📈The Business Plan That Broke My ADHD Brain (And What I Did Instead)🧠💔

From Maxed Out To Mapped Out: A nervous-system smart approach to business planning

A $1.34 billion market just exploded and most entrepreneurs have no idea it exists.

The ADHD planner market hit $750 million in 2024 and is projected to reach $1.34 billion by 2030 (Virtue Market Research, 2024). But here's the kicker: It's not just planners driving this growth—it's desperate ADHD entrepreneurs finally admitting that traditional business planning is broken. 📈

The brutal truth? A recent study of 17,000 entrepreneurs found that while 29% have ADHD (compared to 5% of the general population), most ADHD-led businesses earn less and fail faster than their neurotypical counterparts (Bamiatzi & Williams, Journal of Business Venturing, 2023).

Not because ADHD entrepreneurs lack talent—Psychology Today reports they're literally 300% more likely to start companies and Stanford research shows they generate 23% more innovative solutions under pressure—but because they're forcing their brilliant, connection-making brains into planning systems designed for robots. 🤖

🚨 The Million-Dollar Problem Hidden in Plain Sight

Most business planning advice assumes your brain works like a filing cabinet—neat, linear, predictable. But if you have ADHD, your brain is more like a browser with 47 tabs open, three different projects half-finished, and a brilliant idea that just hit you mid-sentence. 💡

Here's what happened when I tried traditional business planning:

I used to torture myself with traditional business plans. You know the ones with 20 page documents with charts that made my eyes glaze over and step-by-step processes that felt like wearing a straightjacket.

Every business coach insisted I needed:

😑 Detailed quarterly projections

🥱 Linear milestone tracking

🙄 Daily task lists that never got finished

🤦 Systems that required superhuman consistency

The result? I'd spend hours creating these elaborate plans, feel completely overwhelmed by page two, and then abandon them entirely when life inevitably threw me a curveball.

Sound familiar? 🤔

What I discovered in college changed everything. While other students were creating 20-page linear business plans, I instinctively started breaking everything into visual chunks—mapping out ideas like puzzle pieces I could see and rearrange. It wasn't a strategy I learned from anyone; it was like a learning style survival mindset.

Alex Partridge's story in Entrepreneur UK (The UNILAD/LADBible founder) is a great example. He talks about the importance for folks with ADHD to find the bricks in your business and break them down.

But here's where it gets even more interesting.

He revealed the crucial missing piece that most ADHD entrepreneurs struggle with: sustainable motivation.

"I started the social media brands with a degree of self-awareness that knew what my motivations and intrinsic passions were," he explains. "The businesses that I've started prior, and there were lots, they all failed because when I reflect back, I was starting them on short-term dopamine, that initial excitement for a project. Once that honeymoon phase ended, it fizzled out."

This is exactly why traditional business planning fails ADHD entrepreneurs. Most planning methods focus on external metrics—revenue goals, market analysis, competitor research. But they completely ignore the internal drivers that actually sustain ADHD brains long-term.

Self-awareness isn't just knowing you have ADHD, it's understanding what drives and fuels your energy versus draining it. Visual roadmapping makes this connection obvious.

🔥 Beating the dopamine crash mapping it out.

What Partridge calls "finding the bricks," I call visual roadmapping—but we're talking about the same nervous-system-smart approach. Instead of trying to hold an entire business strategy in your head (impossible for ADHD brains), you map it out visually so you can:

👁️ See the whole ecosystem at once (satisfying your pattern-recognition superpowers)
🧱 Hyperfocus on individual "bricks" without losing sight of how they connect
🔄 Quickly pivot when your brain changes direction (because it will)
🙏🏻 Honor your energy cycles instead of fighting against them
🔥 Maintain motivation beyond the dopamine honeymoon by connecting each task to your deeper purpose

This is why I created the Business Health Reset™ Quiz —it helps you figure out which areas in your business are working and which ones are secretly draining you. And then when you get that aha moment, use the bonus visual map for your next steps. Your brain and nervous system will love you for it.

🚩🧠 Why Your ADHD Brain Rejects Traditional Planning

Here's the data that'll blow your mind: 67% of entrepreneurs have ADHD traits vs only 5% of the general population. People with ADHD are 300% more likely to start companies according Psychology Today. 📈

We're not broken—we're literally wired for entrepreneurship.

A 2025 study published in Brains Magazine found that neurodivergent founders are "flipping the script on what success looks like," ditching rigid business models for systems that actually work with their brains.

But here's the disconnect: Most business planning tools were designed for neurotypical brains that think in straight lines.

Your ADHD brain thinks in:

🕸️ Networks, not lists
🔗 Connections, not categories
🧩 Patterns, not procedures
🌊 Energy cycles, not rigid schedules

When you try to force your brilliant, connection-making brain into neurotypical business boxes, it's like trying to put the ocean into a swimming pool. It doesn't work, and it's exhausting to try.

(Check out my recent article about 👉 how you can use your ADHD strategically.)

⚡ The Nervous System Science Behind Visual Planning

Here's what I learned after my own business breakdown:

Your nervous system needs to feel safe before your brain can access its creative, strategic thinking. 🧠

Traditional planning triggers your sympathetic nervous system—the part that screams "OVERWHELM ALERT!" ⚠️

But here's where it gets interesting: Visual planning activates your parasympathetic nervous system—the calm, connected state where your best ideas live. 💡

This isn't just feel-good theory. The somatic coaching industry has exploded to a $6.25 billion market in 2024 (ICF Global Coaching Study) as entrepreneurs realize that nervous system regulation isn't wellness fluff—it's a business strategy.

🔥Visual roadmaps work because they:

🖼️ Show the WHOLE picture (that need to see connections is super satisfying)

🧠 Decrease the brain load! (No more trying to hold it all in your head)

⚡ Honor your energy patterns (you’ll see when you’re overcommitting)

🔄 Stay flexible (easy to adjust when your brain changes direction)

🔥 ADHD-Friendly Business Roadmaps

After years of fighting against my brain, I developed The Bloom Method™, a visual + nervous-system-smart approach to business planning that actually works with ADHD minds.

Instead of linear plans, we create interconnected ecosystems that show how different parts of your business feed and support each other.

The five core elements:

1. 🧠 Mindset - Your thought patterns and beliefs that either fuel or drain your confidence

2. ⚡ Energy - How your physical and emotional energy flows throughout your work cycles

3. 🌱 Growth - The sustainable ways your business expands without burning you out

4. ⚖️ Balance - How work and life coexist peacefully in your unique rhythm

5. 🤝 Connection - The relationships and collaborations that energize your mission

Rather than trying to manage these as separate pieces, visual roadmapping shows you how they work together as a living system.

⚡🪫Want to find your hidden energy drains?

Get your Business Health Quiz + Bonus Map here 🗺️

Instead of a typical business audit (which would feel overwhelming and judgmental), it's designed as a circular ecosystem where you can immediately see:

🟢 Which areas are currently thriving 🌱

🔴 Where your energy is being drained 🪫

🟡 How different aspects of your business affect each other 🧩

🔵 What small shifts could create big improvements 🔑

The visual wheel shows entrepreneurs exactly where they are and helps them see the path forward without feeling overwhelmed. No 47-page business plan required. 😁

As a BONUS opportunity and because we’re on the topic of chunking things down into a visual roadmap, I had to make a MAP for this assessment! You’ll find it in the instructions page when you subscribe and download the quiz.

🗺️ Building Your Own ADHD-Friendly Roadmap

Want to map your business the way your brain actually works?

Here's a simple framework to get started:

Step 1️⃣: Brain Dump Everything 🧠
Get every business idea, project, and goal out of your head and onto paper (or digital canvas). Don't organize yet—just dump.

Step 2️⃣: Look for Natural Clusters 🌳
Notice which ideas naturally group together. Your ADHD brain is already seeing patterns—trust it.

Step 3️⃣: Map the Connections 🌐
Draw lines between related clusters. How does improving your marketing affect your energy? How does your morning routine impact your client relationships?

Step 4: Color-Code by Energy (if you want)

🟢 Green: Activities that give you energy

🟡 Yellow: Neutral energy

🔴 Red: Energy drains (but sometimes necessary)

Step 5: Create Energy-Based Timelines
Instead of arbitrary deadlines, plan around your natural energy rhythms. High-energy tasks during peak times, admin during low-energy periods. ⚡

But here's what I learned the hard way: You can't create an ADHD-friendly roadmap until you know where your energy is actually going right now. Most entrepreneurs are shocked when they discover the hidden drains sabotaging their momentum.

The roadmap reveals energy drains most ADHD entrepreneurs never saw coming. You might think your marketing strategy is the problem, but the real issue is that 3pm client call that leaves you scattered for hours. Or that "simple" admin task that's actually triggering your overwhelm response.

You can't optimize what you can't see. And most of us have blind spots about where our energy actually goes.

So here's the real question: How might honoring your energy patterns actually accelerate your growth? 💫

Ready to find your hidden energy drains? The Business Health Reset™ Quiz reveals your business ecosystem—designed specifically for entrepreneurs who think in connections, not just categories.

✨ The Magic of Seeing Your Whole Business

When you can see your entire business ecosystem laid out visually, something magical happens:

🍒 You stop feeling scattered and start seeing strategy

🍒 Overwhelm transforms into clarity

🍒 You can spot energy leaks before they become burnout

🍒 Decision-making becomes faster and more intuitive

🍒 Your nervous system finally feels safe to be creative

🧩 Your "scattered" thinking is actually pattern-recognition genius in disguise.

🌟 BONUS: Want to take it deeper?

I'm including a Visual Business Map worksheet to help you translate your quiz results into an actionable roadmap. Perfect for ADHD brains who need to see the whole picture at once. 😁

Learn what's secretly sabotaging your ADHD business momentum → Click Here

🍎 Food for thought:

1️⃣ What would change if you could see your entire business strategy in one glance?

2️⃣ Which planning methods have you tried that left you feeling more scattered than before?

Your different brain isn't the problem.

The planning methods you've been trying to use are. It's time to build a business that feels good.

🤝 Invite your readers to Business Feels Good 😌
Practical tools + a kind community for founders who refuse burnout. Short reads, real stats, and weekly micro-habits to make momentum feel easy.

With gratitude + strategy, Kate 🙏🏻