>How many machine shops are not run by a machinist
Well, I think that's probably overall true of a lot of small businesses of that general type. The odds that I'm going to wake up some morning and decide to open a machine shop, electrical supply store, etc. and just hire people people who know what they're doing (not that I would necessarily know) are probably whole lot less than someone with some savings who has worked in the business their whole life.
It's not just the trades and adjacent though. I worked for a small IT industry analyst firm for a number of years and the founder/CEO had worked for a bigger such firm for a long time. And that's a very common pattern.
Well, I think that's probably overall true of a lot of small businesses of that general type. The odds that I'm going to wake up some morning and decide to open a machine shop, electrical supply store, etc. and just hire people people who know what they're doing (not that I would necessarily know) are probably whole lot less than someone with some savings who has worked in the business their whole life.
It's not just the trades and adjacent though. I worked for a small IT industry analyst firm for a number of years and the founder/CEO had worked for a bigger such firm for a long time. And that's a very common pattern.