hvac wife wrote:
Not true. My husband has a degree in business. Worked for family biz for years. Honest, intelligent, very nice and skilled to the max. But just too damn nice to everyone ("but they really can't afford more.") Left family biz and we struggle to live in a small house w/ few luxuries. Granted we have debt but still HVAC not the way to go. And he does mainly commercial, loads of thrilled clients that he is so good and so cheap. He is afraid to raise rates bc afraid he will lose customers esp. in this economy.
Here's an example of a guy who may be a good HVAC man but is not at this point a very good businessman.
To the O.P., you definitely want to consider if you want to be a businessman or be an employed tradesman. There is nothing inherently better or worse about either one, there are just different trade-offs and skill sets involved. It should definitely influence what trade you would choose though. Stringing utility line, climbing towers, and welding would all be fields where you could do well working for someboyd else.