It is very different to the airlines and working for a PT company as a line pilot will never bring the financial rewards.
Having flown both GA and now being employed by an airline, I think that it all dpends on who you work for.
Flying Biz jets doesn't mean flying antics which with less equipment than found on airliners. Also, depending on the operator, the procedures required can be as strict as the one found in long established airlines, therefore not as flexible/fun that one might expect.
Also, flying for an airline, doesn't mean you have to fly vectored ILS all the time. The company I work for and the places i go to often demand otherwise in order to keep both efficiency and safety in phase.
Believing that GA is more fun or indeed more prone to change in standards is not quite acurate. The same that airline flying doesn't necessarily require less hand flying than, say bringing a GV into LGW. Good management and use of the resources available (ie Aircraft automatics) will often dictate the safe running of a flight.
As far as financial rewards are concerned, I don't know either... FO on the Boeing (Junior) allows me to get about £55000 pa before tax.
I love my GA and hope to freelance occasionally simply because I love being on an airfield, checking and tidying up my own aircraft (The owner's one) but I wouldn't say one is better than the other.
They are bothe different careers, with both different rewards but when it come to flying enjoyment and financial reward, I don't think it where we can separate the two.
GA is no mickey mouse flying and airline is not 100% auto flight.
To be honest I'd prefer to drive the school bus than go to the airlines.
I take it you don't mean that... I have done the driving thing (delivering parcels by road) and I know which one I prefer. Being stuck in traffic is certainly not as fun as planning a good decent followed by a constant decent approach for a visual downwind, final into a Greek island.
At an early stage of my career (now I sound like a patronising bas*stard) I might have thought along your lines but if you don't trust me (why would you?), please giev it a try at some stage. Flying for a bad owner is ten times worse than flying for a good airline. The opposite is also true and only experience will show you that.
Good luck in whatever you do... Flying is flying and a job is jobe but the grass is alsways greener on the other side of the fence.