Going from hobby to profession. Help!

tdlr: I'm 29. Been doing pottery for 4 years, selling for 2. I'm struggling to find a way to turn my pottery hobby into a full-time job. Need advice and help figuring out how to do it.

I’d love some advice from anyone who’s turned pottery into a full-time job, or even a steady part-time one.

I’ve doing pottery for about 4 years (other than 1 class in college, and 1 in highschool). I started selling my work last year at local markets and a gallery. I didn’t go to art school and my day job is totally unrelated, but pottery is all I think about. I really want to be a full-time studio potter.

At first, markets were exciting and I was happy with any sales. But I live in a small town, and I usually make only $400–700 at a one-day market. At that rate, even doing 1 market a week wouldn’t be enough to live on, and that’s not realistic anyway due to the time commitment and lack of markets. Gallery sales bring in maybe $300 a month after commision and rent. I've been trying to find markets where I could sell $2,000+ worth of work in a weekend, but I'm unsure whether my sales are low because my work sucks, if its the economy, or if it's because they're small markets. Risking driving 3+ hour each way, and spending $500+ on vendor fees feels too risky to find out.

Last year felt like I was building momentum, but this year has been incredibly discouraging. I’ve left several markets close to tears because my sales were so much lower than the previous year. Social media has been even more frustrating. I post almost every day and gain basically nothing from it. Mostly I just end up feeling jealous of potters who sell out instantly or who are great at content creation, which I’m definitely not. It’s hard not to compare when I’m struggling to sell even 20 pieces at a market.

All of this has made me feel worse and worse about my work. Some days I want to throw everything out because it feels pointless to keep making things no one buys. I’ve fallen into constant self-criticism and fixate on every flaw. Even pieces I like won’t sell, and I have begun to doubt if my artistic ability is just subpar, and wonddr if my hope to become a successful potter is something I should just give up.

I feel I cannot grow without some sort of mentorship, because i am falling on my face alone. I am eager to learn more and just become a better potter in general. I’m haunted by the fact that I didn’t go to art school, because i wish I’d had real critique and guidance. Now I’m almost 30, working a full-time non-art job, and I feel like it’s too late. I’ve been trying to find some sort of part-time apprenticeship to learn more about kilns, glazing, get constructive critism, and learn from someone successful, but I haven’t found anything. And honestly, I feel intimidated reaching out to successful potters because I worry they’d see me as a bad investment due to my age and inability to provide full-time labor.

I know this is a long rant, but I could really use some advice, whether it's about how to turn pottery into a carreer, or just someone telling me to give up and keep it a hobby. Thank you in advance for any advice.