How to Turn a Passion into Business Success
There are many roads that lead to entrepreneurship. For autistic people, working for themselves is an increasingly popular option.
For a good few years now I’ve followed Matthew Dubins and have had the chance to interview and learn from him. Matthew is the founder of Donor Science Consulting. I wanted to find out more about his story.
JB: I’ve read and heard you talk about being autistic, and how it fuels the many pursuits that have characterized your business. Can you tell me more about how this all came together?
MD: Many people speak of autism as a thing that someone “has”. When I consider my story, I can honestly say that autism is more about the person I am than anything else. As I share my story, you’ll undoubtedly see some characteristics that I have in common with other autistic folks; that can’t be helped! However, this is the story of a person, not a person with an ailment.
Suddenly, I had a window to look out into the world and learn about nearly anything.
JB: Please go on.
MD: This all started in my undergraduate studies in Psychology. I got introduced to data analysis in my ‘Intro Statistics’ and gradually came to adopt it as my primary passion in life. Suddenly, I had a window to look out into the world and learn about nearly anything. What a liberating feeling it was!
As time went on, I learned a few more things about what my professional comfort zone was, and what fulfillment looked like to me. To be happy, I need to be working in the nonprofit sector, have a wide variety of projects—both easy and hard—and most importantly, that I work for myself.
That last bit is important.
In past jobs, I’ve lost a lot of motivation because being under the thumb of someone else’s professional vision tends to make me lose interest after a while. That’s not to say that I haven’t appreciated the jobs I worked at previously, but I regret that I didn’t have nearly the staying power that I do now.
JB: So, being your own boss really motivates you?
MD: Yes. My success now is 100% dependent on me. Sometimes that can be downright scary. Other times it’s fantastic!
JB: How did you come to start your own business then?
…she asked me a dangerous question: “What would be your ideal job?”
MD: It was during my last full time job—I wasn't terribly happy, and so was seeing a life-coach at the time to talk about my troubles. During one of our sessions, she asked me a dangerous question: “What would be your ideal job?”. Well, this got me thinking about a vague business idea that had been floating around my head for years: use Canada’s charity tax return data to build a prospect list of potential client charities and then contact them, offering my services as a data scientist.
So, I started to think more about this idea. I came up with a plan as to what services I would offer, how I would market my business, what I would call my business, what the business logo would be, and what list of charities that I would target. Needless to say, I put a lot of thought into this. So much so that I was putting more energy into the idea than my full time job itself! At that point, I launched.
JB: So it sounds like being autistic played a role in your business success, but also finding your purpose had a lot to do with the people around you?
MD: Yes, and I’m also grateful that my dogged perseverance helped me get through the first few years of entrepreneurship, because let me tell you they were really difficult! I didn’t get much business or income, but I networked a lot. It was that networking, and the people around me, that finally led to getting enough business to support my family and it’s just grown from there.
*
Thanks to Matthew for sharing his wisdom. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily leadership content and weekly micro-interviews.
Previous Micro-Interviews:
