re: Becoming a professional woodworking or not

Thanks for posting this Jim, I know from my own experience that skill and commitment alone won’t guarantee success as a cabinet maker. Without a market for what you can produce, I feel you are beating yourself up for nothing, and at the mercy of the economic climate.
I have a brother who has been what we call a joiner for nearly 25 years – making sash windows, stairs, doors etc, all items that can only be custom made. I think that’s the difference – there’s no one else to go to for that type of work,and he has a constant stream of work – whereas a fine dining table, freestanding wardrobe etc, anyone can jump in their car and take a Sunday afternoon looking at these things in different furniture stores and there’s choice and prices on display. It takes a very special client to not have that mindset of shopping around and unfortunately, in my experience at least, there simply weren’t enough people to go that route for me to sustain woodworking as a business.
Yes, it’s tremendously satisfying to design and make something for someone and know you did a good job and your client loves it, but all of that don’t pay the bills. I don’t mean to be down about it, because there are success stories, I can think of at least half a dozen on here and on the other place, and they deserve their success because they are exceptionally talented woodworkers. One thing that strikes me as I think about those people that come to mind is they all have their own, very distinct style. You can tell who made a piece just by looking at it – such as Dan Mosheim, Les Hastings, BentlyJ.
I’m fortunate enough to have a trade I was able to fall back on and look forward to when I can start making furniture again as a hobby or as I, or my family need it, without the pressure of trying to make it pay a decent, regular wage.