popa_bar_abba: If you don’t get an offer from a major firm (or a job with a government agency), you start at the bottom. Typically you end up working in some lawyer’s office for a pittance (or less) and over time you build up a practice on your own. Traditionally, new lawyers struggled for a while. If you are good, you can make it. Many do. There are plenty of books from the bar association on how to start a solo practice without starving.
If you want to own a major retail change, you don’t plan to start out as the majority shareholder of Walmart’s. You start small, and build the business. Law is the same.
The problem is with fools who think that a JD and $250K in debt entitles you to a parnassah.