I like this topic a lot. I will put into my personal perspective but others like Steve himself may be in the same situation...
One old intention of mine (posted since I don't remember in "What are your intentions?) is:
"To be a professional musician with artistic freedom"
okey.
"To be a professional musician" means making a living of it, my "inherited purpouse"
but my "divine purpose" in that blog's words would be to do music that made others enjoy, learn, ... make the world a better place and all that stuff
. Same things that Steve means about his blogging.
"Even helping people isn’t of major concern. I’m just being my natural self, expressing my own joy and passion for life",
that's it being really Me I call it.
And inspires to write, I can't write good music when I'm thinking of being a pro!.
I mean... the two things collide
. They don't help one another...
Okey, Steve wants to make money and want to make money... I could do music that I find empty and silly but commercial, sell out my beliefs... and it will be easier for me to win money my music. And I guess Steve could do the same... explaining empty and silly things that he doesn't believe... but well... he will make a living... (Steve or whoever...).
But... when you refuse to sellout and stay to the "Divinity purpose" is harder to make a living of it. And that's the real difficulty, to do it without selling out...
and that's hard, but we do it anyway cause we know it's worth it... if not we wouldn't try so hard...
(by the way, I like it very much when "Market Your Talents Shamelessly", lol, that's it. I do not do it here by the way, you don't know my name or my music at all, I don't want to do it here, maybe I'm sabotaging myself or so... but I don't want to do "promotion" here)