Used to be you could make a good go of it with a panel truck and do mobile service, from inspections to oil changes at someone's hangar or even on the line. Charge above what you'd be getting working in someone else's shop. Today it's a tough sell trying to get authorization to worth through the fence, especially with security.
Shops are getting good wages, but don't count on five years of airline experience to impress an employer. It's a good start, but your efforts in a repair station or FBO will probably be considerably more diverse in scope, and involve more paperwork.
The liability working on heavy equipment is very small compared to signing your name to an oil change on an aircraft engine, or rigging ailerons, or performing an AD. As you know, where you do work on a tractor trailer, you're responsible for what you do, but in the airplane, you're responsible for what everyone has done who came before you, too. It can come back to haunt you. Even if you had a slight wage increase in aviation (which you almost certainly won't), would it justify the risk?
Not to say you shouldn't, but there's a wide range of opportunity available, what what it's worth to you really depends on your own values, and the specific job you choose. There's plenty of work to be found as an A&P/AMT, but what you'll get paid, what you'll do, where you'll do it, what you'll do it on, and whether it's worth it has so many variables that it's hard to answer your question unless you spell out some specifics.