There's no such thing as being your own boss when you're a creator. Every one of your customers is your boss. Every platform you use to publish or promote your

There's no such thing as being your own boss when you're a creator. Every one of your customers is your boss. Every platform you use to publish or promote your work is your boss. Anybody who handles payments for you is your boss. You don't own your hustle; your hustle owns you. A friend of mine learned this the hard way trying to publish some science fantasy pastiches. They sold OK at first, but he burned himself out trying to write more books, promote his work online, and work a full-time job as a DBA - without any sort of support network. (I couldn't help him because I had medical problems of my own.) Now he just posts fiction on his website and depends on his day job to pay the bills. And if anybody criticizes his work, he just shrugs it off and says "they got their money's worth". He's happier now, or at least more serene.