ut if you’re a design freelancer or agency owner, I’d suggest you also start celebrating something else:

Independents’ Day.

If you’re like most business owners, there’s a reason you chose the hard path of running your own thing. Bigger than “make more money.” Broader than any single mission or niche.

You wanted freedom.

When you work for someone else, they usually decide how you spend your time. Your compensation fits into a salary band. Your tasks are assigned. Your time is budgeted.

So you started your own business because you didn’t want that or didn’t want that anymore.

But maybe it feels like a lateral move to swap one boss for several clients.
Your “salary band” became “market rates.”
Instead of submitting a timesheet, you’re reconciling QuickBooks.
You swapped the structure of employment for the structure of obligation.

And that’s fine. That’s real. That’s business.

But let’s not confuse it with freedom.

Liberty Toasts

Shortly after gaining independence from Britain, early Americans were eager to express their newfound freedom in ways previously suppressed under royal rule. One of the most joyful forms was the Liberty Toast, a ritual where people raised their glasses to, well, anything they wanted.

After a reading of the Declaration of Independence, a “toastmaster” would begin with noble tributes: to national heroes like George Washington or Thomas Paine, to self-governance, to liberty itself.

But as the drinks flowed, so did the, um, creativity.

Some real-life examples recorded or passed down in legend:

“To the mailman, who brings news faster than tyranny travels!”
“To the ladies who make liberty taste sweet!”
“To Liberty Jim: may his corn be fat and his taxes be none!”
“To the dog who bit Major Thornby’s boot—and got away with it!”

That wasn’t just patriotism. That was people exercising freedom in real time, raising a glass just because no one could stop them.

That spirit lives on in Independents’ Day.

Independents’ Day

Federal holidays are easy to celebrate because everyone else is off, too.

But that’s the point: it’s easy. It’s expected. It’s sanctioned time off.

Before independence, colonists got a day off for the King’s birthday.

Let’s not pretend that was freedom.

Here’s your challenge:

Take a day off when you feel like you “should” be working. Just because you can. That‘s Independents’ Day.

The average full-time U.S. worker gets about 2 weeks of paid time off. So I try to take 3 weeks off per year… just because I can.

If I’m working harder to live worse, I might as well just get a job.

The stats don’t lie:

• The average freelancer takes only 7 days off per year.

• 1 in 3 small business owners take zero days off.

Don’t be them.

Three weeks off per year = about 2 Independents’ Days per month.

Put them in your calendar today. Decide what to do later.

Some of my latest Independents’ Days:

• A long lunch with two friends, talking AI, business, and travel.

• A solo photo shoot of a Eurasian Eagle-Owl and a Harris Hawk.

• Private theaters rented for the upcoming Superman and Fantastic Four premieres.

• A day trip to NYC: lunch with one friend, basketball with another.

• Two trips to the Philadelphia Flower Show on the same day: once with family, once solo with a camera and headphones.

Like Liberty Toasts, the more offbeat your Independents’ Day, the better. Unhinged is the point.

Write Your Declaration of Independents

Need help remembering why you get to do this?

Read your own Declaration of Independents: your mission statement, vision doc, manifesto… anything that reminds you why you chose this path in the first place.

Don’t have one? Write one. It doesn’t have to be long.

Try this:

I hold this to be self-evident: that not all paths are created equal. Among the options available, some are safer, some simpler. But none are more sovereign than the one I have chosen: to build {{ YOUR BUSINESS NAME }} in pursuit of {{ YOUR DEEPEST VALUE }}.

That to secure this outcome, I am willing to trade {{ THINGS YOU’RE GIVING UP }} for the uncertainty of {{ THINGS YOU WANT }}.

I choose the independent path, not because it is easy, but because it is mine.

This is the path to the life I want: a life full of {{ YOUR DESIRES }}

I hold this to be self-evident: that not all paths are created equal. Among the options available, some are safer, some simpler. But none are more sovereign than the one I have chosen: to build {{ YOUR BUSINESS NAME }} in pursuit of {{ YOUR DEEPEST VALUE }}.

That to secure this outcome, I am willing to trade {{ THINGS YOU’RE GIVING UP }} for the uncertainty of {{ THINGS YOU WANT }}.

I choose the independent path, not because it is easy, but because it is mine.

This is the path to the life I want: a life full of {{ YOUR DESIRES }}

I hold this to be self-evident: that not all paths are created equal. Among the options available, some are safer, some simpler. But none are more sovereign than the one I have chosen: to build {{ YOUR BUSINESS NAME }} in pursuit of {{ YOUR DEEPEST VALUE }}.

That to secure this outcome, I am willing to trade {{ THINGS YOU’RE GIVING UP }} for the uncertainty of {{ THINGS YOU WANT }}.

I choose the independent path, not because it is easy, but because it is mine.

This is the path to the life I want: a life full of {{ YOUR DESIRES }}

When will your next Independents’ Day be, and what will you do?