[dazc]

I would start with more capital for sure and this is the main reason I failed. I also learned that living with an attractive woman can be more trouble than it is worth.

On a positive note, despite there being plenty of competition there are people who care less about price than they do about reliability and quality of work. These same people also tend to know other people who are like minded and will be eager to recommend you. Knowing a good trades-person is a sort of currency in such circles.

If I started again these are the people I would target and the ones who only worried about price I would not bother with.

[Quinzel]

This seems like some good insight. Perhaps it wasn’t that your idea was stupid, but rather a bit of inexperience and perhaps some poor timing and other circumstances such as a less than ideal relationship that culminated in ultimately failing. Sorry to hear your girlfriend was more trouble than she was worth. Not all attractive women are troublesome - however it sounds like you’re probably better off without her.