&quot;independent&quot; in these contents tends to mean &quot;works alone&quot; which also implies &quot;has limited resources, both personal and monetary.&quot;<p>If you work alone <i>and</i> you have a few million dollars of fun money to burn, that changes people&#x27;s perception of you.  Now you&#x27;re not doing it because you have to.  Where&#x27;s the struggle?  Now you&#x27;re just entertaining yourself.<p>It&#x27;s like saying Bill Gates is an &quot;independent charity volunteer.&quot;  Doesn&#x27;t quite get the point across.