Thank you to all commenters. I'd be hard-pressed to find this kind of advice in any other community, let alone for free, and I appreciate each of you taking the time. I've had a day to reflect, and have decided to remain focused on my product and continue to subsidize through freelancing and non-tech work.
I realize now that I didn't give enough consideration to what would be imperative to an employer and the largest change from my experience working solo - functioning as a team member. I'm a lone wolf, and while I don't think that's inherently right or wrong, it's how I deliver my best work.
I think perhaps I'll revisit this idea in the future with my improved perspective, but for now I know that what I truly want is to support myself with a product I can call my own, even if it comes at the expense of a heftier paycheque.
This is the path my product took, a stock option scanner [0] that I originally created to find trades for myself. I noticed requests for such a tool being made in the investing communities that I follow, so I polished the UI and released it as a freemium product.
I realize now that I didn't give enough consideration to what would be imperative to an employer and the largest change from my experience working solo - functioning as a team member. I'm a lone wolf, and while I don't think that's inherently right or wrong, it's how I deliver my best work.
I think perhaps I'll revisit this idea in the future with my improved perspective, but for now I know that what I truly want is to support myself with a product I can call my own, even if it comes at the expense of a heftier paycheque.