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Nearly one third of U.S workers are self-employed or independent contractors. Autonomy has long been identified as a driving motivation for independent workers, but it remains unclear how these workers experience agency in their day-to-day lives. In an interview and diary study with highly-skilled independent workers, we find that “autonomy” is not a monolithic or unidimensional experience; rather, there are multiple forms of autonomy, that we label “agencies” that workers value. In addition, the experienced value of these agencies generally supersedes the uncertainties associated with independent work, even during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. By creating a framework of experienced agencies in independent work, this paper expands our understanding of how autonomy is experienced in practice and the tradeoffs that independent workers make in service of seeking various forms of agency. For, we find that only when experienced agency disappears entirely, with little hope of returning, do these highly-skilled workers consider abandoning independent work and contemplate working for a traditional organization.