I did think that the Flyer event was rather good, there were a few things that became apparent.
Firstly, None of the airline/cadets pilots I met who were younger than their late twenties had fully self-funded. They had financial support from family or from an airline.
Secondly, if one is going modular, plan to take on an FI role as a first job, as this seemed fairly common. Personally, I'd I were to go modular, I'd keep the day job in some form.
Easy not exhibiting is strange, it could be due to literally anything though, wouldn't want to second guess at this stage. I imagine that something may become apparent in due course.