How Much Money Can Photography Make Me?

Last year I grossed $600; that's not much money to make in photography. Hey, but don't quit reading yet! The reason I am writing this blog is to give me a little extra motivation to do better. I bet there are people out there like me; they dream of making good money at something they love, like photography, but they lack the knowledge of how to really do it or they lack the self-confidence to do it. I am not an expert at making money, with photography or any other means, but I am an expert at procrastinating and putting off my dreams and not trying as hard as I should.
I am 45 years old and I work for somebody else, not making enough to pay my bills, and will probably get laid off next week as the company changes owners. I have dreamed of being self-employed, working as a photographer for twenty-five years. Every once in awhile, I shoot a portrait or a wedding for a friend or acquaintance, and, if I have the nerve, I'll even charge for it (hence the $600 last year... one Senior portrait session, one Wedding...same girl).
Now, I know there must be other people like me; if there weren't, then everyone would be making money with photography. So the question is: How do I make money (enough to live on) doing something I love (photography)?Well, I don't know but I am going to find out, and this blog will document my journey.
Let me lay out the scenario for you just so I am sure we all understand the game:
I am a 45 year old married male, with two kids, one in college. I live in a small (pop. 3000) mid-western town (actually I live six miles south) that is sixty miles from anything major.
I don't have much money or photo equipment (more on that next time), but I do have twenty-five years experience in photography.
My competition in this little town (of which I am not a native) are two other photographers. Both have studios on or just off the town square. Neither has been around a long time, but they both do business. At one time, when I first moved here, this community sported five studios, but a lack of quality forced three of them out of the business. The two remaining ones do good work from what I have seen though it is pretty standard.
I have worked as a photographer for other people, that is, I was on staff at companes where Idid commercial photography and darkroom work, I have taught photography at a Junior College, and I did occassional weddings but that was all B.D. (before digital). The digital revolution came and many of my skills were no longer needed and businesses went out of business and I ended up here doing something totally unrelated to photography. Two years ago, I bought a computer and a digital camera, and I am relearning a craft I once knew very well.
How much money can photography make me?