A lot of people will probably link to and talk about Marco Arment's Overcast sales numbers post, which Marco provided as data and education for other app developers.

But as illuminating as his numbers will be to the (good natured) people that read Marco's post, I think the most enlightened part is at the very end:

After the self-employment penalties in taxes and benefits, I’m probably coming in under what I could get at a good full-time job in the city, but I don’t have to actually work for someone else on something I don’t care about. I can work in my nice home office, drink my fussy coffee, take a nap after lunch if I want to, and be present for my family as my kid grows up. That’s my definition of success.

I'm really lucky I have a job that gives me indie-like flexibility with my work projects, hours, and location, too. I feel so lucky that I can be so present at home today because I can't imagine the future hell of wishing I'd spent more time with my kids. That I can make a decent living at the same time is just a bonus bestowed by the internet age.

But having complete control over what I work on and how often I work on it can also be a curse for someone like me. I will be the first to admit that I have this innate propensity to pursue my work in every nook and cranny of time I can find—in and around family life.

The more I mature as a person, though, the easier it's getting to remind myself that work is just a means to money, which itself is only a tool. Money is merely a resource that one must acquire to exist in modern society. Once you make enough to secure survival and take your mind off the next meal, the rest is just a game. A truly enlightened individual will weigh the time they spend playing that game with the other things and people they value in life.

In one of my absolute favorite TED Talks of all time, Nigel Marsh talks about the importance of work-life balance with almost stinging eloquence.

To me, work-life balance is a far more interesting and worthwhile obsession than work itself. Designing your reality is the most important design you'll ever work on. It is the one design that determines everything.