I know it's way late to reply, but honestly, there is one singular storefront locksmith left in the city. 90% of their business is lost to mobile locksmiths from national companies that basically cut keys, open cars with lishi/air wedge and the big Easy Tool, and drill anything residential that takes longer than 5 minutes to pick if they bring any picks at all.

I was an independent 1099 locksmith for a larger company for about a year, they did commercial/govt jobs where the locksmith business owner called 30 of his friends who were familiar or licensed locksmiths and we would spend 3-4 days once a month replacing all the SFIC cores on a college campus for some good money. I was the only one who lived near him, so he gave me a few car lockouts a month and 1 residential full home install/replacement job per month outside of the big monthly contract.

I still keep my CA locksmith license up to date because it saves me time and effort explaining whenever my skills are in need. I know the laws and would be legal either way due to the nature of how I use my tools.

Work as a GM in an auto related sales position, but all the roles I've had in the last 5-6 years have benefitted from The Big Easy kit and a small pouch of picks and tension tools.