I believe Chuck Rogers was the one I heard say this " what does a large pizza and a gunsmith have in common, they will not feed a family of four" I would say that's pretty good words of wisdom.
Learn all the machinist skills you can, become a good tooler and you will not have any trouble finding well paid employment. You can start working on guns part time, than if your business gets well established and you want to be a full time smith, go for it.
Good luck in your endeavors.
Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com