$peaks Volumes

I've been meaning to ask about this time and time again, and it's so obvious it's puzzling why i didn't reach out and ask about this. Like a few other artists out there, they don't have a lot of money, they're struggling either financially, personally, and so forth. I too fall under this category, and employment in my case is a bit complicated more than just finding one. Some artists make a living on doing commissions. Now this isn't about any argument of artists who charge a lot of money for a variety of drawings or charging a lot in general. My concern has pretty much been very few commissions and too many of doing requests (i.e. for free). Now requests aren't necessarily a bad thing, but it would've been nice to have a little variety. I've run down a lot of lists as to why this was the case; if my art wasn't good enough, if people see, say, $5=$1,000,000. Not everyone can afford to pay the double digits of other artist's work, but $5 doesn't seem like a lot as a whole. Those two have been my main concern, and have been trying to figure out why this is. I tried asking frequent requesters to share with their friends what I draw, hoping it would create more interest. What I'm asking out here now is to help enlighten me. What are your reasons, besides those I have worked with before, to help me out further? And how can this be worked out? Would there be other things to compromise on that can help both sides? It doesn't have to be about money or even the content of the arts. Just dialogue about it, what's missing from this or what am I missing or got getting. It might not hurt as much for clarification if I want to do this again.