As much as I agree with the whole "be a producer" thing, not every artist you work with or that is accesible is gonna move up how you might want to or be able to. That's why I believe in a cycle: if you produce a low key artist it may not ever amount to anything even if your production and artist development effort is good and they have some potential. But, if you sell really good beats online and you can get some sort of following, the more you sell those beats the more you'll be able to work up the food chain as far as who you produce for.
I'm not 100% sure if I'm right about that let me know if you agree...