OK, my turn:
I'm a 34 year old business world professional making $280k pa with a secure job, superannuation. Chances are in another 10 years I could be making double that. Sounds great right? Not really, I work nearly 60hrs pw, sit at a desk or in meetings most of the day, encounter liars, cheaters, self-interested people on a daily basis and often have to make people redundant (good people).
In short, my job is causing me a lot of stress and I'm a bit over it. I could set up a situation through contracting where I could work 2-3 days per week and still make reasonable coin, but allow more time to pursue an alternative career / interest that I would love to do. Introducing the CPL - something I wanted to do out of school but couldn't afford. Had a few lessons over the years, and I'm now in a fortunate position to be able to afford to go for it.
So, if I did this, my business contracting gig would not be flexible i.e. I would need to stick to certain days of the week most probably. Let's say it's 2-4 years from now, I've got my CPL I've clocked up enough hours. What's the likelihood of finding a commercial flying gig that I could balance on my other 3 or so days of freedom? Utopia / fantasy land...?
Being driven, determined etc as often recommended throughout this site is not an issue for me. Without going into a big spiel, I've topped my class at uni, recovered from being wheel chair bound, ran my company at 19 yrs with 10 staff, been CPO for a $3bn company at 29yrs and more.
Lastly, sorry if this post sounds a bit arrogant - I wanted to cut to the chase and have an honest discussion.
Many thanks, I look forward to your responses.