Hello, I have started my own company and I have been pretty succesfull
I also do some independent contract for a few larger companies. Nothing really in the security field as of yet, mostly set up and maintain small networks, break/fix, wireless, virus and spyware removal. I have a lab set up at my house that i do a ton of pentesting on, I am facinated by that concept and always have been. I love working with computers and i love haveing my own business and taking good care of my customers. I have just got my A+, NET+ and linux+, and i am currently enrolled in a great security program at clark university, i will be taking my security + in a couple of months and i plan of taking and passing the ceh exam through self-study, being the corprate world never really interested me much, can one have a successful career in the security field as a independent contractor, or is it better to get established with a company. I love the security field because no matter how much you know, there is always more to learn, i would love to be able to put my skills to good use, on the other hand i dont want to abandon my current customers.

sorry the post is a little drawn out
pjayes

Seconded

From my experience small firms (in any field, not just security) tend to work quite well whilst they remain small. Often the 'good' small firms get taken over/merged with a bigger player, whilst the 'poorer' small firms tend to get bored to too-big-for-their-boots. Reading your post I'd say you fall into the first category, and if you can take oneeyedcarmen's advice and grow your business you shouldn't go far wrong.

Hopefully you'll get a response from someone with experience of going it alone to get a concrete answer. Good luck

Little bit of advice?  Get a good lawyer if you don't already have one.  Good and Lawyer being somewhat oxymoronic in many views... but the necessity in America is undisputed.  Before you start doing any pen testing, make sure you have an excellent contract written up that is going to say what you are/are-not responsible for.  There are just too many people out to sue someone here, and the first thing as a business owner you want to do is cover your own rear.  I ran my own Landscaping business for a while, and know a number of small to medium business owners... it's what we've all learned.

No problem, I've seen more than one start up go under because of one stupid lawsuit.  And I mean stupid.  It is unfortunate, but all things considered it is definately better to be safe.. than bankrupt. Ironically, the ONLY time I've ever been on Jury duty... it was for a civil lawsuit where a guy was trying to sue his company for half a million dollars... after he had broken their rules of operation, had prior injuries, and had lied on his application.  All that considered, the Jury almost gave him the win.  We deliberated for 2 days, and another gentleman and myself had to work hard to finally convince the rest of the Jury that just because this man was in a lawsuit against the Company, that he didn't deserve to win.  Half of the Jury was rallying behind a cry of "It's one man against a whole company, he should get something."  ... A lot of people fail to realize that a company is composed of people.. individuals.. and families dependant upon it.  I don't think that's quite relating to what you have at the moment obviously, but the mentality is out there it seems that if it's one man in a lawsuit against a company, to scr3w the company.  Lawsuits of that nature are common though, so yes, please look into getting yourself good legal advice.