I think I do. But it always helps to have others affirm this by coming to the same conclusions.
If you’re in your bedroom NOW and want to be making a living with ‘music performance and music sales’ be prepared to it taking a long time before that happens. I’m not anyone who’s got any credentials in this area, but I am a business man and I’ve been self employed for 14 years. I didn’t get success overnight, it took about 3 years to get to the point where I had more work than I could possibly shake a stick at. Not anymore, I shake my stick and get little now.
I’m hearing about the same thing from everyone who has started, is starting, is running, or is in school for business. 3 years seems to be the tipping point. To keep at it, to start to see that the business has tenure and is able to keep going. To “keep the faith” as it were and to keep working at it. This is why I’m still unsure. I have been at this (in a serious manner) for less than a year…, so it might be worth it to maintain extra effort for two more years to see if something begins to materialize.
MY POINT is…Making the SAME mistakes, keep giving you the SAME results! This has to be kept in mind with any part of life, especially a business and especially the music business I would think.
Good point. I’ll definitely keep that in mind. Right now the only mistakes I can really make are in the approach to all this. So I’ve got to change my approach, this is what it’s all about.
don’t think just because you’re doing some music related things for a living that it’s going to be all peaches…in the end you’re going to make it your JOB, your GRIND and there’s still going to be WORK involved. Though working hard at what you LOVE (or loved at one time) is far more rewarding than working at something you’ve always hated.
I’ve been hearing some good wisdom from the Zap lately. Is that really you? j/k 
The engineering and production of my music is NOT fun for me. It is work. Having Cubase and other softgear does make it easier. But it is still not the same as sitting here pounding at the synth. I think that might be part of the reason for that other post (about being a DAW syndrome or something). Where creating music is great, but when it comes to finishing a project, everyone has a hard time with it.
Hmmm…jus be careful when you do get to where you’re the king, or the boss…it may go to your head just a little, it’s easy to…occasionally I get into these “I’m the boss, I answer to no one” wild hairs up my butt and go into the Charlie Sheen mode >
I promise to be careful… Dad 
When designing a website, I base it around the clients request. I like to write music based upon a clients description as much as something totally random coming from my own head. I love that challenge. So the music may be commercially geared, but I personally don’t see it as a problem. This is one of the things I have practiced with. For friends, and for opportunity submissions for media.
But I can and do make music for fun as well.
I have a lifelong goal in which I have adhered to for about 12 years now, when I first discovered what it was. The quick version is this.
A life that is complete needs: Work / Play / A spiritual path / and a sport or hobby. My aim is to integrate music into all of these parts, because it has aspects in each. I’ve felt it to be my goal for a long time, but only in the last dozen years or so has something taken shape that I can grasp on to.
These are the things I need to work with, get straight in my head before I can move on and accomplish more than small fragments of something.
Well… yeah… Can’t think of anything more to say.