I'm 29 years old, and my primary hobby is that I collect hobbies.
In amongst homebrewing beer and mead, home cheese making, and my own brand of Iron Cheffery, I also do electronics projects, computer work, and play on some musical instruments, though nothing virtuosic. I used to draw my own webcomic, but stopped some time ago, although I've been thinking of restarting. Somewhere in there, I'm writing a script I plan to make into a low-budget offbeat indie movie (my first degree track was video production, which was a bad idea in hindsight).
Am I planning on getting rich, or even just making a living with any of these? No, they're just hobbies. This summer, I'm returning to school to study alternative energy engineering (a mech. engineering degree). That's what I plan to make my living in, since I know I don't want to do I.T. work anymore.
Can these hobbies supplement my income? Sure, why not? I have a plan I'm going to implement with my home creation of music, and if it gets me enough to pay for my homebrewing and cheesemaking hobbies, and maybe the occasional convention trip, I'll be happy.
This is why I'm using the electronics hobby to build up the home studio hobby. Paying for studio time is simply not worth it to me, for a hobby. I've heard plenty of great-sounding albums and demos from people you've never heard of recorded at home with less-then-ideal gear, and if they can do it, then so can I. Only I'll have better gear because I can build mine.
In short, I have more time than money. I use that to my advantage.
I hang out here because of the free exchange of information. Not in very many places are professionals in the recording field willing to share their knowledge with others, even hobbyists like me. I figure as long as I listen to people who know more than I do, then my recordings and experiments will start to improve. Will they be pro-level? Probably not, but I'm more concerned about writing good songs anyway. My only wish is that someday, I can return the favor and be the one providing the information in a free exchange like this one.
And now you know... The rest of the story.