It has seen off many a good musician Bogle. You have to REALLY want to do the job or you'll be off in a few years because it has never really been a source of gainful employment. 95% of Folk acts do something else as well. Private tuition, or some form of self-employment. The alternative is endless foreign tours to earn the dosh, whether it be Folk or any other style of music. There comes a point, as Martyn Wyndham Read once told me, that you decide to enjoy what you have achieved. It stops mattering how many gigs you do and becomes a choice of where you want to go and just be happy, breaking even financially. That is a rather comfortable place to be.