I never can decide if it's hilarious or sad when 18 year olds proclaim that a life of children + mortgage + work isn't a life of "magic and love". If you're having a boring life with kids around, you're doing it wrong. Sure, people manage it, but don't be like that.
Having a house to do things in and a family to do them with/for has helped breed more creativity and magic in my life than I ever had before when I lived by myself with nothing tying me down.
This should be way more common: "What I want is personal freedom to do what I want to do.
I live on on a $20,000/year salary because I can choose when and where I work. I can take the morning off and work late. I can work in the morning and take the evening off. I can travel for months at a time while working on my startup—like I did on a three month trip through Europe a few years ago, and planning to again this fall."
Author here. Some updates: I raised my salary to $25k, and just finished that trip I mentioned — three months living/working in Belgium, Germany, and Prague. Happy to answer any questions about working abroad or anything else!
I find that often that freedom comes at a cost (I could make more at a big company, when on a deadline I might have to work long hours - I can't switch off at 5pm -, and ocassionaly relying on yourself rather than a fixed salary can be stressful) but for me those occasional disadvantages are much outweighed by the freedom of time. 90% of the time I can choose when, where and what I work on. Your choice depends on what you value more.
I imagine that depends on who you are and what motivates you. For me, I found the opposite. Physically it's absolutely no harder than any other low-paid, long-hours job. Mentally it's very taxing but only because it's (usually) hugely creative - it's no harder than working in a salaried role where there's an expectation that you'll be creative all day. There's an element of difficulty beyond a normal job that comes from the level of independence - you can't slack off because things just won't get done - but that's not very different to having a difficult boss. Essentially you become your own difficult boss. And you always have the awesome incentives that both the short- and long-term rewards are potentially much better (freedom, interesting work, perhaps a huge payday at the end).
I've done career jobs and I've done startups. Startups were easier for me.
I'd argue that the most mentally taxing part isn't that it's hugely creative, it's that your decisions can make or break the company. Hiring, firing, what marketing decisions, what development decisions - that makes it a lot more taxing than a job where the decisions you make are largely determined by your superiors (and the results also affecting them more as well.)
This is inspiring to me. I've run one reasonably successful business, and two the flopped hard. In between that, I've worked various full time and part time development (and sales, when I want to do something different) jobs.
I've recently found myself at somewhat of a crossroads. I have an idea that I think is going to be able to make decent money. Not FU money, but more than enough to live the way I want.
But I've been looking at going back to full time work for someone else... And I'm unsure on where I should go. I have time, I'm only 23, and I can get away with mistakes (I live in a country with an excellent safety net, and a pretty okay family -- they would prefer I get a "real" job though).
Glad to see someone out there is living my ideal life though :) maybe I'll spend tomorrow crunching some numbers to see how feasible it is.
If you're 23, PLEASE go with the startup route. Even if it fails, you're so early in life you'll never regret it. Going the other way, it's easy to become trapped by the financial requirements that (usually) come with age (kids, family, stability) etc.
Some people don't recommend it, but you can work a full-time job and start working on your idea in your spare hours, saving as much as you can, quitting when it becomes feasible. I saved $20,000 from my last full time job before striking out on my own, and it made things a lot easier.
I've tried that, and it was too much mentally for myself. I was younger then, though, so it might be different this time! That's likely the road I'll go down, or perhaps get off my bum and start consulting again :)
Complete aside: The slow fade from fluorescent green to black and back on the "Read This Next" headline at the bottom of the page triggered some kind of disturbance/disruption between my eyes and my brain.
I thought maybe a blood vessel had burst inside my head and my vision was about to go.
I've been offered (and turned down) 6 figure salaries. Honestly (as mentioned in the article), the freedom from time-sheets, PTO, HR, rules, and regulations makes startup life a no-brainer for me.
For me, what's important in life is that you are happy in what you are doing, being contented and grateful for all you currently have and being appreciative even for life's failures, trials and experiences.. Keep it up and enjoy life more!
Having a house to do things in and a family to do them with/for has helped breed more creativity and magic in my life than I ever had before when I lived by myself with nothing tying me down.