All of my college friends jumped on to their respective corporate ladders straight out of college. They out earned me from day one. In fact, the first two to three years of being in business got me in to about £30k of debt which was used to fund the startup. In hindsight this was a small price to pay for the lessons I was taught. At the time it took a huge amount of mental strength to stay the course - my friends all seemed to have more money, more time and infinitely less stressful lives.
Ten years later the business is in very good shape. I'm definitely amongst the top earners compared to my peers but that's not as important as the flexibility owning the business offers me. Amongst other things I get to:
* Call the strategic shots - hire people I want to work with, work with the management team to define our company strategy and vision
* Launch new software products and pitch new custom software clients - both things I enjoy and I'm good at. There's nothing more satisfying than getting a new software product to profitability or landing a new £500k software development contract
* Work in the office or from home as I see fit. In fact, there have been times when I've worked from another country altogether for weeks at a time because I can
I wouldn't give up my business to go work as a consultant for another company for anything at this stage. Having said that, if things went south and I was left without any other option but to take a job I would hope that my decade of experience would be of huge value.