I interviewed at The Little FAA about 14 months ago... It's a bright yellow C175, older owner mid 50's... The owner doesn't even have a CFI, and does his own maintenance in his hangar on his plane. I went down there and he pays $14/flight hour and $7/hour office work and miscellaneous. When I went and interviewed he wanted 3k for training, which included a $500 deposit (which he waived for me). At the time he had one customer, which only flew once a month (2 hours per month). The average rent for a single apartment in St. Pete is about $700/month plus utilities. The pilot before me "got lucky" as they built a grass runway, so that he could pay the bills, making $7/hour while building a runway. I told him after my interview that I wasn't interested, and he cussed me out for not committing.