I never worked a full-timer job. Always part-time or freelancing. Mostly I worked 4h at the office and spent the rest of the day working on my stuff. Working for someone else makes me die inside every day I had to do it. It just goes against my personality. What kept me going all those years was working on my own stuff. I had no issue taking less pay just so I can have more free time and this setup and I ignored the corporate ladder and career because of this(objectively, it was a mistake, subjectively I just am individualist and prefer to be free to do my own things). Longest side-project I worked on was 10 years, with little breaks. Yes, 10 years. I rewrote it 4 times, never made it into production. It started easy but then it grew in complexity and functionality into something else altogether. I think that after some time, it became more of a habit an an escape from reality, giving me hope, than actual business. A reason to get out of bed each morning and kept me sane throughout the years. Initial idea was simple and then it grew into something larger that I thought I could make happen by investing time instead of money. After 10y I was ready to admit to myself that no, this cannot get off the ground without money. It was not a skill issue after all. Nevertheless, this is how I got so much practice and learnt so much tech.
After I was done with it I tried different projects. None got completed or succeeded after launch as the online environment changed tremendously and it was no longer the golden age of 2000s and 2010s where anything was possible. Then through life circumstances I got into investing and after few years I quit working altogether. I did not want to lose all my skill, so I wanted to do another project to kill time. It was hard as I knew what would be waiting for me at the end, I've been there many times. I did not want to waste time on something I knew would end up going nowhere again. I also had money to spend this time, not just time. Luckily, I found it. It took me 2 years to launch, 2.5y in total with breaks, and a lot of money(mostly business related). But as I said, the internet has changed and the challenges for running a digital service business, especially in EU, are tremendous(meaning, hard to get noticed, to get customers, to make money).
I now have no desire to work on anything new. This is it for me. I tried too many times and failed too many times. The suitable environment to do this is gone for good. I am not sure what I'll do in the future. I hate to lose my skills by not doing though.
Anyway, good luck. Don't give up but also don't be a fool and take opportunists to make money along the way if you can.