income up reply more(long)

[DaleP34429@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-08-01 09:14:46 EDT, you write:

<< 	A person can run their business as an "underbrush" sort of operation or go
 all big time like the "big guys" do.  If you operate on the fringes, do you
 ever get real recognition?  Let me give you an example.  One of this lists
 members, Willem Blees, started here  in St. Louis some years after I
 started in business.  He has grown from just piano tuning, to repair, to
 rebuilding, to renting pianos, to selling used pianos, and on to selling
 new and used pianos and accessories and has the only piano store in the
 southern half of the St. Louis area, biggest and only.  Think of all the
 hoops he has had to jump through with store rents, licenses, zoning, gov.
 rules, sales tax and so on. Did this deter him, no. There is a time when
 you have to choose if you are going to run with the big boys and you have
 to follow the same rules that they have to follow UNLESS, you choose to
 stay in the underbrush and have that kind of clientele. 
 	 If you are good at what you do don't settle for being on the fringe. 
 Move up.  If you have to do the government walk, walk it.  Even though they
 will get a cut, so will you get the biggest cut.  	We just had that $275
 Mil PowerBall thing here.  In order to win the #250 Mil. you had to spend a
 buck.  Isn't that the way it is for everything?
 James Grebe
 R.P.T. of the P.T.G. from St. Louis, MO. USA, Earth >>

James and List,
     I am very encouraged by your posts. I have been teaching a class called
Pricing Piano Service for a few years and one of the points I have always
tried to make in that class is the benefits of upgrading your business and
clientele. In Texas we have had to collect sales tax on all our services since
1982- with the exception of tax exempt organizations. Our tax work and
bookeeping is sublet to a firm that specializes in that area so we no longer
have to worry about filling out the forms. That was a decision I agonized over
for years before making it. I was an "underbrush" kind of guy, playing gigs,
teaching lessons, and tuning when I had work. As I began to focus more on
tuning and technical work, I ran into a local PTG guy who introduced me to the
Guild. My first state convention I became aware of the possiblities of both
PTG and the piano service business. It sounded wonderful to a guy that was
tired of trying to be in three places at one time. 
     So gradually came out of the "underbrush". I began to invest money in the
business as well as time. I advertised in two local telephone directories and
developed a strong relationship with a local dealer. Most important- I began
to attend every PTG meeting I could. My local chapter is very small and not
very active but Jimmy Gold, RPT was so helpful to me. With his encouragement,
I began to participate on the state level. I learned so much helping to put on
seminars- about PTG, pianos, and business. I attended national conventions
whenever I could which was not as often as I would like. I was on the edge of
the underbrush. My fees were almost the same as when I had started. I was so
busy I could not get away. Profit went down every year prices stayed the same,
so I increased volume to try to keep income up. I reached the point where I
was doing all the volume I could possibly do very early. I hired help but no
one was willing to work as hard as I was working for what I was making. 
     Enter stage left- my partner. She was charging so much more than I was
for the same work I was shamed into raising my prices, not enough but some.
She encouraged me to seek out the bookeeping/tax firm I had been consulting.
The first year that firm saved the business enough in taxes to pay for two
trips to the National Institute. I learned enough at those two Institutes to
venture further out of the "underbrush". I learned from LaRoy Edwards, Gary
Neie, Nick Gravagne, Vivian Brooks, Carl Root, Wim Blees, and many other
instructors and writers. 
      Deus ex machina- I became a price leader instead of a follower. Not from
personal greed but also because of an unexpected side benefit. Because when I
took the lead, everyone in the chapter benefitted. As I began to teach of this
experience, other chapters in our region began to benefit. The phobia that
many people over pricing service fairly was exposed as an unreasonable fear.
Not because of me but because of what I had learned from PTG and was able to
pass on with a little different slant. It is not money that is important. It
is how one lives. But money is the barter agent we use for portions of our
lives. If I sell myself short, I can only blame  myself. If I ask fair
compensation for the service I perform, everyone benefits. The customer
benefits because I will work smarter and more diligently if I know I have made
a fair bargain for that part of my life which they have purchased. I will
attend more continuing educational seminars because our business cannot afford
for me not to be there. I will learn techniques that will save time- the main
thing I have to sell- and increase expertise which gives customers confidence.
They refer their friends to a service that they trust.  
    Finally, as time goes by, I will be able to give back some of what was
freely given to me. Another technician will come out of the "underbrush" to
lead in his/her area. I have seen this happen, it happened to me. I dream that
it can happen for others. Thanks to all the dreamers who made it real for me. 

Sweet dreams,
Dale 

Dale Probst
Registered Piano Technician 
Ward & Probst, Inc.
Piano & Organ Service
Wichita Falls,TX