A Career Question

[Bill Peterson]

Brian--Keep your day job.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Brian L Jane <brianjaney@juno.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 4:48 AM
Subject: A Career Question


> Greetings List -
> 
> I have been off the list for a couple of months and I hope that this is
> not a topic that has been brought up lately:
> 
> I wanted to inquire with those of you that are on this list that have
> been at the piano technician business more than a few years and have been
> around during some difficult economic times. I have been discussing with
> my spouse the prospect of leaving my present full time employment to
> dedicate myself to the business that I have been building as a piano
> technician for the last two years. The "day job" that I have [being a
> firefighter] has basically allowed me to have 30/40 hours per week to
> tune, regulate, install DC Systems, etc. The business is doing better
> than I expected with an appointment book that has been running 4-6 weeks
> in advance since last Fall. 
> 
> The Fire Department is every-other-day kind of thing [72 hours a week] 
> working 24 hours shifts 0730 one morning to 0730 the next morning [and I
> do get to sleep most nights]. But with being at the Fire Station every
> other night and then taking care of clients during the weekdays off, I
> find myself missing a lot of things at home with my wife and three young
> children. Diving into the piano business full time, I am figuring, would
> allow me to be home every night and more available on both weekend days
> as opposed to just the usual Saturday OR Sunday. I have 12 years till I
> can retire with pension from the F.D. I'll be 38 in a couple of weeks.
> 
> What kind of criteria does one use in making this kind of decision? What
> kind of things in a piano technician's business are indicators that there
> is a full time business there that would survive?
> 
> The things I get confronted with in this decision making process are
> thinking about the "what ifs" in regards to an economic down. Is there
> anybody out there that has been a piano technician during a "negative
> cycle" in our economy nationally or even locally? What kind of experience
> did you have and what kinds of things did you do that allowed you to
> survive it with out having to go back to the previous "day job"?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your responses!
> Brian, San Diego County Chapter
>