‘Did you get fired?’

There are many funny things about being self-employed, but one of the not-so-funny-when-you-have-had-to-do-it-hundreds-of-times things is the people asking, why you are self-employed?

‘Did you get fired?’, they ask. Or ‘Did you jump ship before it capsized anyway?’. The answer to both for my part is a loud and resounding ‘No’. I choose for myself to become self-employed as it was something I had always dreamt of trying at one point of my career.

It seems sad that there’s such a perception around being self-employed, freelancer and/or consultant as to suggest that it’s just a means to and end on the back of a personal failure. Because there are really many bright people out there for whom being self-employed is a very positive and giving choice of lifestyle.