I was on a plane this weekend to Miami Beach and sitting next to me was an architect who had been in New York for the week conducting business. As we got to chatting I was surprised by something that he said when I told him I was an independent consultant and that I owned my own company. He said, ” Why aren’t you sitting up in first class?”

It seems pretty common that when I tell someone that I own my own company they think a few things: 1) that I have a pajillion dollars and 2) that I have a giant staff of underlings. Neither is true.