Not a professional or formally educated in the bunch. These guys had it made...None of my professional and self-employed friends ever had the time to live.
I don't believe any man 'has it made' whose job and future hangs on the whim of another. I have seen grown men almost wet their Armani suits when the CEO frowns; I've seen highly paid corporate executives break out in sweat when they're passed over for promotions. And I've seen guys in overalls with their guts in knots about overtime and vacation schedules and hassles with 'the bosses.'
Sure, to a well established one-man business, customers are important - but no one should have control of your future or dictate the terms of your life, except you yourself. If you're not able to tell a client to go to hell, and willing to take a financial hit for doing so, you might as well remain a wage slave.
Most self-employed people are doing what they want to do, and finding real life in their work - not just watching the clock for work to end and life to resume.
