Well said. I'm nowhere near the success level of Nathan, but do see each year's hard work translating into incremental increases in quality of life every year (I'm a self employed consultant).

I lend an ear to freelancers and consultants quite a bit and a lot of the focus is on how hard they're having to work, and how surprising that is to them. The first thing I say is that yes, it's an incredible amount of work. You can ease the pain a bit here and there, but in general there are absolutely no short cuts.

To "make it" being self employed, or selling products, or both, takes an incredible amount of desire and persistence. So much that you really have to enjoy the process, otherwise most quit before they reach any reward simply b/c it's too much work combined with too much risk.