Some interesting facts.
The minimum wage in 1958 was $1.00 an hour.
Average household income was less than $3,000.
Gasoline was 24 cents a gallon.
If you were making $50. a night you were getting rich!
I was making $40. a week. For 44 hours.
In 65, if the band made $100. a night, it was a great night, and we got $20. apiece. We were the top band in the Tulsa area. At 50 cents a person admission, you needed 200 people to pay that.
Today four piece bands around here get between $400. and 1200 a night. But remember there are five casinos.
Still, many singles only make $150 a night, but that's because they don't know any better. I can hire extremely talented, professional level sidemen for $100. a night, at least for week nights.
I strongly agree that it's very hard to make a living as an entertainer unless you get into at least semi-big time. Many musicians in Nashville play for free, or tips, to try to get their foot in a door somewhere.
Nursing homes around here don't pay enough to cover expenses. Too many well-meaning people do it for free.
You CAN come up with ideas to make good money though. You can own a venue, night club maybe. You can promote special dance nights, rent a venue for not much and keep all the gate. You can get established as a top echelon entertainer for private parties, weddings, holidays. All these things take time, effort, business sense and of course a fair degree of talent.
My advice: be a plumber.