I'm definitely not upper-middle-class, but I have attempted to run a one-man business before. I used semantics to dodge certain state licensing requirements (I was a "consultant" instead of a "technician") which would have cost me more than 50% of my annual profit. The state definitely adds a lot of nonsense costs to running a business that do little more than protect existing businesses from new competition and discourage lower-income people from attempting to start businesses of their own.