I worked just like that for a while, and eventually decided tech work was more reliable for me than my equivalent to your shoes concept. As part of that experi

I worked just like that for a while, and eventually decided tech work was more reliable for me than my equivalent to your shoes concept. As part of that experience, I did a bunch of personality theory research that tipped me off to this reliability factor (in myself! Not saying shoes won't work for you), and then it made sense. I switched my hold on the non-tech side to a more flexible improvisatory one. I do that whenever it strikes me as fun. If I could go back in time though, I would have called myself a business owner sooner and dropped the freelancer label. For one, there's very little practical difference from a maintenance POV. For another, the freelancer label is like broadcasting that you're probably not in it for long, and this limits your access to clients who are looking to show their boss they've hired a reliable resource. With regard to hours, you can make tech and business ownership whatever it needs to be for you. I definitely didn't understand this principle in practice: Develop a working schedule spec for yourself and work to spec. The spec isn't based on wishes or ideas. It's based on looking at your average work hours and effort last week, month, long before you got worn out. It's based on your realistic comfort level. You will always have to push back gently when people invite you to out-do yourself (features, timelines, whatever), and if you give in, that state of things can definitely make you hate tech. It does take some refinement over time. IMO everybody who does this for work should deploy a stable, specification-focused version of themselves at work, and a dev version at home. You should get to work each day knowing you have awesome boundaries in place to protect your stress levels and also help you make your clients more successful. And you should have tech stuff to look forward to that's just for you. Good luck with the shoe business by the way, that's really cool.