Regards to you, too, Ed. I like a lot of what you write. I long ago decided I would not do anything to attract bargain-hunters, who are the least rewarding type of customers. Especially since with the passage of years one runs out of time and physical energy to do all the possible work, spending one's limited capacities on someone who doesn't know or appreciate the difference is a total waste of time. I also had a moment of truth six or seven years into my tuning career. I had been telling myself that I was strapped for money because I just didn't have enough tunings. Then the moment arrived when I was doing all the tuning (plus orchestra rehearsals) which I could physically achieve (and I was a lot younger then and could do a lot more than now) ... and *surprise*, I was still broke! I started raising rates fairly often, though I never have asked for a premium fee. A little above the going rate for the area, usually. Raising my rates did not cut down the number of jobs, ever, though I never pressed the envelope the way you did. I'm all for the quality of the journey, assuming a basic life-supporting amount of money is present one way or another. One wishes to optimize one's own physical health and satisfaction, which for me is also dependent on optimizing one's support of the local musical community. Keeping the concert instruments at the top of their game is something I wish to do for the rest of my life, or until someone appears who can and will do it better. I let other people do the rebuilding of old instruments and the initial setup of new instruments, and then I try to get the very best results from what they've done, which is a constant never-ending process. I remember Ted Sambell saying something once during a convention class: "They'll have to scrape me off the keyboard." I might add that if this happens, I hope there's a smile on my face. Susan Kline At 08:58 AM 7/4/2010, you wrote: >Greetings, > Susan writes: "As more work appears with the passage of time, > while our physical tolerance for doing it decreases, at some point > the two lines will intersect. We'll be offered more work than we > can or should do. At that point, how do we triage? I take the best > stuff, especially the concert work, because I see no one to take my > place (yet) and because I like it the best. And I take good pianos > and old customers. And once in awhile, I take an old wreck for > someone who just desperately needs some real help that they can > afford. I consider this my "pro bono" work. I charge a normal > tuning fee, but do a lot more. " > > Yes, our careers change, and I think it is healthiest to plan > how they might be kept in sync with the physical changes we can > expect to happen to us. This stuff is physical labor, no matter how > we refine it. Most tuners seem to meet their end slumped over a > piano,( I hope mine is a big one), and we don't retire so much as > run out of steam. As we age, perhaps we can substitute experience > for sinew and still make as much income with less time and effort? > While we might appraise the local territory to determine how > to carve our niche, the chore of assigning prices to our time goes > right to the heart of self-esteem. Early on, I thought I would > prove a point with my prices and damn near starved to > death. Learned to compromise and compete with the market and > things got better. Then began to push the limit of overworking > myself and had to do something, > As more work than I could do appeared, I raised my > prices. That usually reduced the amount to a sustainable level > with the same income and a greater amount of time to use > it. Occasionally, ( I remember 1996 as one), I went too far up and > the reduced work of the next year let me know it. It wasn't a bust > year, but one that let me know I was hovering around the maximum > load my reputation, such as it was, could carry. I think it is > better to experience a year like that occasionally than to spend a > lifetime never knowing how close to our potential we may have > been. I wanted to know what would MY market bear, and there was > only way to find out. > I see some willing to trade a higher income for the security > of knowing they have a price that can't be beat and an > inexhaustible supply of bargain hunters to support them. Others > pursue the mantra of "Quality creates its own market", spending > hours working the details on a restoration, or polishing a > tuning, in the faith that sooner or later, compensation will be > equal to the care put into our work(beware, this is where the > starving artist syndrome arises). Either approach can be the right > one for an individual, and the point is that the quality of > the journey is a far better measure of a life well lived than any > destination we may have had in mind. >Regards, and happy 4th >Ed Foote RPT > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100704/dca44b7a/attachment.htm>
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