Have you bought back your time yet?

Step 2 of the Stair Step Approach's largest milestone is “buying back your time” (https://robwalling.com/2015/03/26/the-stairstep-approach-to-bootstrapping). In a sentence, this means that your project(s) can sustain your lifestyle and you no longer need a traditional source of income, like a 9 to 5.

Currently I work a great full time job where I’m learning applicable skills for my projects (Serverless cloud computing being the big one) that provides a lifestyle that I really like.
I work nights and weekends to build something that I hope will at least match my current salary. This way I won’t have to do any lifestyle changes (still be able to pay that mortgage just fine) if I decided to go full time into one of my projects. Think about what you can do with 8+ back!

I think “buying back your time” is an amazing target to aim for, and can be applied to any indie hacker along the cost of lifestyle spectrum, from a couch surfer living in Bali to a parent currently raising multiple children.

Have you guys bought your time back? If so, how long did it take you?

How much more would your project need to make for you to comfortably be able to leave your full time job?