I'm leaving a comfy corporate job to strike out on my own end of the month. I already have a long list of clients lined up thanks to my connections in the industry. And I'll have time to work on passive income projects to boot. I wouldn't be surprised to see more and more people taking this route in the near future.
Tools like Canva, HypeFury, and others (e.g., a good SEO tool) pay massive dividends for online writers in the long run. Like you said, you need to view these as investments in your future success. If your strategy is sound, these tools end up paying for themselves in short order.