The experience of transitioning my practice from hobbyist to semi-professional has had specific phases I want to document, because the transition is rarely as clean as 'I decided to take commissions.'

Phase one: taking commissions without raising rates. I charged approximately what I thought I was worth and accepted anything I was offered. This built a client roster but established a low rate baseline.

Phase two: raising rates slowly and losing some clients. The rate increase was modest but it filtered the client list significantly. The clients who stayed were reliably more professional.

Phase three: developing systems. A commission contract. A standard brief questionnaire. A pricing sheet. These removed ambiguity and made each client relationship start from a professional foundation.

Phase four: being selective. At this stage I declined projects that didn't interest me or that paid below my current minimum. This selectivity improved both the quality of the work I was doing and my motivation to do it.

The transition is gradual and iterative. There's no single moment when I became semi-professional. It was a series of system improvements and boundary establishments.