I have been studying history my entire life and have bachelor's degree in it, but I'm not the sort of person to sit down and research and write a history book or dissertation, and I am very much a generalist. So that means I can only talk about it, and I have been able to do that as a high school teacher, a docent in historical houses and a museum, and as a tour guide. Being a high school teacher is about a heck of a lot more than instructing about your field of expertise though. Unless you are teaching high functioning students, there is a lot of child rearing and teaching social skills in the mix. It did however pay most of the bills, at least until I had child support to deal with, and then I had to do side work. You simply can't make a living with the other historical pursuits that I talked about.

So that is why I have other skills, plumbing in particular. In the USA if you call a plumber to your house to fix a problem, you are going to owe him a hundred dollars as soon as he steps through the door. It's an absolutely essential profession that has saved more lives than doctors. You can put all of the hand tools that you need to do virtually all residential plumbing jobs in a single five gallon bucket. But it's not easy, and you will get dirty. You will find yourself in basements and crawl spaces, or up to your elbows in shit. You can't learn it from a book either. But it's an absolutely reliable way to put money in your pocket.

Right now I'm leaning pretty heavily on the making a living part, but I am a seasonal historical tour guide so I can still get people to pay me to talk about history. I have met a lot of very philisophical house painters, since you don't have to think too hard about what you are doing. Landscaping too. Wittgenstein can haul bags of mulch right along with you.