Good luck Justinm. I myself went independent in 2007 due to similar reason I started in the industry when I was 18 and now am 30. The best advice I can give you is keep your overhead low have good book keeping records and don't put all your eggs in 1 basket spread your accounts out, from small to large build a strong fondation of paying customers don't always rely on the big customers. treat all customers the same. Writing a buisness plan has help me stay on track. Even in this econmy it where a small company can compete with larger companies due to overhead. Once again best of luck.