Not only does it take marketing skills and a hell of a lot of luck, but it also takes talent, actual talent. You had some luck, but you also had the talent to write, to say something n your own unique voice.

I'm a writer (obviously, right) and I have been for as long as I could hold a pencil. I know I'm pretty decent at it. I joined Medium about 2 months ago and another site a few months before that. I suck at marketing, but through pretty much, yeah, luck, my stuff was found and read and the money followed. But, not HUGE money, not let's retire money, but a nice side gig money.

My husband is an artist. He paints and he's brilliant (or at least I think so). He makes a decent living. Now. It's taken him well over 25 years to get there. There were decades, literal decades of full time jobs, frustration, 20 hour days, disappointments and setbacks before he was able to even eek out a living. And you're right, it's not even close to the same as painting for the hell of it.

But I've said enough. I'm turning into one of "those people" who write entire articles in the comments, so I'll stop now.