Career change after a layoff, where to begin? (St. Louis)

I want to move from welding apprentice to something with more stability. It has been a long 22 weeks. I have good customer skills and I am comfortable with spreadsheets. How did you start?

I took a small pay cut for a year, and it was worth it for the growth afterwards.

I began with informational chats, then a short online course, then a related entry-level role. It took about 7 months.