I have heard several pieces of advice that ring true for me on this topic. As this is the case, most of this is second hand, but I have found it's application to be valuable:
1) Follow your passion. Because if you do what you love, the money will follow. In your case, maybe you should think about the 9-5. Is that what you want to keep doing? If so, picking a good one to specialize in and rise in the ranks of may be a good thing to do. Working smarter by increasing your expertise can help make you more valuable and bring in more money for a company. More money for them means more money for you.
2) Pay attention to those who are doing what you want to do. Learn from the people who are living the kind of life you want to live and you will find your own way to make it work. If that's a 9-5 job, emulate your superiors, management, CEO, CFO, etc. Spend time with them if you can. Do what they do, go where they go, think how they think.
3) When you fail, you have a chance to learn. Never pass this up. A failure is an opportunity to find out what went wrong, and correct the problem in the future. Businesses try to use this tactic on employees, but usually fail. They forget the motivation behind it. A business is motivated to make the employee more productive, the employee needs to care before that works. A person can make this work by investing themselves in what they are doing. Again, follow your passion.
4) "Free advice is the most expensive kind." It's nay sayers who inspire this one. People are happy to put you down when you try to lift yourself up. They'll tell you you can't do something because they don't think it's possible. Most of the time, they don't even understand that is what they are doing it.
Schools charge for their time. Professionals do too. Why would you expect someone to offer you valuable training for free? Look for people who are experts and help them any way you can. If that means pay, pay. If that means do their dishes, do the dishes. A good partnership or master/apprentice relationship will change your life. HubPages is a good place for positive feedback because a lot of us have realized by answering questions, we serve ourselves as well. Just by asking this question, you have given US something valuable in trade for advice. Thanks for YOUR time. Remember this, and you can lift others up the same way.
I hope something in this rings true for you as well. Good fortune in your journey!
