80-85mm

As I'm working on figuring out this whole photography-for-money thing, I'm considering what kind of equipment investments need to realistically be made.  I'm in no position to shell out a few grand for the perfect portrait lens, but I think I've picked out what I'd like to be the next addition to my arsenal (which currently consists of a few of Nikon's cheapest lenses and a wide zoom...not so great for portraits, I think).  It seems like the 85mm f1.8 might be a good next move...I've gathered it's a good focal length for portraits (I need to start working on those) and as far as lenses go, it doesn't break the bank.  I've never really shot much with long lenses--my 35mm f1.8 rarely leaves my camera--so I stuck my old 70-300 f4-5.6 (which I got way back in 2006 with my D80 and hardly ever use) and trained it to around 85mm for some shots around the yard.  Takes some getting used to, and I was limited to shooting f4 and above...I also wanted to try out some editing in Lightroom (I watched some YouTube videos today) and the tricks I saw were pretty cool.  I guess none of these photos really look THAT edited, but compared to the originals the editing is pretty interesting.
Anyway, I've got some practicing to do.