The richest people I know all worked hard on something boring for 5+ years. And most did this for 10-20+ years. People have gotten the totally wrong idea about what it means to be an early stage entrepreneur. They truly believe that in less than a year they can launch a lifestyle business, replace their salary, and have perfect work-life balance just 6-12 months in. Let me tell you right now that that is total bullshit. If you want instant work life balance and to be home by dinner every night, you’re dreaming. It doesn’t work that way. Starting a business is really hard, and you can’t give up your main income source until you have a proven model that can feed your family. You will have to make sacrifices. You will miss some dinners. You will miss some weekends. You will miss some vacations (especially in the first few years as you build your base) To me, it all comes down to patience and delayed gratification. 5 years in, you can absolutely be making 3X your old salary, have a team of people under you and work less but earn more than you used to at your old job. That said, it takes TIME, a lot of good decisions and hiring and delegating to a team. It doesn't happen overnight.