One of the reasons I got into the biz (this is about my sixth career) was/is that it is a business one can do as long as one wishes and is physically able. I will frankly need and want additional income in "retirement". The beauty of it, also, is one can set their own hours (to a point) and decide how much or little to work. It is a great career in that regard. There are some durned fine octogenarian tuners out there, we have one in our chapter who tunes about 3 pianos a day and is quite active in the guild. Then there's Jim Coleman, Sr., Virgil Smith, etc. I don't know your circumstance, but I'd be tempted to keep the list, maybe turn names over a few at a time to some young squirt you know and trust but keeping the cream of the crop, i.e., nice people with good pianos. Retirement is in many ways a state of mind. Some of us really can't afford to live in that state. Some people thrive on post-career gardening and fishing, others go nuts or keel over dead in a year or two. Anyway, my 2 cents. Alan Barnard Salem, MO ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "Mike Spalding" <mike.spalding1 at verizon.net> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Received: 6/1/2007 6:57:24 PM Subject: Re: What's a tuning business worth? >Jim, >It's hard to put a value on your client list. The amount of business it >brings to the buyer could be nothing, could be a lot. One experience: >When I was just starting out, another tech in our chapter was leaving >the business, and offered his client list for sale. He had tuned for me >once, a half-dozen years before, after which I switched to a different >tuner. I was on the list for sale. Figured the list was pretty >low-quality. Some months later, he was able to sell the list "on >consignment". The deal was, the buyer would pay him an agreed >percentage of the first tuning of any client on the list. Grapevine has >it that not much money has changed hands. >If I were contemplating retirement, I might also consider the plight of >my clients, and work at finding them a competent technician who would be >worthy of their trust. The buyer of your list will want you to write a >letter of introduction / recommendation to your clients, and you'll want >to be able to say more about him than that he was the highest bidder. >Not that a valuable client list shouldn't bring you some income on the >way out, but there are other important considerations. Just my 2c. >Mike >Jim Johnson wrote: >> I will be looking to retire sometime in the next few years and I'm >> wondering what my business may be worth if I sell it. Do any of you >> have experience either buying or selling a tuning/repair business (no >> physical retail location, just a well established clientele)? What is >> the relationship between annual income and selling price? Any ideas >> will be appreciated.
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