I was uhm-ing and ah-ing when it came to renaming the podcast. It probably took me a month to determine what I believe about running a business. And I ended up on the word ‘scrappy’ – and today I want to explain a little bit about what having a scrappy business means to me, because it’s not as negative as it may seem on the surface. There are also positive aspects I want to highlight.

When people hear the word scrappy the first thing that comes to mine is nothing positive.

If you’re ND like me, then you may have been referred as ‘scrappy’ in some way all of your life.

And people may have told you that you need to change something in the way you are if you ever want to be successful.

And I personally see so much more in being scrappy than just being disorganised.

Definition

from Oxford Languages

scrappy

/ˈskrapi/ – adjective

1. consisting of disorganized, untidy, or incomplete parts.

disorganized untidy disjointed unsystematic uneven bitty sketchy superficial perfunctory slipshod inadequate imperfect incoherent piecemeal fragmentary incomplete unfinished unpolished deficient defective thrown together

Show me a neurodiverse person that hasn’t had themselves or their work referred to as any of the above – and I bet you money you can’t find one.

However there is another meaning to scrappy that is usually only used in the US.

2. determined, argumentative, or pugnacious

And today I want to add some more perspective to this.

What having a scrappy business means for me personally

For me having a scrappy business means having a business that is in line with my brain.

There is so much talk about authenticity and being in alignment and showing up as yourself, however this only seems to apply to people who are neurotypical and generally part of the “majority” whatever that looks like in relation to you.

It’s ok to be as you are provided that you fit into the standard picture of what society expects from you.

And you act accordingly.

And if you don’t, then you better get your shit together.

Because otherwise success will never come to you.

For me having a scrappy business means

• being in total alignment with how my brain works. I’m fast, I’m passionate and I act quickly – hence why stuff is often unfinished and without a “grand plan”
• offering services in a way that works for me (sorry, I’m not going to be on your slack 24/7)
• having routines and workspaces that work for me (I love to work outside of my house, so I don’t ‘quickly jump on zoom’ with you)
• putting something out there before it’s finished, nevermind perfect so I can see if it is what people need BEFORE I put a load of work into it
• being able to change course quickly when something changes in the world (which let’s face it seems to be every other week right now) – because I’m not reliant on extensive systems and funnels to keep things running
• being determined to make it work for everyone. I want to make sure that my offers get results, so I involve the people who will be using them in creating them!
• I am resourceful, stubborn and I don’t give up. If you need a techy solution I will find it, not matter how many hoops there is. And if I can’t find an option, I don’t think anyone else can either.

Nothing in the world is just going to get served to you on a silver platter.

Nothing in this world is forever going to stay consistently the same.

And being a scrappy business owner means that you can continue to work and continue to offer stuff even if things around you are rapidly changing.

Because you have the courage to go with it.

And the smarts and creativity.

And the tenacity.

And that’s what having a scrappy business is all about for me.

There is nothing wrong with doing things half-way and seeing where it leads.

Not everything needs a grand plan that is completely thought-through and perfect.

So, if you’re the needing permission kind of person, then here is your permission to do things that aren’t perfect.