I’d like to give credit to my teachers, public transport system, sanitation engineers, local authorities, restaurant and hotel employees, gov’t social welfare system, etc. etc. etc. for being the ‘someone else’ who made my indie contracting career happen.

  But I really can’t, as that’s not entirely the case. I’d be leaving out the incredibly hard hours I work, risks I personally take, dinners with my family I’ve missed, months and months of being away from my kids to take contracts to help further their father’s income stream, and time away from my friends and extended family because I’ve spent what’s left of my available free time making up for lost time with immediate family.

I don’t go through all this because I’m greedy or because I like to pay increasingly aggressive mandatory taxes to fund others who don’t do what I do to make ends meet.

I do it to show my kids how to be self-motivated, self-sufficient, and how to enjoy and safeguard the fruits if the labors they do. I do it because I want my kids to know they can live without having to juggle a decision of, “Do I pay rent or auto insurance bill?” every month.

Others benefit from my work and volunteer mentoring time as well. I don’t expect to get a “fair” cut of their profits simply because I was part of it, and don’t expect others to feel the same with regards to mine.