10 Best Jobs For People Starting Over In 2026

Here are the 10 best jobs for people starting over. And if you think I'm just giving you a generic list off some website that you could Google in 15 seconds, buckle up because I'm the guy who spent years becoming a pharmacist. I became a, and I'm quoting myself here, highly educated pill counting monkey for big pharma. Then I needed to start over because that career was not for me and I did. So, but they say hindsight is 2020 and if I could go back, I likely wouldn't do it again. I'd probably pick one of the 10 careers that I'm about to give you right now. And if you're in a situation like that where you're starting over or you want to start over, you're going to find at least one or two really good options for you in your specific situation on this list. Some of these jobs pay six figures. Some of them are very easy to get into. Some you can do online, some have to be done in person, but they're probably available in your town. Some of them are pays upwards of over $300,000 a year and almost nobody's talking about it. So whether you got laid off, you hate your career, you lost a license, you're a mom going back to work, you're an immigrant restarting your life in a new country, or you're 35 and realizing that you picked the wrong thing at 18, this list is for you. You're going to find at least one or two, maybe even more, really good options. So, if you appreciate me making this type of content and you want me to make more of it in the future, let me know by gently tapping that like button. And let's jump into it right now. All right, first one we're going to talk about is the gross one that pays six figures, and that is the crime scene cleaner. So, number one is the gross one, and I'm going to put this first on purpose because if you're starting over and you think every job on this list is going to be the same boring office advice that you've heard a thousand times before, nope. This list gets a little bit weird sometimes, and it gets there pretty fast. So, number one is becoming a crime scene cleaner. So, these are people who show up after the worst day of someone's life, right? after a death in many cases or a violent incident or after a hoarding situation that's literally a biohazard, right? They clean it up, they make it safe again, and they get paid extremely well to do it because, and let's be honest here, most people in this country would rather work a $40,000 a year cubicle job than walk into that room, which means there's almost no competition. And the less competition there is for a job, the more it pays. Now, let me put it like this. Most jobs are like restaurants on a busy street with 50 other restaurants. You're fighting for every dollar. Crime scene cleaning is like being the one restaurant in town where there's no other food within 50 mi. The customer does not have a choice, right? They pretty much have to come to you. They have to pay your price. And that is pricing power. And that's what an in- demand low competition job feels like. Now, here's the proof. I actually met one of these guys on vacation and he told me what he made. And I'm not going to repeat the exact number on camera because I honestly don't want to misquote him, but he gave me a salary range that started in the high five figures and went deep into the six figures uh for guys who specialize in biohazard cleanup. And he was definitely making into the six figures. So crime scene cleaners on average make around $50 to $90,000 a year. And the biohazard specialists, the guys who handled the worst of the worst situations, can pull deep into the six figures. And then there's an even wilder version of this, right? There are entrepreneurs out there who started crime scene cleaning companies and they buy the houses where the incident happened. And many of these people actually started off as the cleaners, but then they realized that there's an opportunity, right? Because these houses are extremely hard to sell on the open market after a crime has happened there. So, they clean the place up, they flip it, and they make money twice on the same property. And there are literally people who talk about doing this online. And if you don't want to physically be at the scene, there's actually an online version of this, and that is a crime scene dispatcher. So you take the calls, you coordinate the teams, you run logistics, and it's definitely not glamorous, but you can do it from home and you can still make a real living from it. So the way to start here with the crime scene cleaner is to get certified in OSHA bloodborne pathogens. It's really just a short online course. It's actually not that hard to get certified with it. Then you get a basic hazmat awareness. Then you apply to companies like Aftermath Services or Franchise with Bio1 and you can be working in 2 to 4 weeks. Yes, that fast. And if you're starting over, this is a job that does not care about your background, does not care about your degree. It cares that you can show up, stomach the work, and get the job done. Hey, quick break. I'm going to be doing a live training this week on how to start a YouTube channel step by step for beginners. This is going to be for people who want to start a channel, but they don't know what niche to pick, what videos to make, or how to actually get started the right way. And it's a completely free training, no strings attached. In fact, I'm giving away even more bonuses at the training. So, just as an example, I'm going to be giving away my niche validator. Um, this is going to be available both for Chat GBT as well as Claude, which is a super valuable piece of software where you can finally figure out what the best niche for you is. So, do not miss out on this training. Make sure you sign up for it down in the description and the pin comment below because you only get it if you join the training. So, if you don't join now, you might miss it. But that being said, in the workshop, you'll get to meet me and you'll get to ask me questions directly. So, I look forward to seeing you in there. So, click the link in the description and the pin comment below, put it in your calendar, and if for whatever reason you missed out on it or you weren't able to attend, make sure you still click that link because we might be having workshops in the future as well, and you'll be the first to know about it. So, yeah, hope to see you there. And now, back to your regularly scheduled content. All right, next is the recessionproof cash machine career. And this is HVAC technician. And I would know about this one because my brother Zach is an HVAC tech, right? He's been doing this for years. He's actually been an HVAC tech for about 30 years now. For 20 years, he's owned his own business. And the man is doing very well. And here's the thing about HVAC. And let me be real with you here for a second, right? Every single American home has heating. Every single American home has air conditioning. Both of those systems break down quite often. And both of those systems need maintenance. And both of those systems need to be replaced every 15 to 20 years, which means HVAC is one of the most recessionproof jobs in the entire country. Doesn't matter what's happening with the economy. If your AC goes out in July in Texas, you are calling someone. If your furnace goes out in December in Minnesota, you are calling someone and you're paying whatever they ask. So, the data on this is insane, right? There are 110,000 unfilled HVAC jobs in the country right now. And that number is projected to grow to 225,000 by 2027. And the average HVAC tech is 51 years old. Which is kind of funny because my own brother is exactly 51 years old. So, he's basically the average HVAC tech, which means a lot of these guys are about to retire, and there is nobody to replace them. Now, you might be thinking, "But Shane, doesn't that mean I have to be a manual labor guy crawling through attics in 110° heat?" Yes, at first. But here's where it gets really interesting. My brother Zach didn't just stay an HVAC guy. He built a business around it. And with the business, he was able to make more money, and he was able to specialize in certain types of jobs that are less physically demanding. And then he started a YouTube channel on top of that. And now he's making money from the trade and teaching people about it online. And with this YouTube channel that I helped him start, his very first video got over 800,000 views. And less than one month after starting the channel, he was making $214 in a single day. That's a $78,000 year run rate. So he's basically making a full-time income within one month of starting the channel. And this is what nobody tells you about these bluecollar jobs. Every single job on this list can be doubled with a personal brand on YouTube or social media. So, if you're starting over, you can pick a job from this list and start a YouTube channel about it. And the job pays your bills, right? The channel becomes your real wealth. And it's really the whole reason I built my coaching program. It's all about solving other people's problems and making educational content on YouTube, which is wide open because there's just not a lot of competition. Because the playbook of have a realworld skill, whether it's your job or just some sort of skill that you have or some problem that you've overcome, plus document it online, is the most underrated wealthb buildinging combo of the next 10 years, period. And it's something that you can easily do part-time on the side. My brother probably spend about 1 or two hours a week on average building his YouTube channel. And now it's doing so well that he's selling his HVAC business, and he just told me he wants to start a second YouTube channel. So, here's how to start an HVAC. Find a local trade school or community college, uh, like an HVAC program that's 6 months to 2 years. Get your EPA 608 certification. Apply as an apprentice or a helper to a local HVAC company, and then make 59,000 a year on average to start and 80,000 to 150,000 once you specialize. And by the way, especially for the trade careers, it is going to be different in different areas of the country because there's a lot of regulations. Some areas are union versus non-un, etc., etc. So, go ahead and look up what it is in your area of the country. With that being said, my brother has started many people off in HVAC with zero training. And he just started them off training them in the company and paying them to do it. So, it's pretty easy to get training on this and you can get paid to be trained. And if you want to scale into a business like my brother did, well, you can start a channel about it as well. And there's so many different niches you can do on HVAC. So, my brother was basically just talking about trade careers in general, but there's other channels on YouTube that talk about how to do HVAC stuff. So, those are more tutorial style channels. Or you could be like this plumbing guy who specializes in helping people get into plumbing careers. And he's got 721,000 subscribers and makes a ton of money helping people get into plumbing. And by the way, there are a lot of different opportunities when it comes to trade careers. I'm going to be going over some of them on this list, of course, but you should definitely look into other trade careers as well, so you can check out my brother's channel. All right, next is the fastest growing job in America, and that is a wind turbine technician. And I would know this is real because the Bureau of Labor Statistics literally lists it as the fastest growing job in America. It has a 50% growth rate between 2024 and 2034. And that is not a typo. So you basically climb wind turbines, you service them, you make sure they keep spending, and you make $62,000 a year on average. And $88,000 a year is in the top 10%. And the training takes about 6 months at community college or technical school. Now, here's where I want to be honest with you. This is not a job for someone afraid of heights, like at all. You are climbing 200 to 300 ft in the air on a vertical ladder inside of a steel tube. If that gives you nightmares, just go ahead and skip on this one. But if you're good with heights and you want a job that's literally growing 50% over the next decade because the country cannot build wind farms fast enough, this is one of the cleanest pivots on the entire list. And here's the YouTube angle because I told you we'd come back to this throughout the video. And there are actually wind turbine technicians on YouTube making another full-time income just recording themselves climbing turbines. And then there's others that talk about how to become a wind turbine technician. But yeah, there's a lot of firstperson GoPro footage from 300 ft in the air. It's pretty insane content and people just can't stop watching it. So you can do the job and then you can document it and that's two income streams, same skill set. So here's how to start. Enroll in a 6 to 12month wind energy technician program at a community college or technical institute. get the basic certifications and then apply to companies like GE Vernova, Vestus, and Seaman's Games Up. Now, one thing they won't say is a lot of the time you just apply to these companies right off the bat and they'll actually just pay for your training and certifications. And you can be climbing turbines and making $60,000 plus dollars within a year. And if you're starting over, this is the most futurep proof job on the list. Solar and wind are not going anywhere. And this is the trade behind the trade. All right, next is the disaster bonus and that is insurance catastrophe adjuster or what the industry calls a cat adjuster. Kind of weird, but we'll go with it. And let me explain why this one is insane. You take a 1 to two week training course. You pass a state licensing exam in some states, some others you don't have to. And then you sign up with an independent adjuster firm. And then you wait. You wait for a hurricane. You wait for a wildfire. You wait for a hail stom or you wait for a tornado. And when disaster hits, and unfortunately disaster hits more and more these days, these are the people the insurance companies call to go evaluate the damage. So they get paid per claim and they work in 30 to 90day disaster deployments. So CAT adjusters can make 50 to $100,000 in a slow year, but in a year with major disasters, they can make even $200 to $400,000 in a six-month period and then take the rest of the year off. And I am not making this up. after Hurricane Helen, after Hurricane Milton, and after the LA fires, the CAT adjusters who deployed printed money. I have heard stories, and I want to be careful here because I don't want to overstate it, of guys clearing high six figures in a single deployment season. Now, that may not be everybody, but I think you get the point. You can make a lot of money doing this. And here's the analogy that I want you to think about. Most jobs pay you the same amount every month, no matter what. Maybe you get a little bonus here and there. Cat adjusting is like being a stormchaser who gets paid by the storm. Steady? No. Lucrative? Absolutely. Insanely lucrative when the world is on fire, unfortunately. And statistically, that's happening more and more often. Now, you might be thinking, Shane, doesn't that mean I have to be away from home for months? Yes, that's the catch. This is travelheavy and it is seasonal and it's also pretty unpredictable and it's feast or famine, which is exactly why nobody is doing it, and it's exactly why it pays really well. Okay, so here's how to become a CAT adjuster. Take a 1 to two week training course, catadjuster.org, Adjuster Pro, or Veil Training Solutions. Get an all lines adjuster license in Texas. It's the gold standard because most states reciprocate it. And then sign with independent adjuster firms like Pilot Catastrophe, Eberal Claims, or Worley. And then wait for the call. And if you're starting over and you have a six-month window where you can travel and grind, you can completely reset your finance in one disaster season. All right. Next is a ridiculously highpaying job, and that is a pipeline or pipe fitter welder. So, this is the one that I teased in the intro, the one that pays up to $300,000 a year that almost nobody talks about, and that is a pipeline welder, or as the industry calls them, pipe fitter welder. Kind of the same thing, right? Now, look, regular welders make really good money. You know, $51,000 a year on average, $75,000 if you're pretty good. And that's solid, especially if you're living in a smaller town, which many of these welders are, but it's not life-changing. Pipeline welders on the other hand are an entirely different species of welder. These are the welders who travel literally travel the country welding pipelines that move oil, gas, and water across America. So they live on the road. They work brutal hours. They take on union pipeline projects where they're paid by foot or by hour and usually per DM. And the result is $200 to $300,000 a year and sometimes more. And the American Welding Society says that there's a shortage of 330,000 welders by 2028. And the American welder right now is 55 years old on average. So they are desperate for new welders. And here's the analogy. Becoming a regular welder is like becoming a chef at Applebee's. Becoming a pipeline welder is like being a chef at a Michelin star restaurant. Same basic skill, but wildly different price tag attached to your time. And the wildest part is the training is the same 6 to 24month welding school. The certifications are the same AWSerts. And what separates a 50k shop welder from a 300k pipeline welder is honestly skill for sure, but mostly being willing to travel and willing to pass the harder weld tests. That's pretty much it. The skill ceiling on this trade is insane. And one more thing, there's a huge welding community on YouTube, right? There's people who post, you know, pipeline welders, rig welders, etc. A lot of people that have post videos about this, and there's channels like welding tips and tricks that have built real businesses. So once again, the trade pays the bills, but the personal brand builds the wealth. Now, here's how to start for a pipeline welder, right? Go to welding school, 6 months to two years, get your AWS, start with AWS D1.1 structural, move into 6G pipe welding. Uh, take the harder weld tests, 6G pipeline specific, and then join the pipeliners union like UA local 798 if you can. It's the gold standard. And then travel where the work is, right? If you're starting over and you can be on the road for 9 to 10 months out of the year, this is the $300,000 starting over job that almost nobody talks about and it's 100% legit. But I'm guessing a lot of you probably don't want to do that and that's why let's talk about the next one on the list which is the medical side door and that is synenographer or ultrasound tech. So this one is becoming a synographer also called an ultrasound technologist. Now I came from a medical background. I used to be a pharmacist. That is the background that I came from like I mentioned before and there are a lot of pros and cons to the medical field but one of the biggest pros is it is probably the most stable career you can possibly get into. And the reason for that is because even if the world was ending, the very last job that would go would be people working in the medical field, right? You are always going to need people working in the medical field. It doesn't matter what AI happens or what disruptions happen. It just doesn't matter. That will be the last job to go. And let me explain why this is a medical side door, right? If you wanted to be a doctor, that's going to be at least 11 years. Four years undergrad, four years med school, three years residency minimum. And that's the fastest path possible. If you wanted to be a registered nurse, that's going to be at least four years. A synographer is 18 to 24 months, and the median salary is $84,000 a year, and the field is growing at 14%, which is way faster than average. So, here's the thing about synographers. You are the person running the ultrasound machine. You're the one giving the expectant mom the first picture of her baby. You're the one helping doctors diagnose cardiac issues or soft tissue injuries or internal bleeding, right? you're working in a hospital or a private clinic or you could be a traveling synographer which make even more money than normal synographers. They typically make about $120 to $150,000 a year or sometimes more. Now, here is the analogy. Medicine is like a giant restaurant. Doctors are the head chefs. They make the big money, but they spend 11 years in the back of the kitchen training. Synographers are like the specialty line cooks, right? You're not running the whole kitchen, but you're running one specific station and you're making real money to do it in the fifth of the training time, right? So, if you are starting over and you specifically want to work in health care without the nursing school grind or the med school decade, this is the cleanest medical pivot on the list. So, here's how to start as a synographer. Enroll in a CAA HP accredited diagnostic medical synographer program. Uh, you can do this at a community college or hospital-based program. Very common in the medical field is you just apply to a job and they will literally just pay for you to do the program. It's going to be about 18 to 24 months. Then, you can get your ARDMS certification. You can apply to hospitals or private imaging clinics and once you have one to two years of experience you can go traveling and make a ton of money. All right, next is the comeback career and that is locksmith and this is the most literal starting over story on the list. Uh and and that is becoming a locksmith and I'm going to explain why right I'm going to tell you a story. Few years back I was traveling. It was in the middle of the night. It was freezing cold and I was visiting my family and I need to leave early in the morning. So, I went out early in the morning and my key snapped off in the door of my car, right? [laughter] So, this was middle of the night. We're talking like 3:00 4:00 a.m. And I called a locksmith and this locksmith was the only person within 50 miles still answering their phone at that hour. And this guy showed up, popped the lock in in about 4 minutes. I paid him about $300 and we were good to go. But while he was working, we got to talking and this man told me straight up with no shame that he used to break into cars for a living, right? So, he was a criminal and he'd done time. And when he got out and was trying to start over, he realized he had a skill that nobody else had. He knew how to get into cars and houses faster than 99% of legal locksmiths. So, he became a locksmith legally. And now he makes 80 to $100,000 a year easily doing the same thing that he used to do illegally. Right? So, I paid that man like 300 350 bucks and it probably took him about 20 minutes of his time, maybe another 20 minutes to travel there. Right? So, this man was making bank. But this time people call him and pay him for it. Right? And that is one of the most beautiful starting over stories that I've ever heard. Right? I'm really glad that he got his life together and actually became someone who is giving a lot of value to society. And it's why this job is on the list. Right? Locksmiths make 50 to $80,000 a year on average. This is another one of those trade careers where in reality they probably make a lot more than that. And the specialists who do automotive lockouts, high security systems, and safe cracking can easily pull $100,000 plus dollars fast. And the training is fast as well. a few weeks to a few months, the competition is sparse. And the analogy I want to leave you with is locksmithing is one of the few jobs in this country where your past experience, even bad experience, can become an asset. So, if you're mechanic- minded, great. Tinkerer growing up, great. Used to take apart locks for fun as a kid, great. Bad past, honestly, depending on what it is, maybe could also be great. You can use the skill in reverse. And on YouTube, channels like the lockpicking lawyer have over 4 million subscribers documenting locks. So, there's an absolute audience for this skill set. a massive one and the lockpicking lawyer actually sells different lockpicking related stuff on his website and probably makes millions of dollars a year from it. So, let's talk about how to start. Locksmiths take an ALA certified training course. Uh, this could be online or in person and it's 4 to 12 weeks. Again, this is going to be different depending on the area you live in, etc. But you can also apprentice with a local locksmith for 6 to 12 months. You can get your state license where required and then you can build your own client base. And of course, you can work for apartment buildings, real estate agents, Airbnb operators, etc., etc. These are all repeat customers who will call you over and over again. All right, next is the longhaul lottery. And this is CDL Hazmat Specialty Trucker. Now, I know I know what you're thinking, Shane, didn't every YouTuber and their grandma make a video about being a truck driver? Yes, they did. But here's what they got wrong. Regular CDL trucking, pays $54 to $80,000 a year, which is still great. But specialty trucking, specifically hazmat trucking or tanker trucking or oversized load trucking, pays 50 to 100% more. So hazmat truckers, the people who haul gasoline, chemicals, hazardous materials, etc., make 80 to $150,000 a year. Tanker truckers is the same thing. And if you go really niche, like driving oversized loads, like those flatbeds with the giant pieces of industrial equipment, or even ice road trucking in Alaska, you can easily clear $200,000 in a single year. And you're not necessarily working all the time. you get a lot of time off. And the American Trucking Association say that there's a shortage of 82,000 drivers in 2026. And it's getting worse every year. So, here's the analogy. Regular CDL trucking is like being a waiter at a chain restaurant. Specialty trucking is like being a somoleier at a Michelin restaurant, right? Same industry, wildly different rate per hour. And the only difference is the extra endorsement and the willingness to haul harder loads. Now, look, I'm not going to lie to you. This job can be brutal on your family life, right? You're on the road for weeks at a time. Your back is going to hurt. your sleep schedule is going to be wrecked, which is why I'd trade it as a three to five year sprint. Go in, make a half a million dollars, pay off a house, then transition into a different type of truck driving that's more local based. Or, and hear me out, you could buy your own truck after a couple of years, lease drivers underneath you, and do the owner operator model. That's where this really scales. Now, here's how to get started. Of course, you get your basic CDL class A, that's 2 to 3 months at a trucking school, and then the hazmat endorsement H, the tanker endorsement N, and the double triples endorsement. Then you apply to specialty carriers like Hartland Express, Schneider, Halver Lines for oversized, etc., etc., and you can be driving and making $80,000 plus dollars within 4 months of starting training. And if you're starting over and you can sacrifice short-term comfort for 5-year financial reset, this is one of the fastest money printing pivots on the list. Next is the Commission Cannon. That is solar door-todoor commission sales. But if you don't want to do it in person, I have an online alternative, which is tech sales, also known as SDR. And I'm going to give you the online version of this here in a second, too. Now, here's why I love this one, right? There is no degree required. There's no license required. And in most states, there's no 4-year apprenticeship either. So, the training is about 1 to 4 weeks. It's usually paid for by the company. And the income ceiling is uncapped. So, solar reps in their first year typically make about 60 to $120,000 a year. And after year two, the top reps are making 200 to 500,000 in commission. And I am not exaggerating this, right? Companies like Sunun, Senova, ADT Solar, Power, they're all paying for new reps right now and they will train you for free. Now, I want to be honest about this one because it's the one on the list with the highest variance. Right? Some people thrive in doortodoor. Some people absolutely hate it. Right? You will hear no 95 times before you hear yes once. The work is mentally brutal in a way no other job on this list is. But, and this is the analogy, commission sales is like fishing in a huge ocean. If you're patient, if you're willing to throw the line back in time after time after time, and you get rejected over and over again, you eventually catch the big ones. The ones who quit in week three, never see the money. The ones who survive to month six are the ones making $300,000 a year, right? And here is the online version that I promised you. Tech sales, not quite as lucrative, at least not upfront, but specifically starting off as an SDR, which is a sales development representative. It's kind of the digital cousin of solar doornocking. It's a little bit less grind and hustle and a little bit more forming long-term relationships, but you get to work from home. You get to reach out to prospects over email and LinkedIn instead of knocking doors. And you can make 70 to $150,000 in your first year. And companies like Salesforce, HubSpot, and any SAS companies are constantly hiring SDRs with no degree required. Also, you can check out a free course on how to become an SDR by clicking one of the links in the description in the pin comment below. It's from Course Careers. We've actually helped a bunch of people become SDRs through that course. So, you can check that out by clicking the link in the description in the pin comment below. So, here's how to start solar sales. Apply directly to a company like Sunun, Senova, Power, ADT Solar, or any local solar company. They train you. They pay you a small base plus commission, and you run the playbook for 6 months minimum before quitting. If it's not for you, that's totally fine. You're probably still going to learn a lot, and I don't think anyone regrets having sales skills in their life. So, yeah, a lot of great opportunities here. What I always tell people to do is go figure out how to make the money yourself. There's so many different ways to do it. There's tons of different jobs popping up. There's tons of different subsp specialties within the jobs. There's tons of different ways to make extra money within the jobs as well. You could help people land the job. You could write resumes for it. I've actually helped well over 20 people actually become career coaches by literally just making YouTube channels about the job they're already doing. For instance, I helped Josh do this in the IT and cyber security industry. He started off making basically no money on YouTube. He was just basically trying to be helpful to other people in the industry. Then he got his dream job from his YouTube channel, just establishing his authority where he was making multiple six figures a year and he got to live in Japan and travel the world and work remote. Then he started making 5,000 a month, then 10,000 a month, so it was a full-time income. Then 30,000 a month, he was making more than his dream job. Then he scaled it all the way up to $180,000 in a single month. So if that sounds interesting to you, definitely check out the live training that I'll be doing this week. That'll be in the description and the pin comment below. Additionally, if you are very serious about growing and making money on YouTube, I know this is not going to be for 99% of people, but we do have hightouch one-on-one coaching. And we also have done for you, which is basically an agency where we literally just grow your channel for you. If that appeals to you, then click the link to schedule a call in the description, the pin comment below, or in the about section on the channel. This is very difficult for us to actually carry out, so it will be a large investment, typically in the 5 figure range. But if you want us to literally just do the work for you, then go ahead and book that call. But only do it if you're very serious about growing and making money on YouTube. We give away 99% of the value completely free. Like 99% of people just get our free value, attend our live trainings, and they never work with us one-on-one. And that's totally fine. But for that 1% of you that are in the right situation, go ahead and book that call. Additionally, you can check out this video right here of my own brother who we started on YouTube and he was able to make a full-time income within one month. And you'll see the entire story by clicking right here.