i usually go for around a 20-25 buy in limit for stts
never really played much on
will hill ,but in general you should not really see much improvement in play till you get up to at least $10 games .even then the standard doesn't raise that much till you get to the $40-$50 levels.
i would recommend keeping to a decent bankroll limit and not a 10x buy in ,if you do that it will likely effect your game(you already mentioned not being comfortable).that said you have made $300 profit so if you had kept that in there then you could be moving up
out of interest how long is a long period of time?it sounds to me like you have prepared well and have shown good patience
a few of the qoutes in your post seem to suggest that the prize money is affecting your game which as everyone has said is a bad thing.i would recommend trying to completely forget the amount your playing for and set yourself the same targets in every stt
as long as you have the correct bankroll to play a game then give it a go but look at it as the same as every other stt,DONT THINK OF THE MONEY.
my usual stt starting target is get to the last 3 with at least 20%of the big stack,if i accomplish that then go for the win.i never think about winning it till that point.you can never win a game with 7 people left, 6 need to go first
getting your bankroll up is tricky at the lower levels and you've done well to record a profit , its very similar to my and most of the other players beginnings in poker.
although it is a bit of a grind
it is getting you experiance and making you a bit of cash as well.
keep it up and have confidence in your game ,as long as you keep playing well theres no reason why you can't make some decent money at it