I agree with the sentiments about every day is day one. My husband retrained at age 38 to become a carpenter; We left Southafrica being able to pay off our debts there and that’s pretty much it because the industry my husband was in collapsed and they (and many others) lost their businesses as the industry contracted. I was able to get a job pretty quickly (I’m in IT), he started his apprenticeship the day we got here as he organized it in advance and today 14 years later he’s working on his own and loving it.

Keep in mind when you apprentice you are working and getting paid pretty much the entire time; you do have some periods where you go to school, but other than that you’re working over 90% of the time and getting paid… And over those years you’re getting raises as your experience goes up.

My husband was a shoe designer and manufacturer, which is kind of niche and if you go it yourself requires a lot of capital… he was looking for something different that was not in an office (which would have killed him), and some thing that people need because after being in fashion for so many years he wasn’t about to go into business doing something where people didn’t have a basic need for it!!!

He absolutely could not be happier (or busier) even when he’s working out in the rain or the snow which is what all of his South African relatives seem to ask him about how can he stand it 😂

Good luck! You can do it :-)