<html> <body> Excellent post Dave, it needed to be said. The Skull and cross bones. At 10:14 AM 2/13/2008, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I've been an acolyte of Ed Foote in the business realm for about 10 years because he KNOWS what he's worth, and raises his rates EVERY SINGLE TIME he needs to, usually every 18 months. He's been in the top 1/2 of 1% of earners in this craft for 30 years. Let me ask you some questions: 1. Are you proud of your craft? 2. Do you think it takes as much focus and skill to function in the high end of the pianotech world as it does to function as a technician in the high end of home/small business computers? 3. Do you think you're going to live forever? 4. Do you want to work with and deal with a**h**les on a daily basis? If you sincerely and truthfully answered yes, yes, no, and no, then GO TO THE HIGH END AND STAY THERE. Really. Quit bitching and complaining about competition and taxes and driving and cheap clients, and not enough money to go to conventions. If you're a highly trained, honest, professional craftsperson and you're not making $2,000 a week, it's you---you have a diminished perception of yourself and your worth, and other people are picking up on and responding to that. It's a classic problem in our craft. STAND UP. Look at things in the cold light of day. Do you WANT to work on old uprights that are falling apart owned by people that are cheap and untrusting? I don't want to work on a nasty piano even if it's owned by the Dalai Lama. I want to work on good, clean pianos owned by people and venues that treat me well and pay me what I ask for gladly and eagerly---because I take the work seriously, make a radical positive change in the way their instrument sound and feels, and they truly love and honor and respect that. It's important to them, for a myriad of reasons. Two other bitches, as long as I'm ranting. 1. DO NOT compare me to a plumber. My work is way, way different than making a turd go through a pipe. 2. DO NOT complain about working on dog-ass pianos. If you stick a pin in your house on a map, and draw a circle around it with a 50-mile radius, I guarantee that unless you live in the wilderness, there's a thousand good pianos (conservatively) in that circle waiting for your magic touch. There are no excuses; just reasons why you don't succeed. How you see yourself, how you FEEL on the inside, has everything to do with how you're treated on the outside. End of mad soliloquy. Out of breath. Must.....rest........ David Andersen </blockquote></body> </html>