I suffer very much from the same issue, although I'm not motivated by recurring revenue. I also figured out that I'm only motivated on a couple of evenings a month to really contribute to side projects.

What helped me in the past was to write down a single thing that I want to add the next time I feel motivated again and then spend the whole evening focussed on shipping that particular thing. Because I always feel motivated and focussed I can keep my attention span up for several months, previously I would totally get bored after a couple of days.

This worked for me too, but only for a while. Now I can't find motivation to even open the projects or start something new. I have way too many responsibilities in my life. I think I gave up on my hopes on building my own business alone. I'm thinking of hiring other people to do my side projects.

Heh, I've been thinking of the hiring thing myself too, although more as a moonshot idea since I certainly don't have the resources to actually hire anybody at this point.

But reading your comment got me thinking... what about, hiring someone to work on your idea, and then pair-programming with that person?

The (perhaps implicit) idea would be that the person/team would be leading, and you'd be given a clear path to focus on the bits you wanted to and/or had time+energy for.

Squinting at this from the right angles, you could interpret such an idea as a race-to-the-bottom toward project management. But... perhaps that's a direction you could go in?

In any case, what side projects were there?