The earnings surprised me. I know a decent software engineer whose effective hourly rate is embarrassingly close to the lower limit of Steve’s reported $15–50 range. On the other hand, that’s busking in SF.
Doubly interesting to me since I’m thinking of performing as well.
The kind of performance I’m considering, though, would be of a more obscure style and requiring some electronic gear (worth $xxxx), so I’d probably go for a collaboration with a friend at least to have a sense of safety.
Regarding eight hours a day, as a software engineer most days I personally pull off about 5 hours of actual focus tops, though maybe that’s just me.
My focus on software is also 0-5 hours a day, and those hours are only before noon and after 10 pm.