FREE FALL

[Horace Greeley]

List,

With snips from Gina's remarks:

At 12:19 PM 2/12/97 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 97-02-12 11:11:21 EST, A440A@AOL.COM writes:
>
><< >   2.  When confronted with a piano requiring a pitch raise, and the

etc., etc.,

>
>Taking this thread one stitch further, when I first begain in this business I
>didn't give any prices over the phone. Now, I don't hesitate. If a customer
>is price shopping, it pleases me to tell them what my fees are. I am sure
>they can always find someone cheaper....
>
>Gina Carter
>


HEAR! HEAR!

Knit one.  Pearl two.  (That's another stitch or so.)

It is clear that we all must be responsible to the economy in which we
exist (locally, as well as nationally).  We must also be responsible to
ourselves and our families.  There is far and away too much opportunity for
us to give away hard-earned knowledge and expertise - most often, and
therefore most inexcusably for those who should value the work the most.
This is a business first, and an art form second.  It's taken me 30 years
to learn that.  Maybe it's different in another culture, but that is our
American reality; and as long as we value the acquisition of capital wealth
over the quality of our lives, it is not going to change.  Therefore, we
must submit to the trial of Solomon, and decide which part of us is
disposable to temporal demands.

In my experience, there is almost always someone who is cheaper, who is
faster, who may even be better.  That is not my problem.  I prefer to work
for those who, as Richard Davenport so eloquently puts it:  "know, and can
afford, the difference".

Those of you who live in less populated, perhaps less taxed or otherwise
expensive parts of the country have my apologies if this seems offensive.
But I do invite you to give serious consideration to the business aspects
of your activities.  Do your fees adequately compensate you for vacation?
For sick time?  For holidays?  How much overhead does that shop in your
garage generate in relation to its ability to generate net income?  The
answers to these questions are different for each of us.  It took me years
to be able to admit that LaRoy was right (once again) when he said that any
time you stop tuning, you start losing money.

Best to all.

Horace

Horace Greeley

"Great ideas have always encountered violent opposition from
	mediocre minds."

		Albert Einstein

Stanford University
email: hgreeley@leland.stanford.edu
voice mail: 415.725.9062
LiNCS help line: 415.725.4627