Oh, wow. Since this has been promoted to Featured (thank you, Autism Forums folks) I'll pay back a little to outline how I got here:
One of my special passions is cats, and I came to them as an adult. My first husband was a fan. This let me "see them clearly" because I didn't have to get past misconceptions and myths. I started rescuing them, too. By the time he suddenly died and I had to start my life over, giving up the cat shelter was tough. I wound up only able to keep two; the shyest and oldest two. The rest found new homes.
Then my friends urged me to use my prior years of expertise to write a book about all my cat advice. This was a great way of pulling together all kinds of information in my brain. I systematized all this stuff I didn't know I knew. But publishing was at a real low, where it still is: they want you to already be a celebrity, then write the book, and you publicize it, and they collect most of the money.
I decided if it was all going to be on me anyway, I'd just start a blog and see if people liked my cat advice. And they did! Years of health struggles finally started resolving with my Asperger's diagnosis, which soon became official. I realized I would have to have a new approach to my "career" and making a living. My husband and I dipped into our resources (scant, but at least we have some) to let us expand our living space, get some commercial space to make products in, and make a business of this.
It was incredibly helpful to take a low-cost business class which helped us figure out what we were doing right (building a fan base) and doing wrong (not spending any money on marketing.) This early success is so encouraging.
It helps that he is a (retired on disability) art director and I have an IT background. But this is getting easier and easier, and we can form alliances with others who want to get their passions out there. Pool talent, commit to a long arc (this was ten years in the making,) and we can find a path of our own.
There's never been a better time in history to do so.
