I would like to respond to a few issues here...
Regarding the perceived image of our careers (yes careers not jobs), it is up to us all to maintain our professional respectability. In my area, arborists are well-respected. The general populace here are sophisticated, educated, financially successful, and know the value of an experienced provider of specialized services. These are people who have strong emotional attachment to their trees, some of whom are very saddened by their loss. They are often active preservationists within the community. They consider us the physicians who have the ability to extend the lives of their friends, or are capable of protecting their financial assets. We need to play this role well. Every day we are being visually interviewed by the public, and if we act and look like we deserve respect, we are a bit more likely to get it. The uniform is an important psychological tool used by law enforcement, doctors, and attorneys. But their mindset, verbal scripts, and tactics to handle people are what really makes them pros. We should adopt the same system.
Yes, there is no shortage of people who neither understand nor respect the value of our profession, those who are uneducated on the subject, or those who play games with our time. But we should not allow ourselves to become demoralized or have our focus derailed by them. We should imagine that the more sophisticated potential clientelle occaisionally read these words on this forum, and we must keep our professional game faces on, as another way to maintain our collective perceived image. Rather than focus too much on negatives.
And about frustration and burn-out: I don't like to see, for instance, a professional climber, one who is very accomplished, one who is d_mned good at what he does, about ready to hang up his gear. An individual in this moment of doubt needs to know he has options - gradually transitioning into managing, educating, training, and supervising others may be a way to keep the positive mindset. In the meantime, shifting the focus to a total immersion in customer service orientation often gets positive feedback and compliments coming in, helping to turn one's outlook around.
He is never broke who possesses great intellectual wealth and experience. And he will never be broken if he never lets an opponent own space in their head.