On the web there is “client work” (you land clients, do the job, they pay you, job ends, repeat) and “product work” (you make a thing and sell it) with various shades of gray.

Client work can be attractive (big paydays, you know exactly what they want) and scary (finding clients, bad clients, rollercoaster of income).

Product work can be attractive (continuous money stream, stories of massive success) and scary (what if nobody wants this, may need capital, risky).

There is a grass-is-always-greener thing. Client work people looking to find a product they can build. Product work people dreaming of sneaking in client work for the money. The other side seems to have it better.

There is also some irony. With product work, you’d think there would be this make-money-as-I-sleep vibe, with glorious vacations and chillness. With client work, you’d think there would be a lot of hustle and worry about finding that next job.

I find the opposite to be more common. Client work has more natural breaks and opportunities to relax. (Although I can't speak as well for client work as I don't really do it.)

Product work is never done. A constant grind just to stay steady and massive effort to grow.

Another irony is tech knowledge. You might think product people have more because they get to go so deep on what they are doing and take the time needed to deeply learn their tools, rather than the dip-and-go of client work.

But product work might mean one particular (narrow?) set of tech and no time or need to explore anything else. The possibility of variety and exposure to a wide world of tech may be higher in client work. Not to mention more greenfield work and opportunity to go with the new.

These are pretty surface-level observations. Your story will be unique. Just noting that what you get from on particular path may be very different than you expect.