I agree, (INVEST IN YOURSELF)
Semper Fi Buddy
that's just it...not saying Mr. E is the right choice for everyone...but for a good percentage of people, buying into Mr. Electric, Mr. Sparky, ESI, Nexstar, etc is the best investment in themselves that they could ever make.
they are investing in education to let them build a better company for them, their family, their employees, employees families...etc
for many EC, it's throwing money down the drain...but that's because of the EC's not the systems...if you don't have the answers, investing in yourself (as implicated by many) is a bad investment...
the myopic view of electrical contractors is frightening...we are trapped in 4x4 junction boxes and can't see beyond the walls...
there is an outfit in our area that is a member of Nexstar...5 yrs or so ago when they joined, they were running less than 10 trucks between plumbing, electric, and HVAC...today they have over 50...if joining Nexstar wasn't an investment in themselves, what was it?
good luck.