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Depends on how you count. If you are a self-proclaimed consultant, with an office and a business card, but do not currently have any paying clients, are you self-employed or just kidding yourself?

are you self-employed or just kidding yourself?

Good point. The government's going to have to come up with some new way to count employment numbers as the current one, while serving us well up until the last couple of years, doesn't easily account for self employed people.

And, like you said, what is "self employed"? Is it one day of work a week (maybe you make 2x your previous salary on that one day)? Also your expenses are much higher in that you have to pay for your own insurance, administrative work, etc.

I think the government should start releasing 1099 tax form information. Perhaps they already do, but it would show the explosion in self-employment better than the current one (which doesn't even show it at all).

but do not currently have any paying clients, are you self-employed or just kidding yourself?

You've got to get out there and hustle. It gives people an idea of just what their old bosses had to go through just to keep them employed. The advantage is, when you work you can make enough to carry you through those periods when you don't have clients. You just have to adjust your lifestyle to where you always have enough money to cover you for 6 months. It's tough while you're getting there, but things normalize after that.