Hi Smithy
I'm also in the process of setting up as a picture framer. And I too used to work in advertising, but in the creative dept and Studio. I've been self-employed or business owner for most of my career, which gives me the advantage of having previously run a business.
As I have jet to make a frame in my own workshop, I hesitate to give advice to you - but I will anyway
The first thing I did, before spending any other cash, was to get 2 days training with an experienced framer and trainer in their workshop. This was one-to-one and focused on what I needed. The group training classes use "hobby" equipment and don't give a realistic experience of what needs to be done.
In my first day the framer explained and demonstrated each process one at a time and I coped the task after each demonstration. On the second day I framed some of my work in the morning and in the afternoon we went through running the business side. We were able to focus on what I needed as I knew the basics of accounts VAT etc. Customers also wandered in and out which added to the experience.
After the two days I completely revised my plans! I realised I needed much more space than I thought and also a different layout of the workshop. Pricing jobs is much more complicated than I was used to, although similar costing creative work, there are more elements and much tighter budgets.
So in two days I got a very broad view of of a framing business.
I hope this helps (and I am older than you
)
Jonathan