Seeing what some of you guys are doing or are aspiring to be is very motivating !, im aspiring to become a 3d animator/generalist one day, working hard to get there, to try and answer Adept's question i personally dont think any education is a waste of time, i dont really know what its called in English but after finishing High school i went to kind of a college-esque school where guys after highschool go to to learn whatever profession they want, after i finished what i did i pretty much decided i didn't want to continue with what i was doing and decided to sit down and dedicate myself to the 3D stuff, and seeing that you want to begin doing things for yourself (being your own boss i assume) is pretty nice too, however its very likely you're going to atleast work at some place based on your profession for a few years to gather the experience and knowledge to start for yourself, either way i'd say dont quit, keep going at it and good luck!.