The boxing analogy just takes me back to a thought regarding just about any boxing champ (except Rocky Marchiano and MAYBE Jack Johnson).
Somewhere, someplace, sometime, there was a guy working in a wharehouse that but for motivation could have whipped any reigning champion, but he just didn't care or think about himself that way.
Like Marc Barnette says, even with hard work, the music business may not pay off, but odds are it sure won't without some hard work (I'm para-phrasing here Marc :-).