'pay well' means earning (independently or in a job) more than or equal to 60% of the average salary of a Software Engineer, in a given municipality.
My suggestion is to figure out which professions your state regulates, see which of those is best to become certified in, and get that certification. It depends on the state, but some professions have a very favorable time/pay payoff and others have a horrible payoff. In my state, it's easier to become a real estate agent (~250 hours) than it is to become a certified barber/hairdresser (1000+ mandatory training hours!!)
Assuming you pick something good, if you're smart and can pass an exam, it should be no problem. The best candidates where I live are starting your own car dealership, insurance sales, or maybe real estate, although those aren't manual work.
If you want something easier that's hands-on, where I live it's bartending, which requires a license here. My state pays the full minimum wage for tipped employees, so bartending ends up being roughly a ~$20/hour at worst ($15/hour minimum wage + ~$5 in tips per hour as a low estimate). If you bartend at a better place, you can easily make a lot more, although maybe this is not the best career choice during the pandemic.
If this is the direction you're trying to go: I grew up in the trades and keep trying to bounce back into that direction, but always get pulled back towards the technical aspect and/or implementing tech into the business side once anyone in management figures out you can as much as use the Office Suite. I eventually got backed into a spot of not enough "professional" dev experience to leave, and old enough to not be desired to start over as a junior.
If you're dead set, though, I'd start with HVAC - I think it's the best balance of interesting with a little manual effort to it. Includes a bit of many trades (plumbing, electrical, steam depending on the area). The main walled garden is the EPA-608 cert and it can be obtained fairly easily with little study.
Trades that are easy to learn build a fence around themselves, just like everyone else. Certifications, permits, mandatory insurance and lack of documentation. You are expected to earn less as an apprentice to "pay off your dues". A different trade with "make your bones" comes to mind.
So to learn yourself, you also have to learn to identify niches that would be easy for you to enter, but not for the competition. That is hard.
for example basic mowing can be 50/hour now that neighborhood kids are no longer cutting lawns. The hard part is the utilization is low due to travel time.
pool maintenance
trades such as laying tile, installing drywall, painting, cabinetry all can pay well if you are working directly for clients.
Most blue collar jobs can be self studied, but usually require some sort of certification or license. Mechanics, welders, plumbers, electricians, etc can make good money but require some training/licensing.
Of course, a job well done means there won’t be demand for the same job for a while.
Personal perspective: With Ag, you have to know everything..from plumbing to irrigation repairs..to building sheds to repairing machines. If we paid for each of these jobs, it would cost more than what many small farmers would make as income.
It’s unfair that these are unpaid for because at the bottom of the supply chain, farmers still get paid the lowest price because food has to be cheap and accessible to all. Cost of food increase at the top of the supply chain. The broccoli is expensive because it’s sold at Whole Foods rather than Walmart. Otherwise farmers get paid the same.
Because it’s perishable and most can’t afford the cold storage and distribution lines, they have to offload produce whenever it is ready. Regardless of what they get paid. We are price takers. Not price makers.
We buy everything at retail and sell at wholesale. So manual skills that are married to high value items is also a way to make most out of it.
> manual skills can one learn that pay well, and can be self-taught?
This was the question. How does tattooing do not fit it?
If you can't already draw, its going to take years before you produce anything that a reasonable person would want to have as a tattoo.
Also, keep in mind that technical schools cost a lot less and take less time time. So you could get certified as diesel electric and if they don't take you, it should only require a few extra classes to get certified as a regular car or truck mechanic.
You learn by upgrading the residences of family and friends well enough to show off your efforts, gain recommendations and launch free-lance work.
At some point you may need a license or registration and you should be prepared to be bonded, insured, and proficiency tested, or you may need to work for another licensed contractor before you can _graduate_ to going commercial on your own.
You have to be punctual, reliable and have good estimates (always over estimate then bill lower by a small amount, like Scotty in Star Trek did).
They command as high an hourly price as they want without all the wet work HVAC has to do, and no work with gas pipes so you don't accidentally blow up someone's kitchen.
Did it in during the lockdown. Self-thought, tutorials on the web and some tips from people. Got stressed for a moment, but then it gets quite easy. Would not do it myself if it wasn't for the lockdown.