There used to be a time when being an employee was really a safe place to be. It’s not anymore. Do you really want to work 40, 60 hours a week for an employer that can fire you the first time you screw up something, or when you’re not indispensable any more? Also, because the business can close without you being able to do anything to avoid it, your destiny does not really depend on you.

The only way to have control over your future is to have your own business, and with your daily actions quickly and directly influence the direction of your business.

Over the last few years, more and more people are working on their own, and forming collaborative networks rather than structuring as a company with leaders and employees. A true distributed company.

Working as a cog is something we inherited from the industrial revolution, and it’s a 200 year old idea which is slowly going to fade away, replaced by a more agile and efficient model, for people that are willing to take the leap.

Think what would happen if you were to become ill or for some reason not be able to work. You’ll not be able to help the business you work for, and unless they are obliged to keep you as an employee, what will happen is: you’ll be fired.

If you have a portfolio of products that are your own, even if you have a problem that halts you from working for a few weeks, you will still have an income.

Think for example if you are a programmer and suddenly you can’t look any more at the screen because there is an eye problem, or you begin to suffer from RSI (repetitive strain injury), which is not a disease that goes away easily and it may take many months or even years before improving.

In these cases, the only way to stay afloat is to have a business based on products that are in autopilot mode, and so it also works without you having to work 6, 8, 10 hours each day to take home a salary.

This is a time when the individual has phenomenal tools to succeed as an independent business. Just think of how the tools to promote your business to the world have improved over the last 10 years, comfortably from home. Enter your credit card details and you can launch AdWords or Facebook Ads advertising campaigns exactly like the big brands do, using the same identical tools. It is an incredible opportunity that it would be a shame to miss.