I don't know a lot about the industry, but being a non-airline commercial pilot sounds like an enjoyable job for an introvert. Like over-the-road trucking, but with a cooler machine.
It depends. Ag and bush stuff can be pretty dangerous. The CFI that I got my PPL from left when he was below ATP mins and was flying PC-12s and M500/M600s around for a place that sold them (no passenger stuff I am aware of). You can do 135 VFR work at 500 TT as well, but IFR reqs are 1200 so most jobs require 1200.
And yeah the pay is dog shit, barely any better than a CFI. I haven't checked the market in a while but if I recall, CFIs that are employees for mom and pop shops are lucky to pull in $20-25/hr when they're flying, and will be half that when they're not. Independent ones can make a lot more but then they typically need to have a plane on top of that which has its own issues.
