New list member

[Andrew Remillard]

Dear list,

I have been away for many years. I am glad to be back.

Through the past several years I have continued to develop my business.
Which has now brought me back.  I have searched the archives looking for
business development information and have found it to be the one weak
subject in our extensive archives.

I am not sure the best way to pursue this, I would be happy to work with a
mentor off line, or if people are comfortable sharing about such a private
subject as where and how we get our customers, that would be fine.

Here is a little back ground on me.  I started tuning pianos nearly 20 years
ago part time.  I gradually built my tuning business so that it kept me busy
enough to go full time.  During the slow tuning times I would rebuild an
occasional piano for myself and eventually for customers.  (Sound familiar
so far?) Well, now I tune very little because of my shoulders, but I have
about 5 employees in my rebuilding shop.  I also have a small store I
started about 3 years ago which has done moderately well.

Yet, despite this I have hit a wall. I think I made more money when I worked
by myself, though my net worth was a lot less. I have a modest rental
business but can't seem to get it in any bigger.  But I live in the Chicago
area, I should be able to have a huge rental business.  I stumbled onto a
fair amount of event rental business last year, I have heard of people
earning a living at this alone. How can I tap into this business?

I would love to hear from those who have gone beyond the "micro" (I hate
that term) business level to develop small businesses.  What worked for you
in marketing? What kind of product mixes and services mixes were most
effective? And anything else which may come along.

I probably could go to a business consultant and get some of this, but I
think we technicians have a different perspective on the world of pianos
than those who came through the sales end of things.

Andrew Remillard
ANRPiano.com
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