Thanks for the advice, everyone. I can't work on consulting on the side because my potential clients would most likely be competitors of my current employer. I can take on unrelated side work, but this is a bit too related.
I've been looking for a new job for a few months, and so far I haven't had any luck. But one of my friends who works at a nearby tech company just let me know of an opportunity in her organization that would be good for me. So I'm going to pursue that and see what happens there. It would pay enough extra that I can start saving money so that if I decide to revisit self-employment I'll have a cushion to float myself through.
Excellent. I wish you the best of luck!
