First, some questions:

If you freelance, what brought you to that decision? How have you been making it work without the structure and accountability of an office? What do you use to keep yourself on track, your clients happy, your books managed, your office organized and your design top quality in a messy, world-sized office laden with potential distractions?

And if you're working successfully in an office, how do you cope? What environment keeps you motivated, interested and shuns burn out? How did you overcome interviews? And do you freelance on the side? (if so, what medicine are you taking, because mine only lasts 10 hours and by 5;00, I'm toast!)

As a designer, are you a perfectionist? I find myself redoing projects as my mind constantly shifts, and while the designs get better as I go along, I come across as slow and indecisive. How do you know when the solution you've created is honestly the best you can do?

Now, my story:

For me, being a full time Graphic Designer and having ADD makes me feel like a paradox. I read "How to be a Designer" books and job descriptions, and outside of the "Very creative," and "Knows the software" requirements, I come off as the Bizarro-Designer: unorganized, impossibly slow, unstructured, seemingly unmotivated, a poor communicator, unable to meet deadlines, easily distracted, low attention to detail, impulsive, gullible (because I'm only paying attention at one level), forgetful, sloppy, lazy, not a self-starter...the familiar ADD symptoms list that goes on and on. To be quite honest, the only job I've ever had was one that didn't ask me much about my work habits and hired me on my portfolio and references alone. I was definitely not on medication then, so if they had asked why they should hire me, after I said, "Well, I'm creative and I know the software!" I'd then impulsively blurt out all my weaknesses and they'd send me packing. Even with medication I'll blab if they come right out and ask. But since graphic design is one of my stronger skills that can actually pay the bills (unlike my true passion, which I haven't figured out how to make work yet), I've chosen it as my profession and now I have to find a way to make it doable.

Which brings me to where I am now. In utter frustration, I recently quit my full time in-house design job (they cut me to part time for economic reasons and I wanted out), and faced with the tortuous idea of more ADD-undermined interviews or just trying to freelance it for a while, I decided to try freelancing full time. It seems easy and fun and manageable....until you realize that you are not only a designer but salesman, bookkeeper and boss. The last time I checked, my only marketable skills were "creative" and "knows the software", so selling myself, doing math and keeping myself on track are definitely huge challenges to overcome. Outside of my old windowless box where people held me accountable, I feel like an ADD kid in on an alien planet: I'm ridiculously excited and relieved to be somewhere new, and yet completely out of my element and constantly afraid that the next move I make could be disastrous.

I officially start next week, I'm mostly broke and I'm pretty much flying by the seat of my pants. My husband works full time, which takes off a little bit of the pressure, but we need 2 good paychecks to actually live beyond paydays and achieve necessary financial goals. My medication gives me roughly 10 hours of focused work, but freelancing isn't exactly a 9-6 job, and if I want to make any money at all, work is going to go beyond my medicinal limits. This means past 6:00, all those ADD habits I listed will come out full force and creativity is going to take a back seat. In other words, distractions and time-wasting go up and work quality and motivation go down. I might be okay during the day, but my self confidence is so weak right now it's hard to say how I'll fare---which is why I'm doing freelance and writing this. If I can succeed in this new job, then I know I can take on an interview anywhere if I want to. But for now, I'm hoping others will have similar stories so we can help each other out in this tricky, ADD-awkward occupation.

Thanks again for your help!

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