Outside of rare situations, people need multiple successful board game Kickstarters now to earn a full-time income on top of expenses. I'm finding that to be a good quality check since the first bad project is the last for any aspiring game designer.

However, that is not the case in the sleazy consumer products/Internet of Things area of Kickstarter, where it is common to do things like pay consultants 10-33% of money raised to pump up the campaign, something that's only viable if the development costs aren't significant enough for the project to turn out well.