Member Article

Business coach specialises in supporting entrepreneurs with ADHD diagnosis

A BUSINESS coach who specialises in supporting entrepreneurs with ADHD has just moved in to a popular business centre in Gateshead.

Small business coach Suzy Jackson was herself diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which has given her a unique insight into the challenges faced by business people with ADHD, or who may be otherwise neurodivergent.

Suzy launched her coaching and business support business, SuzyJ, late last year and has now moved into her first office in Hypoint, a business centre in Saltmeadows Road, Gateshead.

She’d been looking for the right office in the right environment for some time, and had even considered buying a camper van from which to work.

“When I set up the business I initially worked from home, but that became problematic - I needed a degree of separation from work and home life. I also needed somewhere with plenty of natural light, and with little or no noise to distract me. Hypoint was exactly what I was looking for – I’d been looking for so long and not managed to find anything, that I was even considering buying a camper van to work from,” said Suzy.

She had a varied career before becoming a business coach. After school she completed an apprenticeship in food and retail hospitality. She progressed through the industry, becoming a relief manager in venues in London and across the south east.

Suzy returned to her native north east in 2002, when she started a job as a project manager at the then development agency ONE North East’s North East Regional Portal, where she helped deliver events and training, developed research-based projects and wrote bid applications.

Suzy then moved on to the BE Group where she progressed from a business support adviser to a business development project manager.

“My role at BE Group involved a lot of coaching and challenging business concepts and ideas, as well as idea generation, growth support and business plan reviewing,” explained Suzy.

She then moved to BQ magazine, which was then owned by the BE Group. Suzy worked as a senior digital journalist at BQ. “That experience taught me so much about promoting and supporting businesses, as well as how the media works,” she said.

With that experience, Suzy was appointed marketing manager at Transmit Startups, a business startup specialist. She left Transmit in February of this year to set up SuzyJ

‘During my team with Transmit, I saw the team grow from 12 to 40 and became Commercial Manager. I think all of the different roles I’ve had and the jobs I’ve done have been the perfect preparation for what I’m doing now.

“I enjoy supporting a range of small businesses, but I’m particularly happy to provide a coaching service to those business owners with ADHD. I was diagnosed during Covid, and so many things just dropped into place – my life and the choices I’ve made suddenly made more sense.

“I’ve often had itchy feet and felt my brain worked differently to other people. The diagnosis explained why.

“Other business owners with ADHD can take comfort and reassurance from someone who understands their experiences and challenges. It’s not about trying to make people more normal – whatever that means – it’s about them appreciating and understanding their differences.”

ADHD is thought to affect one in seven people, and has been in the public eye recently because of huge increases in diagnoses. Suzy said: “ADHD is not the ‘badly behaved schoolboy’ trope, it’s so much more than that. ADHD impacts your executive functions, like your working memory, concentration, impulsivity, which are the foundational skills that humans are generally ‘expected’ to have.

“So when you make it out of school and into your adult life, and later learn you’ve always had these differences in how your brain works, it can be a massive adjustment,” explained Suzy.

Laura Goldston, Manager at HyHubs, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Suzy to Hypoint, she’s an inspirational figure doing some important work. She adds to the huge variety of companies we have at Hypoint, from a bakehouse to tech firms and from a manual therapy clinic to a painter – and so many other interesting companies and people in between.”

Suzy moved into Hypoint on a business deal still being offered to new tenants. Companies younger than two years can take space on an initial deal of £100 per person per month, on an initial three-month term. More established companies can currently move in at half-price of their commitment term – so a six-month tenancy would get three months free. The offer also includes free internet for three months.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hoults Yard .