Dakota Krout was interviewed for the Fearless Storyteller podcast Eps 39. He talks about how he failed upward doing the wrong things when he first started to write, but found success and invested in his own future success. Going from writing his own series to helping other writers go full time through Mountaindale Press. The LitRPG Podcast even gets a mention at about the 35 min mark.
https://www.ethanfreckleton.com/failing-upward-with-dakota-krout/