But what hurts the most is the hypocrisy and lack of support:
* I gave Eric half of my school money to start a small business, which failed.
* I gave Eric my entire SSI checks to help fix his car.
* He has never paid me back a single dime.
* I used to let both of them buy whatever they wanted on my food stamp card, even when it meant I only ate what they wanted.
* When my younger brother was trying to be an artist, I promoted him everywhere and did everything to support his dream.
I am literally in tears writing this. This is the first time my younger brother has ever treated me like this, and it is completely heartbreaking.
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Well it happened pretty much. I don't know how to feel about it tbh.
I've been on disability/ SSI for years and there was a lot of tension in the house from my older brother about it. When my uncle found out about the whole kicking me out thing they got into a fight and my uncle said. She helps with rent and is the reason there's fucking groceries in this house why can't she stay here? ....
Brother pretty much started to threaten me with karma and poetic Justice that's when my uncle told me to pack everything and leave with him. He said at this point it's probably not the best idea for me to stay here since he didn't like the tone in my brother's voice. I started to apply for jobs again while looking for a job/ living with my uncle. We just switched my disability check and food stamps to me. Finally.
One of my mentors suggested to me that I change the positioning of my startup and see if I can land bigger clients. He kept saying that the people I'm trying to work with aren't right so I took his advice and it's working. I booked three meetings with major enterprise clients. in short one check could change my life but I'm really nervous and stressed. I'm in a really bad situation and in a way this could be my key out of my current life. So these meetings are high stakes for me and I feel like I'm just going to make myself look desperate because of where I am in my current life. I just need some advice... Anything would be good
Looking for founders who we can relate to my situation
I'm just so nervous I can't think anything
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I’m a 26-year-old female and have basically been a NEET (unemployed) for the last ten years. I've done some gig and freelance work over the last five years.
Lately, my older brother and I have been getting into heated arguments because he feels I don't contribute anything. He recently told my mom that if she passes away or leaves the house, he’s giving me a 30-day notice to get out.
My uncle sat me down this morning and asked what my plan is once she’s gone. He made it clear that I’m essentially about to be homeless. He told me that while I can keep working on my startup, it’s a waste of time right now since it’s not making money. He said I need to get a job ASAP—it doesn’t matter what it is, I just need a paycheck.
He’s going to try to help me sign up for independent living and disability programs. He mentioned I could live with him as a last resort, but he already works two jobs and has a family, and I feel like a total burden.
I want to work. I really do. But every time I apply, I don’t get hired. If I get an interview, it goes nowhere. The longest I’ve ever held a job was two months before being fired. For context, I was diagnosed with intellectual disabilities at 14 and show many signs of autism.
I tried the entrepreneur route because traditional employment wasn't working, but I’ve run out of time. My uncle says he won't let me go homeless because of my disabilities, but I can't live like this. I’m willing to do anything to get started immediately. I know my diagnosis creates barriers, but I’m desperate.
Does anyone have advice for someone neurodivergent to find work quickly? Or are there specific programs I should be looking into? I'll take anything.