Howdy

New here.
Bought my first real DSLR on a after Xmas special back in 2011, a D3000 i believe it was. Took it home, looked at all the buttons on the back of the body and thought "maybe i bit off more than i can chew.".
I did have some film/hobby experience previous. Took night school classes just so i could use their darkroom. Loved the smell of Fixer.
So within 2 weeks of buying the D3000 [or D3100] id found out it was THE bottom of the line most basic DSLR  available. With the previous experience i knew i had i thought id definitely out grow this body within 3 months. So i took it back to Best Buy and upgraded to the D90. [Back in our (my best friend and i) film days, i started out with a Minolta X-700, my buddy started with a Canon AE-1, a year later we both moved to Nikon's].
So i got my new D90 home and thought, with what i just spent for this kit im going to make it pay for itself and thought i wanted to do basic portraits.

Six months later i moved BACK to Southern California and for the following year was doing "group shoots". had a lot of fun doing that and learned how to use EVERY button on the back of the camera body within 3 months. The very first group shoot i attended i had to ask the host how to setup my Nikon. [single-point focus, single/continuous shutter, raw+jpg, etc].

2013 moved AZ, not by choice but i had family here. Ive been watching my cousin race stock cars since i was 10. within 6 months i was the new local track photographer and a couple months after that i was hired as the modified series photographer my cousin raced in. 
In the series we would visit 4 different states [CA, AZ, NV, UT] and over 10 races per season. Started buying GoPros and making race videos. Started doing interviews with my DSLRs. Had lots of fun. In Dec. 2018 the series director retired and the series was taken over by another group and was told they "couldnt afford me". I wasnt surprised. They have a reputation.
Within a couple months a race crew contacted me and asked how much it would cost for me to continue providing them with photos and in-car race videos. I gave them a price and attended the first race in their series last weekend as a privately hired photographer. 

That was all well and good but between that and my local track im still only able to afford my rent and credit card bills. i NEED to expand my photography into 1 or 2 weddings a month, high school senior portraits, etc if im ever going to be able to afford a D5 and a few more lenses id like to have. My best lenses are f/1.8's. Id really like to have 1 or 2 f/1.4's. My studio lights are all Alienbees which are ok but id like to step up to the next level, maybe even a couple Kino-Flo's?
Sorry this got long.

Hey Howard, welcome here.  So how are you getting new clients to learn about you?

im not really.
Im trying to find someone i can practice with first, get a little experience, find a 1/2 dozen decent backgrounds before i go live and start charging, ya know?
At this point i cant even find someone to practice with but its not like im pounding the pavement everyday looking real hard also. i need to step that up too i guess.

You should attend some photography meetup groups and sign up with PPA, or other organization where professional photographers are part of.

BTW welcome here Howard!

Hello! Nice to welcome you in the site!