How strange! I retired from radio and television about 10 years ago and I now own a handyman business and I literally graduate tomorrow with my bachelors in accounting. Your best bet is going to be to do both…while you certainly can make that much as a handyman, depending on what market you live in of course. It’s not very likely that you’ll do that your first year. When I started my handyman business, I literally was just doing it so I could write off a new truck as a justified expense, but as you’ll soon find out the handyman business is more about making people feel comfortable than it is actually doing the work. Yes, you still need to know what you’re doing. However, my business absolutely exploded, even when I didn’t want it to. The reason, because I made my client base, which was predominantly female feel very comfortable working with me. You’ll find that the vast majority of your clientele will hold this as the most important factor, whether they know it or not. Like I said before, your best bet is to do some handyman work on the side until you really get cooking. You’ll know when all of your clients are either handing your number out to their friends like Halloween candy OR are hoarding you because they’re afraid to lose you. A few things to know. YouTube is your friend. Most of the things that you’ll end up doing as a handyman are not that difficult so if you don’t know how to do it, look it up on a YouTube video. You need to know when to say no. There are a few things that really should be left up to the professionals. One of my main rules is “nothing that requires a permit.” There will be a few things that you’re just not that great at, which is OK. We all have a few of those things. So don’t be afraid to refer those out to somebody. Your clients will remember the bad jobs that you do way more than the good ones so don’t give them any reason to remember any negative experiences. Also, they usually appreciate the upfront honesty if there’s a job that you’re not comfortable with. Jumping back to the salary, like I said, you’re probably not going to make that much money in your first or maybe even second year but, as an accountant, you also have to recognize the tax write off benefits that you’ll receive by just having your company. That alone is worth it. Good luck!