[ironch456]

Every ounce of energy you put into a side project comes from your main job and is carved out of your free time and peace of mind. Period.

I used to think I could just contract on the side and make some good money. I did that for about 7 months...but every day you come home wanting to mentally relax...guess what? More work! Your weekends? More work too! Everyone has deadlines at their main job...now you have two deadlines! Deadlines when you are at work and deadlines when you get home.

I ultimately decided to never take any more side work (which might lead to passive income) simply because the mental toll it takes is harsh. Money is sort of not really just lying around on the ground...if it were that easy, some hacker in Russia who is out of work would figure out how to get it before you simply because they are desperate and you are just sort of doing this as a hobby.

Real success requires being pathologically driven to beat everyone or having some kind of advantage of everyone else.

I work with a very smart engineer who runs a full on side business which nets him a good amount of money. His day-to-day motivation is noticeably less than everyone else and his output is less...because he is dividing his time between work, side work, a child, a wife etc. He eventually just announced he was leaving to do his side project.

Yes you can do side work, but if you are any kind of regular adult your side projects will all be temporary unless you are willing to quit for them. The mental toll adds up.