Not perfectly in sync with your question, but somewhat relevant: I graduated this past weekend, and I plan to work on my startup full-time now. When faced with

Not perfectly in sync with your question, but somewhat relevant: I graduated this past weekend, and I plan to work on my startup full-time now. When faced with the barrage of questions asking "So, do you have a job?", I force myself to explain my startup and its business model such that it sounds like success will inevitably come.* (Which, we all know, isn't certain.) But now I've built up the pressure for myself; everyone knows that I plan to dive in. * I generally approach that question as follows: Them: "So, what do you plan on doing now?" Me: "Make millions." (Cheeky grin.) Them: "Ah." (generally laughter) Me: "Yeah. I'm working on XXX...." (explain startup) Them: "Oh, cool, that sounds like it might actually work."