The plethora of armchair know it alls on here will always try and shoot you down!
Has it occured to you that some of the people you are referring to (about whom you in fact know little) have "f***ing done it", are speaking from their personal experience and have spent considerable parts of their life anywhere but an armchair
Our friend has told us he has a family and a business. He is about to study and learn to fly on borrowed money. He is thinking of setting up a microlight school or becoming a flying instructor. If he has any brain at all he will already have considered the economics, which are that flying instruction of almost any sort pays s**t, running any flight training organisation involves very low margins and is very susceptable to economic conditions - it also needs an airfield, but our friend has not told us if he has one in mind nor has he hinted at where the very considerable capital cost will come from, given that he will already be heavily in debt from three years of study and learning to fly
It doesn't appear much of a life plan from my arm chair. This is all driven by a love of flying, though he doesn't yet have a licence (I hope he hasn't paid too much up front for lessons - PPrune is littered with the tales of those who lost their money doing this, but hey, we mustn't be negative). Most of us sadly just work to fly, because the economics of that arrangement are so much more favourable, but then what do I know? Once he gets over the initial euphoria of first lesson, then first solo then getting his licence he may experience a bit of a reality check, if he is really lucky (before he spends another £25k of his own or borrowed money on crawling towards a commercial licence and Instructor Rating whilst at the same time having to earn a living).