I've been in a pretty similar situation recently. I quit my day job in May, wanting to pursue my own projects. For two months, I worked on my own projects, re

I've been in a pretty similar situation recently. I quit my day job in May, wanting to pursue my own projects. For two months, I worked on my own projects, releasing something new every week or two. That was fun and I learned a bunch of new things, but in retrospect it wasn't the best way to spend those two months. I had planned to start looking for consulting work in month three, so I started emailing and calling people, arranging meetings, and putting the word out at geek gatherings. A funny thing happened. I started hearing a lot of great project ideas, some of which were potentially paid jobs and others which were just cool hacks or proto-startups. And these came not just as spark of inspiration but with a person, or sometimes a small company, that actually cared about getting it built. It took longer than I expected to actually get paid -- almost a month; it turns out consulting contracts aren't that dramatically easier to sell and execute than getting hired to a regular job, so plan on lots of slow interpersonal cycles -- but in the meantime I was amply supplied with great projects and some good partnerships. Many of these are on my back burner now, behind the work that pays well but dominates, and I mean DOMINATES, my schedule. On the bright side, timing my every minute has dramatically increased my stamina -- I can do a lot more work in a day than I ever have before. This will come in handy with whatever I do. Anyway, here's my advice: start looking for consulting work immediately, and try to get quickly to a point where you can pay your living expenses on 15 billable hours a week. By the way, you might think this is "not even two full time work days", but let me assure you that when you can't count lunch, news.yc, stupefying meetings, etc. against the clock, this will feel like a huge work load. Do not promise anyone 20 or more hours a week until you have tested your capacity; there's a lot you can optimize, and you will. The regular consulting work will help you develop discipline, improve your stamina, and keep you in touch with people. In your spare time, which again you should try to preserve, do whatever projects draw your fancy. Get in the habit of soliciting ideas at parties, from family friends, etc. and see where you can take them in your spare time. Then when you find one that works for you, and some people who might make good partners, deploy the rest of your cushion (the one you didn't spend because you were paying your living expenses off of consulting) and take the plunge. Good luck!