A lot of these are mitigated if you're a "self-employed consultant" who just happens to have one particular client which indefinitely defers invoices. (I use this very frequently in Japan, which makes Tulsa look like Silicon Valley in terms of tolerating novel employment options.)
Me: "I am a self-employed consultant, so my income doesn't come with a pay stub. Would running my credit or a letter of reference from the bank be acceptable as an alternative?"
or
Wife's Family: "What is it you do exactly?"
Me: "Well-regarded software companies in Tokyo, the US, and Europe pay me to advise them on selling more software."
WF: "But you're not working right now. Are you... Between employers?"
Me: "... In general, I have a lot of flexibility in how I arrange my affairs, and I thought I'd rather come to a family outing than work today."
or
Government Official: "What is your employment?"
Me: "I'm a self-employed engineering consultant as attested to by this blue folder of official forms issued by the last 32 departments I had this discussion with."
GO: "That isn't permitted under..."
Me: "3rd page."
GO: "reads But your taxes..."
Me: "Starts on 5th page, continues through 9th, previous years are in the next pocket."
GO: "So things are pretty much in order?"
Me: "Well, 32 offices say yes, and who am I, one little voice with no authority to override all of their decisions simultaneously, to say otherwise."
GO: "Ok, we're done."
Me: "Can I get your stamp on this certificate? I think you'll find it costs 200 yen."
I was thinking more in a softer sense, where that might not work. Around here people are /very/ conservative 17% retirement population, 20%+ work for govt, a large chunk of the rest for large govt owned businesses (crown corporations)
You could try telling people that you build software for the government. All it takes is one contributed bugfix to the right open-source project and you'll be telling the truth.
If they ask for details just tell 'em. E.g.: "Well, [federal website X] is built on an infrastructure that was assembled by a big team of developers from around the world, and I'm one of them."
> Most entrepreneurs have similar beginnings: They do well in grade school, go to a great college in which they do well, get a great job, quit that job, and try to start something on their own. When they start something, it’s the first time in their lives that they stray from the beaten path.
Really? I'm kind of surprised to find this in an article supposedly about bootstrapping. I mean, if you live in SV and you worked at Google and saved up for a few years and now you're "bootstrapping" a start-up, you actually already have an angel investor: yourself.
I did horribly in grade school (spent all my time on the internet instead of studying), went to a crappy college, dropped out (spent all my time dicking around with coding projects instead of studying), got a string of horrible jobs (the majority of which were minimum-wage and didn't even marginally involve technology -- O, to live in the US, let alone SV), and now I'm trying to start a start-up because it's the only thing I feel any sense of engagement toward.
I'm "bootstrapping" in the sense that I highly doubt anyone would ever invest in me. No cofounders, no "workspace", just me, my laptop, an EC2 micro instance, and some combination of {Erlang, HTML5, Objective-C, Stripe}. Wish me luck.
Purchasing your own insurance is the easiest way to ensure continuity of coverage and ensure you are not choosing your life's work based on the inconvenience of changing medical coverage plans.
