See how much of this write-up rings true with you: http://matt.io/entry/tz (Note: it's a reformatted version of http://www.dannybarnes.com/blog/how-make-living-playing-musi... because the original is nigh unreadable.)
From a screenwriting point of view, John August has well written success advice in his ongoing Q&A series: http://johnaugust.com/answers
She was really good, but didn't play my style of music. I bought one of her CDs anyway, because she had that same drive that I saw in the startup founders I've come to know.
As she put my $8 away, she commented to one of her friends that she now had gas money to get home. It kind of reminded me of the bootstrapped startups I've seen (like the recent Octopart article) who just keep driving forward with nearly no revenue and nothing but their talent and ambition to keep them going.
What does "to succeed" mean anyway? I was always wondering, and don't really know to this day.