India, Sept. 14 -- A product designer earning $173,000 a year had a comfortable job, a regular 9 to 5 schedule and a healthy work life balance. Yet, she chose to walk away from it. Heigi Jeong quit her tech job in June 2026 after signing a book deal and growing her career as a content creator. She has now given herself one year to see if working for herself is worth giving up a steady salary.

According to Business Insider, Jeong moved from Korea to Toronto in 2020 to work as an in house product designer at a tech company. Her work involved creating mobile apps and websites, and she generally worked about 40 hours a week.

The job was comfortable. She earned about $173,000 annually, usually worked from 9 am to 5 pm and had enough money to...