Ask HN: Job is miserable; Go out on my own?
Apologies in advance for the length of this.

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).

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Any advice/comments/criticism is welcome. Thanks for your time!