I don’t see the point making $150k a year if I’m literally exchanging my life for that money.
“Unemployment” is a dirty word, I think by design to keep people producing for the economy. It’s impressive how much of a stronghold this concept holds over people. How many people who already have more than enough, who could live out the rest of their lives literally doing whatever they want, instead continue to remain employed in a job they don’t like due to an irrational fear of unemployment?
I’ve been around for a while and I’ve got 10 years of networking under my belt. Someone knows someone who knows someone who needs something built, and my name comes up. When I was working full time, I turned down a lot of projects, but invited people to contact me at a later date. This worked in my favour as many of those people ended up contacting me again years later.
So just put yourself out there. Tell everyone you’re taking on random projects. Anything goes. It may lead somewhere.
For me it’s various things these days - static sites, small apps, ecommerce builds etc. Solo work, and perhaps not the most sexy or exciting. However, the flexibility is unparalleled. I pick my hours, location, and timezone. Most “remote-first” companies aren’t this flexible.