Apologies in advance for the length of this.<p>I'd spent the previous 12 years in IT, starting out as a programmer and making my way up the management chain until I was CIO for a smaller IT services company. It was a great opportunity, but I was commuting 3+ hours per day and working 100+ hour weeks...needless to say it took it's toll on me and would have on my family had I stayed put. I'd always had the entrepreneurial bug, but never acted on it until I realized it was time to finally make the leap. So I made what I consider(ed) a strategic move in the summer of 2010 and left to join a government agency that is 20 minutes from my house. In doing so I knew I'd have a better work life balance, which would allow me to pursue my goal of building a software company and working for myself (hopefully by the summer of 2012).<p>Initially I got exactly what I could have wanted...I was fortunate to land a good position in the CIO's office, which also got me back into the development game, but not even a year in, they dissolved the CIO and moved us all around to other divisions. Since July I've maybe performed 3 hours of what could be considered work...there just is nothing for me to do, nor anything of interest in my current office. To make matters worse, due to budget cuts/hiring freezes, you can't move around to other groups so you are stuck. Everyone I work with is in a similar boat which makes for a miserable work environment (think Joe vs. The Volcano)<p>While some people may consider getting paid just for showing up a dream job, especially given the current economy...I've never been one to sit back and collect a paycheck, I like to earn my keep.<p>And while I now essentially have 8 hours/day (paid) to work on my own company, being in such a boring, depressed environment has sapped most of my energy. I had no desire to get out of bed in the morning, nor sit here for hours on end. All of this is starting to adversly affect my side company work.<p>If I didn't have a family and bills to pay, I'd quit and focus fulltime on my side company, so I've been casually exploring other options to help me get through this.<p>I've had inquiries from other govt agencices about coming to work for them, but I don't want to unfairly start something with them, knowing in the back of my mind I hope to leave within 6 months.<p>I've thought about offering my services as a freelancer, but honestly wouldn't even know where to start. I've been fortunate to be a jack of many trades throughout my career, and while I've been very good at networking with folks, ideally I'd want to be able to work from home 30-40 hours per week to keep the lights on.<p>It just seems to me that given the economy, and the prevalance of sites such as ODesk/Elance, it would be difficult to get on a project where you can set yourself apart and make a decent per hour wage. But maybe I'm just skewed by my current situation.<p>I understand that 6 months isn't that long of time to suck it up, and I am very fortunate to have this job, but its tough. Hopefully someone has had a similar experience and can shed some light on what to do.<p>Any advice/comments/criticism is welcome. Thanks for your time!