It's hard out there for lads with only one line of business, bit hard to adjust if you are a tradesman, can't exactly be something else the next day if you have an established business.
Also when you are selling your time, once you have done it, it's done and it ain't coming back......not like having a bit of stock round you that you can cash in.
We also got into a rather bad habit in this country of selling service on price instead of quality, you have to do a lot more work just to get the same money.
I had about 5 years off, which was nice' and it gave me the opportunity to get rid