Thank You, Part II.

Two years ago, I decided to write myself in as a character in a book called "Where the Self-Employed Things Are." Last year, I wrote my first corporate thank-you note, humbled by the incredible startup support I received from friends and former colleagues. I can't really top the drama of describing waking up one morning with a mortgage, a family and no source of income, and I won't even try. But I will say that, while Chapter One in this strange book might be titled, "What the Hell Are You Doing?", Chapter Two's header reads more like "What Took You So Long?"

A friend of mine once told me that in agrarian times, it used to be considered normal, more stable and even less risky to be your own boss. (The alternative was "having to go work for someone else.") I found that hard to believe at the time, and I still do. But I'm beginning to think that the Digital Age might have something in common with the Agrarian Age.

I'm not crazy enough to say that self-employment is for everyone. Yes, health insurance is insanely expensive. And even when you feel somewhat established, you still live every day not knowing what projects lie 30 days ahead. But I've come to listen closely when people describe an experience as "difficult" and "stressful," but something they "couldn't imagine living without." These are usually the most meaningful experiences. And for me, they include working abroad, having a child and starting my own business.

I won't bore you with tales of walking door-to-door on Dublin's Grafton Street looking for a job in the summer of 1990. And my tales of fatherhood are well-documented on my non-professional blog. But I will say how amazed I am at what I experienced during the past year. There were the sexy projects, like writing a feature film related to World War II and shooting a commercial with Joe Mauer. There were the "didn't see that coming" projects, like creating an animated presentation for the 50th anniversary of a couple I'd never met, or hastily creating a T-shirt designed to encourage the firing of Notre Dame's football coach. And there continue to be the simple, day-to-day pleasures of working with appreciative clients and fellow creative entrepreneurs--the people I absolutely could not live without.

We live in an age when the barriers to self-employment are lower than they've ever been. If you have a cell phone, a laptop and a WiFi connection, you can be an entrepreneur. If not knowing what the next chapter of your life is going to be doesn't scare you to death, I say enter the story. And start writing.