<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Feb 15, 2008, at 7:05 AM, John Formsma wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF">Any advice for me now, knowing my market better?</font></span></blockquote><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Of course; you know I'll have advice...it's 3-part for you:</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">1. Understand you've got a huge leg up on those other guys in Memphis: you're here, on the list, you come to conventions, your tunings</font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">(mentored by moi) are way better than the next guy---you can charge more because you're better, more knowledgeable, and more trustworthy (I'd wager)</font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">2. Forget about the other guys; think of yourself as in a class by yourself; full or part time is irrelevant, because you're committed and passionate.</font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">3. I was a single dad; I also home-schooled my son. I agree with Dean May 100%; home schooling young kids is, for the most part,</font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">just being an engaged human being. If you read, they'll read; if you are curious about stuff, they will be too; if you have fun learning about how stuff works, they will too. Monkey see, monkey do. So to speak. <g> You're a good man, John. Relax, take it in, and boogie.<br></font></font><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"> I've been thinking about offering a more "full-service" option. Selling my services in 3 hour chunks for around $250. Tuning, regulating, voicing, etc. Anyone care to share their prices for such service? Or, their story on how offering that service greatly improved their bottom line?</font></span></blockquote>When I started to think of myself as a complete piano service, and a craftsman, the five pianos a day, over several years, turned into two or three pianos with some service on each one. I made more money, and was a lot happier because I thought more of myself, and felt more like a pro, a doctor, rather than a monotonic drone. <b>The better you feel about yourself</b>, the more you naturally require and welcome more compensation for your work. Raise your skill level, as you're doing...everything will flow from that.<br><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#3B5FFF"> Particularly, how do you go from selling Mrs. Jones tunings to selling her greater service ... without it sounding like you're asking her to just write you a bigger check. (I'm a horrible salesman. At least, it always seems to sound bad when I say it <g>)</font></span></blockquote>STOP CALLING YOURSELF A HORRIBLE SALESMAN. STOP IT.</div><div>Thoughts have power; words have power. How many times has that thought---<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(59, 95, 255); ">I'm a horrible salesman<font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000001">---</font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">run through your head in your life, with you believing it and being bummed? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? STOP IT.</span></span></div><div>Dude, just tell the truth. Piano's a machine. A soft machine, made of leather, wood, and felt. Needs a lot of tweaking. If you're playing it, it needs service. If you drive your car, it needs service. If you run your HVAC in your house, it needs service. My coffeemaker just went kaput; it needs service. Show and tell. That's what string cuts are for. :--)</div><div>Love you, man.</div><div>DA</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><br></body></html>