Blog #521: Why Getting Paid to Speak or Volunteer is a Reflection of Self-Respect as a Neurodivergent Business Owner?

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When it comes to being a business owner, sometimes we have to do things that are not easy, but are necessary for the business to properly run whether its by cutting costs, laying off people or restructuring to better run the business you have worked so hard to create.

As a neurodivergent business owner, I recently had to put Going the Distance through a restructuring phase to do just that. But out of all the restructuring and sacrifices that I've had to make, there is one thing that comes out of all of this and that is self-respect.

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In 1964's "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," Donner says the following to Rudolph about why he wants to have his red nose covered up:

"All right son, try it on."

"I don't wanna, daddy I don't like it."

"You'll like it and wear it!"

"Aw, but daddy...it's not very comfortable."

"There are more important things than comfort...self-respect. Santa can't object to you now."

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Up until this time, I often viewed Going the Distance as a form of comfort and self-pride. I have a big heart and sometimes I don't understand that what I am doing is a bad reflection more on my self-respect than my self-pride. This can range from doing pro bono work to traveling for business and not getting paid for it.

Now, with recent events that have occurred during the restructuring of Going the Distance, I've had to sort of step back and think to myself as an autism self-advocate and public speaker the following question:

"Does getting paid to cover travel costs is more than just accounting, but of self-respect?"

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The answer to that question, is yes. Part of the restructuring involves focusing more on not only maintaining a budget, but also maintaining self-respect on a financial level. There are plenty of people and organizations out there who may seem like they have your best intentions at heart and want to help you maintain that self-respect, but when you look at things from a different point of view, they really don't. All they care about is themselves and their own best interests.

As I have said before, I've been very grateful to organizations like the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism to make me a Flutie Fellow which involves getting financial support as well as general support to help me reach my goals as a self-advocate and public speaker.

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Most people whether they be neurotypical or neurodivergent will not show any gratefulness to those who want to help them get that self-respect both financially and personally, which is a dirty shame. Going forward, I don't intend on working with people or organizations who don't have my self-respect at heart.

The only exceptions are that there are customers and organizations out there who want to help me grow my self-respect as a business owner, but don't have the funds to compensate the time I put in to help me grow that self-respect.

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In conclusion, self-respect personally is just as important as self-respect financially. Finances are like the blood that flows through Going the Distance and in order to help that blood flow, I need to have that self-respect as a business owner, an autism self-advocate and as a public speaker.

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Catch you all later!!