ADHD coach finds demand among entrepreneurs

More people now know that Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have business implications, said Gayla Wilson, an Eagle-based ADHD coach whose clients include entrepreneurs.

“Many entrepreneurs have it,” she said.
It’s widely reported that the population of sufferers includes a sizable contingent of entrepreneurs. British airline mogul Richard Branson and U.S. political consultant/pundit James Carville are among advocates whose outreach partly reflects their experiences with ADD or ADHD, Wilson said.
The Attention Deficit Disorder Association (add.org) recently reported that many business owners exhibit ADHD characteristics such as a continuous flow of new ideas, a distorted sense of time, a visual or even visionary approach to thinking, and tendencies to start multiple projects at once and to learn in a hands-on manner.
Wilson said many people challenged with ADD or ADHD work in creative vocations - now increasingly important in a U.S. economy losing certain technical jobs. More outreach is needed to creative-sector members who have the disorders, she said.
Her niche is coaching. She also consults and speaks on the topic. She became an ADHD coach five years ago and launched her business four years ago.
Wilson and her husband, a retired Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer, moved to Eagle from Colorado, where Wilson worked with youth in the court system. Earlier, she worked as an optician for 25 years in California.
“I wanted to do something because it is an underserved population,” Wilson said.
She graduated from the ADD Coach Academy in Slingerlands, N.Y. (www.addcoachacademy.com) and began coaching families, adolescents and individual adults.
“Theoretically, about 20 percent of the population has ADD,” Wilson said. About half are not diagnosed, or diagnosed but not treated, she said.
“We have a huge part of this population in the United States struggling, and they don’t have to if they are properly diagnosed and receive proper treatment,” she said.
The name of Wilson’s business, Controlling Your Chaos, refers to a situation that people often encounter before and immediately after an official diagnosis, she said.
Through frequent interactions, she helps entrepreneurial clients identify and remedy challenges ranging from effectively completing at-home and personal tasks that impact their work lives to following projects through to completion. She helps them organize and administer, and generally reduce challenges while building on strengths.
Challenging tendencies among ADD-ADHD sufferers may include a lack of attention to detail, getting bored quickly, moving to multiple areas of interest, getting overwhelmed with too many ideas, and even battling negative self-talk, Wilson said.
 “A coach is really beneficial in providing them encouragement,” she said.
The coach frequently checks in with the entrepreneurial client, making sure he or she is staying on track with tasks, managing time, prioritizing, and maintaining focus on the goal.
“A good coach also checks and validates goals, or helps determine if a goal needs to be changed or modified,” Wilson said.
Wilson contacts the entrepreneurial client daily by phone or e-mail to receive an update and offer advice on any new challenges. The contact includes an accountability component; she often assigns a task and asks for documented results, for example.
“If they didn’t do it, it’s not a failure,” she said. “It just means we need to reorganize the system.”
In periodic face-to-face meetings, Wilson and the entrepreneurial client evaluate progress and needs based on program design.
She recommends that people receive a professional diagnosis. Several website offer tools that can help people identify personal characteristics that may indicate the need to seek a professional diagnosis, she said.
After the diagnosis, Wilson recommends professional treatment followed by behavioral support such as coaching.
Quashing the tendencies is not the goal, she said.
“It’s important to create a system and structure for their day to allow them to manage their struggles – so they can spend the majority of their day working in their area of strength,” Wilson said. For example, someone with ADD-ADHD tendencies might struggle through law school, and then thrive at a law firm where a support system is in place, she said.
“All workplaces need an environment supportive of this brain style,” she said.
The industry is better-known in bigger cities, Wilson said. “The market is good here, dependent on the education of the public about ADD coaching.”
Her website is www.controllingyourchaos.com. Other resources include Children and Adults with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (chadd.org) and the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (adda.com).