Two hats, only one head

[Tim Keenan & Rebecca Counts]

Hi again, list:

I've been unsubscribed for quite a while.  Went away on holidays, and have been too busy with one thing and 
another since getting back to get to it.  I have decided that I really need some of y'all's advice.  I know 
some of you split your time between working for a dealer and working on your own.  Here is my situation:

Since moving to Terrace (a community of about 18,000, but with a trade area of maybe 60,000) about 14 months 
ago, I have been working hard to build up a clientele. I am on the regional music festival committee (about 
4000 entrants) and the local concert society board, I sing in the local chamber choir, and my kids are involved 
in all kinds of musical activity.  All of this seems to be paying off slowly, but I was still not nearly fully 
employed in piano work.  I was asked by the local music store if I would (please!) take over running their 
print music department, which had been sadly neglected since the previous incumbent left to study voice in 
Vancouver in May.  I agreed to about 20 hours a week.  Of course, this started on 24 August, just before the 
fall rush for piano instruction, school band books, etc, and stock orders had not been placed over the summer, 
so I have been putting out fires mostly for the last month.  The store is the head office of a chain which 
provides Yamaha band instruments to most of Northern and Central BC--up to 600 miles away. Anyway, the long and 
the short of it is that the owners have decided to try their luck at Yamaha pianos, now that they have a 
relationship with a reliable technician (me).  The nearest piano dealer is in Prince George, 600 km to the 
east (also Yamaha).  They are starting out with 3, already ordered: an entry level one, one of the 
American-built "furniture" models, and a U1.  I feel this is a good opportunity for me to build clientele from 
the ground up, and to fill the spare hours I have anyway--but how would you advise me to set up my relationship 
with the dealer?  They don't pay me a lot for the print music gig, and I expect to get paid better for working 
on pianos on the floor, but I don't really know how that goes.  Should I try to work it on a contract basis or 
as an employee?  What is "normal" if anything, for floor tunings and service?

All advice will be gratefully accepted. 

Regards

Tim Keenan
Noteworthy Piano Service
Terrace BC