I started a company in 2019 after graduating from from undergrad.
This is a bootstrapped business and I built it as a solo founder.
Although it managed to get some traction (tens of thousands of users), I've basically at my wits-end on monetization.
The business is only generating ~50-60k per year in profits, and I've lost hope on seeing a path to scale it further.
When I graduated from college, I decided not to pursue significantly more lucrative option to work at a FAANG company and instead spent the last 4 years working extremely long hours on this business.
Over the last 4 years, I've basically done nothing but work 7 days a week and despite doing this, I have nothing to show for it.
Meanwhile, my friends from college all took 6 figure jobs, have traveled, made new friends, found gf/bfs, learned a ton, got promoted in their careers, etc.
Obviously this is entirely my fault and I take 100% responsibility for my decision. To fix my fuck up, I've started prepping LeetCode and plan to start interviewing for a job in 1-2 months (ya I picked a great time... I know)
Has anyone else been in a similar situation?
How do you recover mentally?
I feel like my self-confidence/feeling of self-worth has taken a massive hit. I've basically wasted the last 4 years of my life and I feel a deep sense of regret. I can't help but feel like these are valuable years where people build up their friend circles, finances, find a partner, etc.
I've done none of that and I feel like I'm extremely behind everyone else now.
Would love any advice. Thank you.
Also: your work experience will pay off in the job interviews that will land you the high salary.
(I have now semi-retired, early, and have started a PhD, and my kids are teenagers, and I am having plenty of fun, so this seems an acceptable sort of 'failure' to me!)