Yeah...my thinking was more like "if I already love doing this as a hobby, why not do it and get paid for it?"; that was my biggest mistake -_-

Getting paid for doing something you love (or at least like when it comes to work tasks) is far better than having to spend 40 hours a week doing something you hate (in what is likely a much lower paid job), and then still getting home with no energy left to do that thing you love for maybe 1 hour.