What Dave said is great.... I tie what I call semi-production or semi-commercial. I tie for 7 or 8 different shops and I tie all sorts of different things from dries to streamers to softies to bass flies.... all across the board really. Most of my flies are traded for shop credit and that also comes with a super steep discount on retail pricing. I'm not doing it to make a living I'm doing it to help perpetuate my habit to untold levels of obsession...... (not healthy). It's tough to even try to make money at this, the only time I get "paid" for tying is when it's a special order from an individual, then often times I broker that through the shops as well since I never try to bite the hand that feeds me. And to boot I have not spent more than a couple hundred bucks on tying materials in the last year or more and my collection of tying materials and stuff has nearly tripled (the wife is about to give me a whole room in the house so I don't have to use a desk in one and a closet in another and then part of a room in the basement!!!)

Steve