In Praise of Independence

Independence is a rare thing.  Margaret J. Wheatley said "we know from science that nothing in the universe exists as an isolated or independent entity".  As individuals in Canadian society, none of us is truly independent.  We benefit from our interdependence on other members of this society.  Our health care is an obvious example of one of these benefits.  Nevertheless, we also benefit from independent-minded people.  They may be artists, writers, or people who operate their own business.  I was once an employee of a large government organization, the City of Winnipeg.  I had to answer to bureaucrats above me, elected officials, and, of course, the public I served.  Often, I felt like I was between a rock and a hard place, never being able to please everyone at once.  Fortunately, I was able to leave that position and open my own consulting business.

I was not truly independent because I still had to work for others.  But, at least, I was able to decide, to some degree, who I would work for and what I would do.  If someone wanted me to do something and I either didn't want to work for that person or organization or do the kind of work they wanted me to do, I had a simple solution that usually worked: I quoted a price two to three times my going rate.  A really outrageous fee meant to politely make the person go away.  Once in awhile, I was trapped by that approach when the unwanted client said 'okay, here's the money, the work is yours'.  The pill was still bitter, even though it was sugar-coated.  But, I would do the work, to the best of my ability.  I was, after all, a business person.  As long as the work was honest, didn't undermine my principles, and I could make my own conclusions, I would get on with it.

Being a sole proprietor, I came to respect other small business people, people who ran a business, either alone, or with a few employees.  Some of these people were trades people, some crafts people, and others retailers.  I would preferentially give them my business, even if it cost more, because I recognized and appreciated their desire to be independent.  I have various treasured objects, furniture, clothing, and improvements to my home from these people.  So, this post is simply written to show my respect for such people.  Not everyone can run an independent business.  In fact, most people cannot do so.  They're more comfortable working for an organization.  That's fine.  There are other ways to be independent or as independent as one can be in Canada.  One way is to save and invest wisely so that you know that you can always walk away from your job at any time if you want to make a change.