Myself & Jason (techzing) are both building businesses on the side. Our paycheck come from consultancy. We both lead very fulfilling lives as well as building our side projects... :)
Now I'm contracting on the side while working on Gridspy. It is a hard slog, but totally worth it. We are creating a increasingly professional offering. I'm really looking forward to when we go to market and start selling this thing. Now I have the next problem - how much to contract (money) vs how much to work on Gridspy?
http://blog.gridspy.co.nz/2010/06/breaking-away-from-the-man...