i have slowly scaled up as a hobby.. I cant say I ever broke even but I feel im around even.. I started with gpu mining, I was a gamer and had a few lying around, mined with those until asicminer usbs came out.  I spent my BTC on those, sold my extra video cards on ebay and bought more with that money.  mined more, and saved btc, when btc hit $1000 in dec I sold my btcs and my usbs.  I then used that money o start buying  ant miner usbs, since I had the hub infra ready to go!  im probly sitting on $800 of miners if resold on ebay and maybe $800in btc give or take market.  that was starting with around $1000 in video cards, so im maybe up a tiny bit not counting elec or time.....   but it is enjoyable!!!!