I bought a coffee for an old friend the other day, a guy with a great education and professional credentials along with what might best be described as a ’spotty’ employment record. He’d just parted company with a major corporation after a rather difficult and, ultimately, unsuccessful period of adjustment.

“You know,” he said, “I guess I’m just not much of a corporate guy. I think I’ll do better if I go out on my own. (pull)You do pretty well, don’t you?”(/pull)

Yes, thanks, I do. But I did pretty well as an employee, too. I didn’t want to say anything on the spot, but at some more opportune time, I’d like to let my friend know that getting along, fitting in and adapting yourself to the culture you’re working in is equally important and a little more difficult when you’re self-employed than when you’re an employee.

Whether you’re working within a company or as an external partner or consultant, you’ve still got to play on the team and that means knowing how to adapt to the prevailing culture.

Sharon Airhart is a Toronto-based writer and editor who has been successfully self-employed for more than a decade. Her clients include governments, corporations and not-for-profit organizations and charities. After leaving her "first" career as a journalist, she was a Communications Director before launching a freelance career as a writer, reviewer, editor and communications consultant.