Drawing Conclusions

I've been thinking a lot lately about my future in Illustration.  I have a few avenues of experience--comics, tattoo/band logo design, archaeological illustration, portraiture...
Unfortunately freelance would be my most productive option, and unfortunately I would have to work my ass off whoring myself out to businesses to make any kind of living at it. I have a good history doing archaeological illustration at UND, and was thinking of contacting other universities to see if there was any interest.  Scientific ilustration is still a not-terribly-popular field, mainly (I'm guessing) due to the tedium of having to reproduce artifacts with little or no artistic liberty. 
TECHNICALLY I am a professional, even published illustrator.  I should be out there doing more with it.