So I’m self-employed. Lately I’ve been thinking about two reasons that I really love being self-employed.
Years ago, I worked in an office that had an Open House to show people the new building that we had moved to. So we were setting up for guests to arrive and the radio was on. Wham’s Careless Whisper came on so I did what any sane person would do: I cartwheeled across the office to turn the radio off. As I turned it off, my boss stopped me. Here’s the conversation that took place:
Boss: What are you doing?
Me: Uh, turning the radio off. Careless Whisper was on.
Boss: TURN IT BACK ON. That’s my favourite song.
Me: Careless Whisper. That’s your favourite song?
Boss: Yes.
Me: Favourite song. Ever. Careless Whisper. Really?
Boss: Yes.
Me: You mean the Wham song. With the long sax solo. Favourite song ever?
Boss: Yes.
That’s it.
I realized that I couldn’t work for someone whose favourite song was Careless Whisper. I also realized that I couldn’t really trust any other humans enough to work for them. Not if these were the kind of choices they’d make. I couldn’t risk it.
So the second reason is also music related I just realized.
The year was two thousand and one and Madonna’s video for American Pie (I linked to it, but it’s sure not good) was released. For me it’s an awful video for a really awful song. And let’s be clear: Madonna has made some crazy good music for decades. Decades, yo. Not many people have made crazy good music for decades.
From the Wikipedia entry on the song, Madonna is quoted as saying:
“It was something a certain record company executive twisted my arm into doing…”
Madonna. Forced to record a cover of Don McLean’s masterpiece. And cover it by making a truly terrible pop version that she didn’t want to do.
Okay, if MADONNA can be made to do stuff she doesn’t want to do, what chance to any of us really have.
For me, I once had a position that included looking after the six-or-so websites in the company I worked for. I had a conversation with the vice-president that I reported to where he said that websites weren’t really important and they never really resulted in getting any work. So you’re thinking ‘so this was in 1997, maybe that made sense then.’ No, this happened in 2008 web-friends. And a few months later I left that job. Not that surprising looking back.
Not completely sure what the point is here other than this: if you can and want to work for yourself, do it. You can’t really trust people if they’re going to love Careless Whisper and deny that websites are good to have.
Next time your boss tells you to do something that goes against the part of your brain that wants you to do creative work, when they talk, just imagine that sax solo coming from their mouth. See how fast you can type a resignation letter.