[zephyr4434]

I am in year two of my startup and it's basically:

Wake up at 7am, work out, work until 7pm, rush home to eat quickly for 20 minutes (on the walk to and from work listening to podcasts about startups and business), and working until midnight.

Weekends, spend the afternoons working. Paying ourselves (two founders) $36k/year until we reach certain milestones.

I make tradeoffs - there is only really time for work, working out, and occasionally going out. This means not a lot of time with friends, going back to China to see extended family, and constantly feeling stressed.

But getting to work full-time on something you believe in and having the opportunity to build a great business and achieve financial independence is totally worth it.