Fantastic post Chris. You really laid it all out really well here to make it easy for people to decide whether to not to pursue this for themselves. I think based on your experince, i am going to try and stick to the tried and true method of quality and consistency. I am still trying to find my voice and I hope one day it will be heard. Until then, it's about trying hard (especially on the time aspect) and like you say, persevering. Your experiement and your writeup is very useful and I really appreciate it. Thank you as always for sharing Chris!
It's such a difficult one, especially for people like us who are still starting out, there's always low points where I can totally see why people get frustrated! Good luck dude, you'll be fine!