To succeed at this you must have a good business plan - take a night class on business, know how to market yourself, do your taxes, handle your money, etc. I have too many friends that are amazingly talented but never learned business and have serious problems because of it. Get good insurance, keep up to take with technology, update your website, don't let anything get stale!

That stuff is all boring compared to shooting and being creative, but honestly, it is so important. I probably spend 70% of my time doing paperwork, emails and making phone calls, and only 30% doing creative work -- but that is how I get clients and get money to further the business. Now that I have a producer it has helped lighten the load (the split used to be 90% paper, 10% creative), but the amount of time and energy it takes to run your own business can be very surprising.