The violinist who plays at weddings on weekends is a working musician. Success doesn’t need a stadium.

There is an enormous middle between hobby and fame that hardly anybody talks about, and most working artists live in it. Getting paid to play, regularly, for people who are glad you are there, is a career by any reasonable definition. The all-or-nothing story is both inaccurate and discouraging. A great many people make a living from a craft without ever being known for it.

Find out what the paid middle actually looks like in your field and talk to one person living in it. Ask what they earn from and how the work reaches them.