Cut the cord and go do interesting things
It occurs to me that bootstrapping is particularly difficult if you're in a bad situation. A bad situation might be one where you feel forbidden to work on any other project on your own time lest your employer try to claim ownership of it. Now is about the point where people start citing California law about this and that, and I remind them some places have everything, even self-driving cars, so not competing is effectively impossible. They want it all.
So you either stay way under the radar and hope nobody notices, or if you don't like to play those games, you start feeling this crushing weight. This weight is your conscience saying "don't do anything evil", because while others might not believe it, you do, to the core. Stalemate.
Meanwhile, you feel worse with every passing day, since you're not doing anything interesting. You're just getting older and propping up overblown projects which just don't represent your interests any more.
The only way out is to shake things up. Break the chain and get out. Don't let this tune become your theme song.
I think I used to have a purpose
And then again that might have been a dream
I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound