[super-serial]

You can be ambitious and still hate everything to do with career tracks and personal development as seen by large corporations.

I make sure I work somewhere that isn't too stressful, and pace myself as much as possible at the dayjob so I can work 20+ hours per week on my own business.

I wish I could have a 3-day workweek so the other 4 days I could be coding my own projects. After $100k why do people even want more money? I just want more time to work on my projects for a chance to have my own business. I'll never understand why so many people choose to be put into golden handcuffs.

[scarface74]

I’m nowhere near Silicon Valley or the west coast - I’m on the opposite side of the country in Atlanta. Yes I know people here live a good life, have a house, go on trips etc with a household income of less than six figures, but making more gives you a lot more “Ands” and less “ors”.

You can have the nice house in the burbs, max out your 401K, enjoy decent date nights with your SO every pay period, save for vacations, pay other people to do stuff you don’t want to do (occasional meal prep, yard service, etc), and have enough left for the things that go bump in the night. Realistically, for all the “ands” it takes about $150K to $200K of household income. That’s without getting the biggest house, the nicest cars and the most expensive vacations.

Also, I see “having my own business” and “having a less stressful life” as being the opposite of each other.

I don’t have to worry about finding customers, budgets, marketing, and I have st least six weeks a year paid time off between vacation time and holidays.

If the company disappears tomorrow I get another job.