I have ADHD. This is how I built a thriving coaching business.
For most of my life, I thought something was wrong with me, until one sentence in a Zoom call rearranged the whole story.
It was mid-December last year. I was sitting on a Zoom call with a psychologist after 3 sessions of assessments, long questions and depth reflection.
He looked at me and said: “I’m confident you have ADHD.”
I didn’t feel shocked or sad. I felt seen.
I’ve suspected it for years. And finally things made sense. Why so many things felt harder for me than they seemed to be for others. Why I always felt not enough and too much at the same time.
Since that diagnosis, I’ve been looking back at my last 10 years in business with a new level of self-understanding. And what I see now is this:
I didn’t build a thriving coaching business despite having ADHD, but because of it.
And I did that by slowly, intuitively, redefining entrepreneurship so it could work with how I’m wired.
I wrote this for you if you recognize yourself in these patterns. ADHD. ADHD-ish. ADHD-adjacent. Highly sensitive. Creative. Interest-driven. Introverted. Easily overstimulated.
And especially if you’ve spent your life feeling like the odd one out. The black sheep. The underdog. If you learned early that staying true to yourselves often meant breaking rules and burning bridges.
If that’s you, stay with me.
What follows isn’t a story about “overcoming” ADHD. It’s about how, once you stopped fixing your so-called weaknesses, they became your magic.
“Once you stopped fixing your so-called weaknesses, they became your magic.” - Milena
6 ways I turned my ADHD into business assets
1
Choose aliveness over forced discipline
I couldn’t stick to routines. Morning rituals fell apart, habits came and went, planners were bought with high hope and abandoned in a corner 3 days later.
“I’m not disciplined enough,” I used to tell myself.
What was actually happening is that my ADHD brain doesn’t thrive on repetition. It thrives on aliveness.
So I stopped disciplining myself into perfection and started designing my days and business with variety, flexibility, and moment-to-moment awareness.
Some days need structure. Some days need spaciousness. I let both be valid.
My business grows because I’m deeply attuned to aliveness, and that attunement keeps my work creative, responsive, and real.
2
Turn sensitivity into true resilience
I got overwhelmed easily. Noise, pressure, too many people, too many inputs. I needed more downtime than others and felt ashamed of that.
“I’m not resilient enough,” I thought.
What was actually happening is that my brain processes more information, and more deeply.
So I stopped measuring resilience by how much I could endure and started measuring it by how early I listened to my limits.
This sensitivity is the same reason I can hold clients deeply, read subtle shifts and create space that feels safe and sacred.
My business thrives because I honor my sensitivity instead of overriding it.
3
Build stability through cycles, not linear consistency
Linear progress drained me. Showing up the same way, at the same time, chipping away at the same thing everyday feels like chewing on someone else’s old shoe. Ew!
“I’m not consistent enough,” I used to judge myself.
The truth is my ADHD brain isn’t built for straight lines. It’s built for cycles, rhythms, seasons and bursts of deep focus.
I stopped forcing consistency and built organic structures that could hold fluctuation without collapsing.
My visibility moves in waves. My creativity has seasons. When the wave of energy is there, I ride it and go deep. When it isn’t, I rest without guilt.
My business stays stable because it’s designed to ebb and flow, the way all living things do.
4
Cultivate alignment by letting interest lead the way
If something didn’t feel meaningful and interesting, my brain simply refused to focus. “It’s important. Just do it.” never worked.
“Why can’t I have more will power?” I used to ask myself.
What was happening is just an ADHD brain doing what it does best: being interest-oriented and meaning-seeking, not importance-driven.
So I designed my business with meaning built into the work itself. I lead with curiosity. Follow resonance. Make space for playfulness. And create offers I’m genuinely excited to be inside.
The result is a business fueled by alignment.
5
Build originality through cross-pollination
I went all in on things and then moved on. Spoken word poetry. Textured art. Sketching. Calligraphy. Pottery. Pole dancing (okay, that one lasted a week and didn’t even make it to the trial class.)
I used to shame myself for not sticking with things forever. Am I too flaky? I wondered.
What I didn’t understand then is that my ADHD brain craves a variety of input so it can make unexpected connections. I’m not meant to stay, I’m meant to gather.
In my business, this became inventiveness.
I see metaphors everywhere, pull insights across disciplines, and turn lived experiences into original frameworks and perspectives.
I would sit in a pottery class and suddenly think “Wow I need to use this metaphor in my coaching framework!” (Meanwhile my iPhone fell into the bucket of water.)
Anyway! My work feels original and distinct because my brain is constantly cross-pollinating (and my iPhone constantly dropping.)
6
Reclaim financial intelligence
I avoided digging into numbers. Traditional budgeting felt rigid and overwhelming. So I assumed this meant I wasn’t responsible enough to be trusted with money.
“I’m bad with money.” I told myself.
What I later realized is that my brain doesn’t respond well to repetitive, low-meaning financial tasks. But it’s highly attuned to patterns, big-picture thinking, and financial truth when information is presented with clarity and simplicity.
I stopped managing money through control and started stewarding it through having a system that helps me stay visible with data and recognize patterns.
Seeing financial trends, making grounded pricing decisions and sensing when something is off long before a spreadsheet confirms it. That’s another kind of financial intelligence.
“No matter how you’re wired, no matter what you’ve been taught to call it a weakness, you’re enough to build a thriving coaching business.” - Milena
If there’s one thing I hope you take from this, it’s this:
No matter how you’re wired, no matter what you’ve been taught to call it a weakness, you’re enough to build a thriving coaching business.
What it actually takes isn’t fixing yourself. It’s radical self-acceptance.
The courage to stop asking, What’s wrong with me?
And start asking, What kind of business would feel like home for me?
For many neurodivergent, highly sensitive, or simply unconventional people, the problem was never ability.
It was trying to play by rules that were never designed for us.
Entrepreneurship, as it’s often taught, is built around neurotypical nervous systems.
We don’t win by playing that game harder.
We win by challenging the rule and redesigning the field.
And we can’t do it alone.
You and I, we need each other.
We need other weird, brilliant, misfit humans who get it.
Humans who don’t flinch when you say, “This is how my brain works” but instead lean in and say “Me too.”
Humans who are just as committed to redefining success as they’re to building something real.
That’s what my business program Impact Coaching Circle (ICC) exists to hold.
Once a year, we open our doors for new members, beginning with our 3-day training Coaching Business Jumpstart. A space where many neurodivergent, creative, and unconventional coaches come together to learn, experiment, and rewrite the rules side by side.
This year, Jumpstart runs from April 17th to 19th, and our annual enrolment for ICC opens right after. I’ll share more details with you soon.
For now, just know this:
You don’t have to become someone else to succeed.
You get to build something that shines from the magic of who you are.
And if you’ve spent your whole life feeling like you’re both not enough and too much,
chances are you’re just right for your own business and your own band of misfit humans.
Milena
A reader once told me my emails gave her shivers - and the good kind.
Every week I send out *special* emails, fondly referred to as Wildflower Letter, to thousands of readers worldwide… - filled with strange business advice that has made me loads of happy money, behind-the-scenes confessions, laugh-out-loud stories, and hot updates I just don’t share anywhere else.
Hey, fellow purpose-driven human!
I’m Milena. When I was 24, I said no to corporate job offers to “do my own thing.”
9 years, some major fumbles, 3 TEDx Talks, 1 published book, 50,000 followers, and hundreds of clients (from 15+ countries) later…
I make a multi-six-figure living as a coach while spending most of my time walking barefoot in my apartment. #introvertgoal
I know you want to make a difference.
I’m here to help you turn that calling into a financially sustainable coaching business — while staying away from the hustle, and skipping the pitfalls that trip up most new coaches.
Quit your 9-to-5. Move to a paradise island. Slow yoga every morning. Work from sunlit cafes. Make time for loved ones (including yourself). Grow your influence. Wake up excited about your day. And serve only the clients who light you up…
All of that (and more!) is possible, once you have the right support.
Let me help you shine.
I stopped trying to fix my ‘weaknesses’ and started building a business that felt like home.