I am 54 . I have been on my own for the last 12 years. I have learned one hard lesson. Surviving IS SUCCEEDING. Yes yes. The problem for me is i have ADHD + i maybe on the spectrum ( i never got diagnosed)+ dylexia and i can't write for shit. come to think about it im not that smart either. IDK. I have a one man shop online business. I only really have 1 skill . I only know how to sell. I grew up in NYC selling fake rolex watches to german tourist back in the day. I mostly worked in luxury retail on madison ave selling luxury handbags for like $30k a pop. I had a job i could not take direction then i started my own business. I launched in 2018 and then i found out that anyone can copy you at anytime. I had kind of a breakdown in 2024 when everyone started to copy my whole business. I kept going . Kept learning SEO / Google ads / enginerring now with Ai its the best thing that ever happened to me. I learned how to build feaures. I am not rich but i have freedom of time. I LOVE working out during the day. I love waiting for my daughter to get home from school. We have dinner together every single day. We went to mexico and NOTHING changed for me. I was still working making money. for me since i can't work in tech and no tech company will hire me. I only know sales so i think for me i had no choice but to launch a business. I am very happy right now. I hope i don't go out of business. idk if i have any suggestions but if you are not good with sales get good at it. Good luck to all the small players out there. i wish you success. This is a very good article i could never write like OP thank you for sharing. Just adding my 2 cents here.