You are an artist, a designer, who creates outstanding artwork and you hope the world would appreciate your work of art and make a living out of your talent. Most people do freelance, some starts a business. Disregard, many of us copy others who are successful/ or those who are just able to make a slightly better living. Probably not the best way to begin, but if not, how?
Your design is not the same as others, so why would you think copying others’ business model will work? Hard work has been done, and your might have placed yourself in the wrong market.
Where do you belong? There are two types of designers and artists. Most get inspired by the trend, many inspired by the historical art; very few start something totally new, and even less have the ability to influence and lead a trend. Where you are on this scale will determine whether you should fit into the business or if business should fit into you.
In general, you may say trend follower should fit into regular business and those who lead the trend should let business activity fit into their schedule. But in fact, it all depends mainly three factors: your ability (artwork style), your personality, and your own social network.
Will get more into how different type of designers get into the market.