”Having your own company is the only way to ensure that you don’t get fired.”

Well, yes, but not if you do it wrong.

I had my consulting business for over thirty years. A friend who I helped start up a similar business only lasted five years.

The difference was that I would not let one customer take very much of my time. He did, and soon enough he was tied up with one customer all the time and had no time for anyone else. It was great money, and he lived high.

But then came recession. I lost 15 percent of my clients, he lost the only one he had. I survived, he did not.

Shrug. I had warned him, but he knew better.