Update:
Things, for the most part, are going really well right now.
Business has been building. I've got leads coming in on a regular basis, and I have a large contract with a client that very badly needs my services through the end of the year. Telecomm services re-sales aren't great, but that's because I haven't had time to pursue cold sales at the moment. Otherwise I'm billing for two and a half times what I made last year as a W-2 earner. My actual paycheck is quite a bit less than that, but I can do projects that I never thought I could.
Starting my own business is the best thing I ever did. I have solid goals, I have plans for the future, and I love what I do. I couldn't have said that a year ago. I was burned out, losing one bit of my soul at a time to a terribly evil company.
I also wouldn't have said a year ago with as much conviction that I was a fiscal conservative. Now I can say that I'm fully convinced that many of us pay too much in taxes, and that the most fucked-over group of people, tax-wise are middle-class small business owners. Note to politicians: If you want effective economic growth in this country, give the real economic developers, the small business owner, real tax breaks. When 30%+ of my income, business and personal, goes to taxes, it does nothing to help me grow that business because I now cannot invest that revenue. If I even had 10% of that back, I'd be able to hire someone part time, and take some of these leads that I can't because I don't have the time.
*pant*
Enough on that.
I'll be 29 in three months and five days. At 30, I hope to be well and truly well established. If I can keep this up, I'll probably be able to retire at 50. I used to wonder if I'd ever figure out what I'd be happy doing. Now I know that combining entrepreneurship and technology are what I want to do. I've also learned that if I have to change my game plan, it means that I'm adaptable and mature enough to know that I need to do so. It doesn't mean that I've failed again.
Right now, in many ways, life rocks, and I'm happy to have made this happen at the point I have.
For all of you who have had faith in me, thank you for telling me you believed in me, especially when I didn't or couldn't see it. It means a lot to me.