When I was much younger—in high school and college—I never had a vision for myself beyond going to school and then finding a job. That’s what my parents did. That’s what everyone did. Perhaps it was the way I was raised or a lack of imagination. But whatever it was, the thought of being an entrepreneur, being self-employed, never even entered my consciousness. Now that I’ve had ample experience working for others and a helping of self-employment I can say that, so far, being self-employed is better. Much better.

Now, obviously I haven’t worked everywhere, but to go back into an office by choice… Well, it would have to be an amazing place. Google comes to mind although they’re sounding more and more like a cult. The article above mentions all of the things I would consider minimum requirements. But the author also talks about what I consider the most important requirement. In fact, this one may trump all the others: being treated with respect. In a business setting that means employers should set goals and employees should be compensated for achieving them lawfully, ethically and efficiently. Period.

Unfortunately, this is what’s known as living in a fantasy world.

The fact is, as a company grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to measure individual performance. If a one person company succeeds or fails you know who to blame. But who do you blame in a 50 person company or a 30,000 person company? The consequence is that employees aren’t rewarded for results. They can’t be. Instead, employees are paid for putting in hours.

It’s the reason companies have rules for when you are supposed to arrive at and leave from work, when and how long your lunch break is, vacation and sick time, and the requirement to appear perpetually busy even when there is nothing to do (especially when there is nothing to do). It’s why office workers feel guilty when they call in sick and why parents miss little league games. It’s why, despite the fact that you stayed late on Friday to ship your company’s product on time, you can’t take Monday off without getting your boss to sign a permission slip. It’s why employees who don’t slave 80 hours a week aren’t considered “team players.” And it’s why annual performance reviews include a section for attendance and feel like such a farce.

It’s constant, disrespectful supervision.

Regardless of the perks, working for someone else means being treated, to varying degrees, like a child. Sure, I could see myself working in an office again. But only if I’m treated like an adult and fairly compensated for the value I create for the company. That employer will have to realize that respect is more important than a good parking space, free lunches and an on-site gym.

So, way back in August, I hinted that something big was going on at the fd house. Well, It’s been a very, extremely busy few months (has it only been three months?) but I’m in a much better position now to share what has been going on. Back in August, I quit my full-time, steady-pay, benefit-laden job to start a company with two friends. It is our second company together, actually. The first one, christianaudio.com, is doing very well. But we wanted to do something completely different; to diversify our portfolio, so to speak.

What’s the company? I can’t really talk about it yet. In a couple of weeks I’ll have a lot more to share. If you follow these sorts of things, hopefully you’ll be hearing about us. But even if you don’t, I think that many people who use Flickr will find the idea is really cool. And one of my partners is a bona fide rock star (so we’ve got that going for us).

I’ve already said too much. ;-)

On a personal note, trading up from “employee” to “self-employed” has been been one of the best things I’ve ever done. I’m working more now. But since I’m not bound to the 9-5 rhythms of an office, my time is much more flexible and I find that I have a lot more of it to spend with my family. I eat breakfast with my kids every morning instead of sitting in traffic. I’m taking Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off to take my son to soccer practice (where I’ve been roped into assistant coaching) without any of the guilt that used to be associated with it. I’ve traded in afternoon staff meetings for helping my daughter with her homework. Thursday afternoon she and I grabbed a milkshake after I picked her up from school.

In short, it’s wonderful. For the first time ever, I finally feel like I’m steering instead of just pedaling as hard as I can.

I’m starting to brag and I don’t mean to so I’m going to stop now. I just wanted to explain what I mentioned back in August and my relative absence from Flickr over the past couple of months. In a month or so, some of this activity should die down a little (I’m not asking much, just to dial it back from 11), and I can actually get out with my camera a little more. In the meantime, I apologize for not visiting your streams or commenting as much as I’d like. I hope you understand.