Gulp!

Well, that's that. I've handed back my IT equipment, said my last farewells, surrendered my beloved blackberry, given up the parking space. Elvis has left the building and Will Once (in his alter ego as Salaryman) has left the office.

As of today, I am officially self-employed as a freelance consultant.

How does it feel? Mixed. There's a warm front of excitement and energy sweeping up from the South, and a cold front of nervousness and worry bringing in icier blasts from the Arctic. This may be the craziest thing I've ever done, the best thing, or simply an interim thing until a new Salaryman role comes by.

It's the little things that take you by surprise. Like realising that you can take a holiday whenever you want and for as long as you want, with the proviso that you don't get paid while you are not working.

Ditto for sick leave. Man flu has suddenly become expensive where it used to be merely embarrassing and annoying.

Then again, on the positive side it now means that there are seven earning days in the week and not five.

Thousands of people have done what I'm doing. If they can do it, so can I. And I'll keep on saying that in the darker moments when self doubt starts to creep in.

Maybe it's the new paradigm for work. We no longer have a job for life working for one organisation. Instead we live in multiple partitions, balancing paid work across several employers, plus hobby (which may or may not pay), plus voluntary work.

Interesting times. My wife and I have just had a business meeting together - our first as a new partnership. It was a meeting which started with all of the participants in the same bed and ended with coffee and shortbread biscuits at the kitchen table.

It was also the first meeting in my life where I was able to pat my business partner/PA/ head of finance on the bottom and we concluded the business with a hug.

Maybe if Salaryman's meetings had all been like that, I would not have wanted to leave?