Rachel started her interview with me by telling me about the time she left her job to focus on her typewriter poetry business – Typolar.
She has an old 1970s typewriter and she types poems on the spot on the subject requested. This started as Rachels side hustle but she took a leap and started working on it full time.
Leaving her job was not hard for Rachel. As someone who is neurodivergent, with ADHD and autism, she never felt like she was a 100% fit for her role. It was not all bad, but she decided to give being her own boss a shot!
Typolar was going well, but winter was approaching and Rachel was not sure about busking in winter. “I got interested in the neurodivergence space, I went to a symposium and heard about these interesting things with neurodivergence and employment. And I just thought I want to find a way to get the stories out there! So I studied marketing.”
I asked Rachel how making these decisions felt “I think on one hand I was terrified. On the other hand, I also thought I had nothing to lose.
“I already had my lowest points in employment, how much worse could entrepreneurship possibly get? It comes down to not having any regrets. Even if something was a bad decision, the human spirit is ultimately quite resilient.”
The resiliency was a theme throughout our interview. It is something she leans a lot on these days.
Rachel learned a few things about herself while on this journey: She was a better business person than she assumed, that her ADHD trait of being good in emergencies helped her adapt quickly to changing circumstances, and that trusting herself led to much better outcomes than taking on other opinions.
One of the other benefits Rachel discovered by being out of her comfort zone is not to fear failure. Writing poetry on request meant that sometimes (not often!) the poem wasn’t what the customer wanted. And Rachel learned that it was not the end of the world if that happened! Also “people are more afraid of the social judgement that comes with that rather than the actual failure itself. So once you realise that it’s actually about being afraid of other people’s judgement on that failure, you go, ‘Okay, well, why do you care about that person’s opinion because they’re more worried about their own judgement’”
As for advice to anyone thinking about stepping out of their comfort zone: “number one is self-awareness. Really understanding yourself as to what are you good at? What are you not good at? What do you really want to achieve in life? And sitting down and mapping out all those different strengths, interests, weaknesses. Then using that to help with making a decision on whether to step out of that comfort zone and do your own thing or even making a tough decision about your career.”
Rachel also advises to think about just how important decisions are – what is critical at 19 may not be such a big deal at 90 when you look back on your life.
And of course, Rachel had a chance to give me some final words, powerful ones “I think the more the more that people are self-aware of what they want to do, what they want to do to be happy. I think it’s just better for society. I think if we just worry less about other people’s judgement, if we just even stop judging people in general. I think everyone will just be a lot happier, society be more productive. work will be far more pleasant. A lot of social issues and political crises will be resolved. If we just stop being judgmental about other people’s differences and embracing everyone’s neurodivergence.”
About Rachel:
My day job is being the CEO of Neurodiversity Media, a global tech-enabled media company that combines journalistic flair, marketing insight and legal rigour to unleash potential in the workplace. Our signature product is our Resource Library platform, our one-stop shop for news, products and services for all things neurodiversity in the workplace. Join as a free member today: www.neurodiversitymedia.com/join.
My first business and current side hustle, typepolar, is my creative outlet where I write poems on demand at weddings, parties and events. I also do personalised poetry commissions for gifts.