One more clarifying question -- it sounds to me like what drives you is to solve problems that you find interesting and challenging, and to have a decent number of people try it out and hopefully give you props for what you've built, how useful it is, how cool it is, etc. it sounds like "money" isn't a primary or secondary motivator for you, but might be used as a proxy for what you're really interested in?
I'm asking this because imo really clarifying your desires is a prerequisite for nailing down the right path to realizing these wishes.
That's right. I do projects that interest me. I see problems in life. For example, not being able to read menus, making a map of the range of an electric bike, etc.
I build solutions: my own Chinese translator + 20k menus. An offline map program that lets me draw a circle of a given radius. I have lots of these little projects.
Money isn't possible, because I have a maximum wage. My visa & contract don't allow me to do side work. I wish that other people would benefit from my work, but I don't want to spend money to buy users, because they won't be paying it back later.
I'm asking this because imo really clarifying your desires is a prerequisite for nailing down the right path to realizing these wishes.