You worked your tail off to grow your skills to a level of sustaining self-employment. You’ve felt the blood, sweat, and tears of being both employee and employer, and rose above it all to become your own boss. You feel as though you have conquered a mountain few conquer.  It’s a great feeling, isn’t it?

That is, until you’re faced with the question, “What do you do for a living?” and you get the looks of doubt, confusion, or maybe even pity as you answer, “I work from home”, “I’m a freelancer” or “I’m an entrepreneur”. Somehow, certain people have a way of making all of your successes suddenly feel like failures and rather than feeling like the boss, you feel like you are at the bottom of the totem pole again.

Being an entrepreneur, freelancer, independent contractor or consultant, and so on is more and more common these days and something to be proud of! So why do these titles instill uncertainty in our friends, family, and clients?

Hundreds of careers can be successfully managed from home or the office from project management to design and consulting services to accounting and publishing. Being your own boss is more achievable today than it ever has been before, and at significantly less startup costs. For freelancers and independents, the flexibility of working remotely and for multiple clients or organizations is something to be desired.

In our end of the industry, we understand the commitment and legitimacy that goes into earning these titles. Self-employed individuals usually have a driving fire that is harder to find in the average employee. So how can you demonstrate that ability and devotion to people who judge a book by its cover (in this case you are the book, and your self-employment status is the cover)?

Impressing the clients
We recommend starting off with the most important piece of info. When someone asks what you do, don’t reply with, “I’m a freelancer” or “I’m a business owner”. These statements might give you pride or seem like critical decision-swaying answers, but it’s not actually answering the question, is it? Instead, tell them what you actually do. Try something like, “I’m a writer working on a freelance basis” or “I’m a web marketer with my own firm”. Use specifics that include your position as well as title. Or just leave the status off. Keeping the focus on what you do is the key to allowing people to see how you can help them. They don’t necessarily need to know how and where you run your business right off the bat.

Make sure you know what your clients are looking for. If you’re an architect, you aren’t likely to call yourself a freelancer as most clients will be searching for the term contractor. Knowing your industry inside and out should come with working for yourself anyway, but be sure you know the proper terminology from the professionals end and the client’s point of view.

Explaining your status to friends and family
Typically, no one questions your self-employment status more than the ones we love. They wonder if you actually have a “real” job, how you will pay for your taxes and health insurance, and how you afford your overhead costs. Explaining your status in terms they will understand is the best course of action here. Mom may not be too confident in your blogging career, but tell her you’re a promotional writer and she might be more persuaded. We should note of course, that you still need to be honest about your career. Romancing an idea is different from inventing one-don’t confuse the two.

Showing them the fruit of your labor is the next step, especially if you work from home on a full or part-time basis. Nothing is more aggravating than people doubting the legitimacy of your professional status because you don’t work in a fancy-shmancy office. This is just not necessary anymore! While some people don’t have the discipline to work from home, many people excel at this. In fact, more and more millennials are demanding a more flexible work schedule, with days in and out of the office to keep their motivation flowing. With the freedom of today’s technology, working remotely is commonplace. But with most things, seeing is believing, and if you can show your family and friends a portfolio or samples of your work, they will be more prone to respect your position for the awesome career it is!

Overall, remember to have confidence in yourself. Most of us reading this know that self-employment can be a strenuous, but incredibly rewarding thing! We live by rules that fall outside the 9-5 norm, and many people love or envy this lifestyle. But remember that it can be hard for some people to understand the capabilities of today’s working world, and a lot of them are still getting accustomed to the rapidly expanding world of self-employment opportunities. Anyway, the most important person to please is yourself, and if you are self-employed, you are probably already ahead of the game.