You are probably right, but maintaining a day job is not a walk in the park either. You have to devote a lot of time and energy into it, and things might suddenly turn against you and you may find yourself in a tough spot.

I often think about that. There are no guarantees for job safety as an employee, there is only the fact that you work within a statistical ensemble of other people having a very similar job and can use them to tell how well you're doing.

If you find paid work on your own, you learn different skills that could prove to be better for survival, since you're less dependent on an external entity.