there is no real magic bullet in any of these companies. what there is, however, is an education.

how much time and money will it take you to learn whats necessary to run a successful business on your own? I'd say about 3-5 yrs and probably well over $100k in lost revenue.

how many years will you barely get by, or worse, lose money, until you learn some of the principles taught by ESI, Nexstar, etc?

It's simply an education in running a service contracting business. If you want to just do new construction, probably won't help. If you want to run service, I guarantee you will learn ideas that will make you $50,000 in your 1st year alone.

It's a relatively cheap price for the education. People pay $100K+ for college in order to go into other industries. For a small tuition, you could create a life for your family that is better than you ever dreamed.

For the record, we are not an ESI or Nexstar company, however we run the same system. And yes, I paid for my education. Saved me a ton of time and money. I prefer to learn off others mistakes, rather than my own.