You have a very slim chance at even breaking even, let alone getting the big payout. Your article, frankly, does more to convince people to become consultants, rather than the opposite.
The choice you present is as if a person with the motivation and insight to start something has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, abandon any semblance of stability, and burn the ships (as the saying goes). Plenty of very successful entrepreneurs have proven this wrong -- there is no need to romanticize a very risky proposition.
On the one hand, you present a choice where a lot of one's income is scalable and under your (mostly) direct control. Sure, there is a limit of around $250k/year -- that's a gross of $2M+ in a decade. Meanwhile, you have more flexibility with your time than you would at most jobs. The typical startup entrepreneur, if they last a decade, will have gone through multiple ideas/ventures in that time frame, while earning 10-20% of this.
On the other hand, you present the notion of taking a wild, largely unmitigatable risk -- live an austere lifestyle while devoting 60+ hours/week to your pet project. Your only way to manage risk is to try to confirm early-on in the process that you are actually building what people will pay for (or even want) ... before you build it. Even then, the territory remains largely unknown. Any number of black swans can swoop in and completely destabilize your agenda, turning what you think you know upside-down. You simply cannot plan for success -- high-risk proposals are always subject to wild fluctuations in the landscape (or else they wouldn't be high risk) -- the best you can reasonably plan for is to make a product and release it.
The end of your post does your argument no favors either. Establish a practice where I can sell my talent for (at maximum) $250k/year, or go work on one of four me-too ideas? There's a reason why the devs you approached said that they want to work on their own idea, or in lieu of that, consult.
EDIT: I'm sorry if this reads harshly. I tried to give you honest criticism without insulting you. I regret using the phrase "me-too ideas".
My post wasn't trying to convince people they should go start a startup - my post was aimed at people who already want to do that and for some reason view consulting as a good step. I agree that starting a startup isn't the smartest way to make money - we can't always do what is reasonable, sometimes we have to do what our passion pushes us towards.
I know plenty of people who were happy making their six figures and found enjoyment in other areas of their life - It wasn't for me and I wanted to found a startup. Looking back I should have quit consulting and gone to work at a startup instead of continuing consulting and hoping it would make it easier to transition to startup life.
Thank you for clarifying it here, but that's not exactly what I understood when you wrote it. You may want to adapt/addendum your article to clarify that
The choice you present is as if a person with the motivation and insight to start something has no choice but to throw caution to the wind, abandon any semblance of stability, and burn the ships (as the saying goes). Plenty of very successful entrepreneurs have proven this wrong -- there is no need to romanticize a very risky proposition.
On the one hand, you present a choice where a lot of one's income is scalable and under your (mostly) direct control. Sure, there is a limit of around $250k/year -- that's a gross of $2M+ in a decade. Meanwhile, you have more flexibility with your time than you would at most jobs. The typical startup entrepreneur, if they last a decade, will have gone through multiple ideas/ventures in that time frame, while earning 10-20% of this.
On the other hand, you present the notion of taking a wild, largely unmitigatable risk -- live an austere lifestyle while devoting 60+ hours/week to your pet project. Your only way to manage risk is to try to confirm early-on in the process that you are actually building what people will pay for (or even want) ... before you build it. Even then, the territory remains largely unknown. Any number of black swans can swoop in and completely destabilize your agenda, turning what you think you know upside-down. You simply cannot plan for success -- high-risk proposals are always subject to wild fluctuations in the landscape (or else they wouldn't be high risk) -- the best you can reasonably plan for is to make a product and release it.
The end of your post does your argument no favors either. Establish a practice where I can sell my talent for (at maximum) $250k/year, or go work on one of four me-too ideas? There's a reason why the devs you approached said that they want to work on their own idea, or in lieu of that, consult.
EDIT: I'm sorry if this reads harshly. I tried to give you honest criticism without insulting you. I regret using the phrase "me-too ideas".