This article and a lot of the discussion fails to make clear that there is a big difference financially between being a plumber/electrician/hvac tech and owning a plumbing/electrical/hvac business
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A possible alternative path is to take over management of a business from its current owner, and eventually buy it out. Also, just a little bit of seed money might make the difference, e.g., buying a van full of basic tools is expensive, but it's not SpaceX expensive.
I've hired workmen who turned out to be "a couple guys with chainsaws and a pickup truck." So it might be possible to ease your way into a business by starting with smaller jobs.