I'm not disputing the idea that people can make good money, I'm pointing out that your list is probably flawed, as demonstrated the one thing you cite that we can verify has turned out to be completely wrong. I've already made my point there, I don't need nor particularly want details of all your friends businesses etc...
The larger point perhaps is this idea of pretending it is easy to make large sums of money - this message that even the dog walker can earn six figures is flawed and not representative of reality at all. It is possible, but rather unlikely that an individual could make £500 a day walking dogs... it is also rather plausible that you've got some details wrong just as we've seen you do when mentioning matched betting.
Likewise just mentioning that you've got a mate who works in IT and now makes XXXX a day isn't really informative, sure there are people who make that much from contracting, more common though is for contractors to make a three figure daily rate... that tends to be typical in London for a dev/BA/PM etc.. that in itself isn't something everyone can do, getting to a 4 figure daily rate as an individual contractor is somewhat harder and tends to require a very specialist skill set or experience managing big projects. Are you in some cases confusing what they're billed out for and what they actually get to see from that amount for example.
Yes some people make large sums of money, no one is disputing that they exist, most people won't become wealthy though and it isn't just down to lack of hard work, luck also plays a big factor, perhaps more so the lower the skill of the person involved. Even assuming your dog walker analogy is true for example the vast majority of dog walkers won't be earning six figures regardless of whether they work hard at it and/or attempt to target only rich people etc...
Ok, that is your view which I respect. Regarding the IT contractor, my manager told me that is what they are paying him, how its being billed I am not privy too, it’s possible my manager is mistaken though he does have to raise the purchase order for this? But it doesn't surprise me, the 'official' software trainer for the company charges £1200/day plus expenses to come in, so they prefer freelancers who are ex-company at £750/day basic training only or £1050/day with configuration support
Regarding the dog walker, the truth is in my area everyone charges £10 a dog walk but for 1 hour only, and they are 14yr olds most of the time. My friend bought the client list from a female dog walk business owner who only kept the cream and got rid of the others as it’s too much hassle on petrol etc for 1-2hrs (chump change). And who is the cream exactly, people who can afford £60 a day to babysit a dog for a day, she built the list over years not months for reference and wanted to open a boutique instead. The truth is £400-500 per day is his average wage, on good days he makes £700-800 (using his helper as well! They do half half occasionally when his legs aren't playing up! That is the downside BTW!)
Anybody who dog walks knows the truth! Ask any local dog walking business. My wife has made £140 a day babysitting 2 kids ocassionally, just add 4 more kids and she would make nearly £500/day as well. It’s not that hard but we don’t have the room for more! Plus it's a hassle for inspections as they won't allow more for the space available.
My next door neighbour makes £600/day, wait for this.. delivering sofas! He told me he gets paid per job (man and van) but has to start 6am each mornings and finishes 8-9pm but says it’s worth it. Don’t ask me for references but he just bought a new 5 series for his wife and q7 for himself so I have no reason to disbelieve him, he is now looking for a warehouse unit to invest in for a side income.
My kitchen fitter quoted me 4K to fit over 5 days with two people. Told him to take a running leap coz I ain’t paying £400/day each. My flag resin pointing guy quoted me £1200 at first but now says he wants £1750 for 3 days work as its more work then first thought. £1750/3 = £583/day. Also told him to jump. A popular national company quoted me 4.5k (after 20% discount) for a new glass bannister fitted in 1 day, said no thanks, swing and slide patio door guy quoted me 3k and 1 day to fit. Told him to take a leap as well. First parquet floor guy quoted £1800 for two rooms over 3 days. Accepted quote from a local guy for £450 to fit. My tiler wanted £580 to tile over two days. Got it done for £170 with someone else. Do you see a pattern here? People are free to charge what they like, it’s down to the customer to accept or not. My Neighbour opposite but one just paid wait for it 7k for new soffits and facias only! I could have got the roof done as well for that much and there were two people and only took two and a half days. Had to pay my Electrican nearly £576 this week to fit 12 spotlights, he only took 7 hours to do it, the materials were mine well (minus the wiring), the cheeky monkey! He charged £40 PER spotlight, and 20% VAT! And he had a 2nd job booked in elsewhere that day!! My mother paid 7.5k to British gas last year to install two Worcester Bosch boilers with pipework!! (one for water, one for heating due to the pipe lengths, and number of bathrooms, I'm sure a local company would have done it for 4.5k!). These are not south prices either, they are north!