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Comment by protomyth | Hacker News Reader

For the US dwellers, it does say "the pursuit of happiness".

My brother pointed out to me that being rich really isn't the goal. Being able to control your own schedule while paying all the bills is a pretty good life.

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That is exactly why I want to become an entrepreneur. I just seem to do badly in a corporate environment.

If you're really successful, you will inevitably be working in a corporate environment, even one of your own creation.

Some people make the transition happen really well, some don't.

It also depends on where you are in the corporate machine. As someone else mentioned on HN once, perhaps Gates couldn't even move up in today's Microsoft, but he makes a pretty good CEO.

You wouldn't be working in a corporate environment generally for very long (often founders move on) and in any case, it isn't like you are a "regular" employee if you are really successful ;)

A lot of things are easy to bear when you know they are temporary - and you don't have the locked in feeling.

Exactly, entrepreneurship is about autonomy, not money.

Sometimes they go together, but the autonomy is more important. People who feel otherwise end up becoming investment bankers, not entrepreneurs.

"There is only one success--to be able to spend life in your own way." Christopher Morley

See also http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2007/11/23/success-for-a-boostr... which expands on this.

Funny...what you described sounds an awful lot like being a grad student. :)

Hehe, possibly true... but I think a lot of people have more than just "being able to pay the bills" on their list of financial needs. Most of the grad students I know are indeed able to pay their bills, but are also compulsive penny-pinchers and can't (or won't) really live any other way. Going back into academia isn't worth it to me based on that alone.

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