Time Management: Shop work and tuning appointments.

[Jason Kanter]

I can share with you what I remember of SHeldon Smith's operation back in
the early 70s. He had a shop not far from his house, where he rebuilt pianos
- it was large enough for five or six grands. The back half of the shop was
his partner's operation - a refinisher - they shared the shop but maintained
different businesses - they would bid jointly on a rebuild/refinish job.
Sheldon's philosophy was "estimate high and then do quality work without
worrying about the clock" - Gary OTOH counted minutes.
SHeldon would come into the shop about 6 am and work til 9, then go out and
tune 6 pianos, and sometimes return to the shop for more work in the
evening. He had two assistants who worked fulltime in the shop.
/Jason
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Phil Bondi
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 2:39 AM
To: Newtonville
Subject: Time Management: Shop work and tuning appointments.

Hi all.

I'll try to be as thorough as possible for my situation:

My business is reaching a point where I need to make a decision on how to
handle the increased shop work and keep my stable of tuning clients. 
The question is:

For those of you, like myself, who work alone, how do you handle your time
for the shop and the tuning clients?

My shop is now located here at my home (well, almost). That scenario has
changed in the last month. My shop use to be away from my home, but now it's
here. That's a biggie for me, since now I can just go down to the shop and
do some work without worrying about how dirty I might get working in a shop
and then going to see my clients..or vice versa.

Here's my thought on what may work for me:

Since I am an early riser, I'm thinking that I could use those early morning
hrs. to my advantage in the shop. My mind is usually freshest when I first
wake up (yes, I have a mind!) and then schedule tuning appointments in the
late morning/afternoon. The reason I feel this scenario might work for me is
because I tend to think that "when I come home, I'm done" for the day..so if
I schedule appointments in the morning knowing that shop work still awaits
me, I may not get as much done once I 'get home'.

I have been in this business for almost 10 years now, and I have felt this
evolution coming for awhile - now it's here - my shop is almost completely
moved from its old location to the new one - shop work will continue to make
its way towards me - and I tune on average 4 a day.

Also, I don't want Ruth to feel she's married to a business. Her happiness
is very important to me. She understands this is going to be an evolution
process, and I have no intention of leaving her out of this loop. We need
time together, of course. She is not the early riser that I am. I make a
great cup of coffee!!

Anyway, the shop work is going to increase even more this summer/fall when I
plan to introduce refinishing and touch-up to my shop skills. I'm not there
yet, but I plan on being there fairly soon. Some have said to
me: "Why do you want to learn refinishing?" - because there is a huge need
for it in this area (and I suspect alot of other areas also), and learning
this art will keep me in the shop and off the roads. I have had to turn down
alot of work over the years because I have not felt comfortable charging
people for refinishing when I know my skills are not where "I" want them to
be. Those of you that have been in that business know how to treat a finish
by looking and touching a piece. I admire that skill. It is my intention to
have the ability to approach that level of competency in the near future,
with of course, continuing education in that field.

So - if you're still reading and wish to comment and make a recommendation,
I welcome it. I could have gone private with this, seeking advice from past
trusted sources, but there is such a wealth of knowledge here in this forum
that I do not want to leave out anyone who might offer a scenario that could
be beneficial to me..and others.

-Phil Bondi(Fl)