Please bear with me, as I'm about as 'new' to lasers as humanly possible. As in, I've never even touched one.
So, how dumb am I, if I was to purchase an Epilog or Trotec (the two brands I'm looking at), without having ever even seen laser engraving in person? I live in a tiny mountain town, in Utah, so I'm not sure there will be options for me to go somewhere to 'test' them out. How can I be sure it is something I would even enjoy doing? Would it be smart of me to buy a cheapo laser to see if I enjoy the process? But, would the processes be drastically different on a cheapo consumer laser, vs one of professionals (Epilog or Trotec)?

Now for a little backstory as to why I'm thinking about getting into laser engraving:
I'm a 3D animator in the video game industry, with a 'unicorn' job. Basically put, I've been doing this for a decade and a half, and I know the position I hold is extremely rare. I went from working in studios, to working from home. I know that I won't be able to keep this up, as it's just such a rare thing, and I'm lucky to have it. Being unable to go back to studio work (my wife's private practice is located here and all the local studios shutdown), being trained in this one very specific thing, and having medical issues that keep me from labor work, I'm feeling very cornered. So, with my love for all things tech, my artistic abilities, and my interest in firearms, I thought about firearm laser engraving. I know I wouldn't be able to survive on that alone, so I'd also like to get into other areas of engraving that have to do with outdoor life. It's something I could start from my home, and if it takes off, maybe one day have a store front. I know I'll need to get an FFL and other permits for dealing with customers' firearms. My only other option that I can think of is getting into programming, which means going back to college or otherwise. So, while I have a fulltime position, I thought it would be smart to start this off as a learning hobby, that could hopefully turn into a business that I could pay my bills with.

So, in a more formal way, here are my questions:
1. What is the best way to get my feet wet, to see if I want to jump in?
A. Buy an Epilog or Trotec desktop machine? (knowing I'll need something bigger for engraving the metals in a firearm, and a bigger table for them)
B. Buy a really cheap brand? If so, which brand!?
C. Otherwise? How can one find a local place that allows the use of their laser systems?

2. Is going from absolute zero experience with lasers to a thriving business, in a somewhat short time, another unicorn?
A. I currently make six figures and really count on that income for our current living situation. Is it way too wishful thinking to get anything close to that, esp given that I'll be the new face in the business?
B. If I engrave on nights and weekends, how long could I expect to engrave for, before I could expect to be good enough to go into business?
C. Know of any places I can go read about people FAILING at this, as a business? Success stories are all over the place, but finding sob stories is much more difficult. I'd like to know the major pitfalls and damages from failed attempts.

3. While Sawmill Creek seems to come up 99% of the time in my engraving google searches, what other locations do you use as useful information gathering?

4. The question I've seen and read about 8 million times... is there a machine above all other machines, especially for firearm engraving/marking?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! You do not have to hold back any of your responses. If this is a totally dumb move on my behalf, I'd like to know.