<div> What he (Ed) said.  Add to a cup of this eloquently articulated attitude a tablespoon of the recent thread about insecurity and, voila!, you have a more-respect-for-us-and-our-work-plus-enhanced-income cupcake.  These things do not come from our clients or our competition, but from within ourselves. Alan Eder </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> -----Original Message----- From: A440A@aol.com To: pianotech@ptg.org Sent: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 5:10 am Subject: Re: Competitive Rates <div id="AOLMsgPart_0_73503055-f83b-44c0-9703-f9c106da6d2e" style="margin: 0px; font-family: Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <pre style="font-size: 9pt;"><tt>Mike writes: << I'm not sure if I would have had the cojones to charge more than the experienced guys in my area PTG or not, IMHO. >> Greetings, I think it is a mistake to base our prices on what another is charging. This allows the other tech to determine our income and ultimately, always, be ahead of us. We are self-employed to be in control our our own lives, no? The better approach, imho, is to set the prices by what our clientele is telling us. If we remain responsive to the business feedback, AND committed to superior work, we will find our rightful place on this "Great Mandela". There is no reason that sufficient cash be lacking in this picture. I think it far better to "ride the crest" of pricing, in which you are not booked more than a week or two ahead. Our unique lifetime is the only thing we have of real value, and when it is gone, it is gone forever. We owe it to ourselves to get top dollar for the time we are spending on other people's equipment, and the experienced professional's time should be worth a lot more than that of the one or two year novice. If we work towards a higher return, we will become well-paid, experienced professionals instead of burned out hacks working for wages that are 10 years out of date. If you don't have a certain percentage of customers mention your price, you aren't charging enough, since there are people out there that feel like anything is too expensive, and if you don't hear from them, you are really selling yourself cheap. If your phone isn't ringing, you may be charging beyond your skill level, (or have really bad b.o.). If your tunings are booked three months ahead, you ain't charging enough. Risks and gains are proportional, if we want to progress, we have to take some risks. Over the course of our career, the fear of losing customers because of our price will cost far more than actually losing those customers. It can be useful as a rough starting guide in one's area to check other prices, but once embarked on the unique career each of of carves out of this life-experience, our income shouldn't depend on what other techs think of themselves. It should depend our our sensitivity to what our clientele will bear, and our faith that quality creates its own market. regards, Ed Foote RPT <a href="http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html</a> <a href="http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html" target="_blank">www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html</a> ************** Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. (<a href="http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4?&NCID=aolfod00030000000002%29%3C/HTML" target="_blank">http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4?&NCID=aolfod00030000000002)</HTML</a>> </tt></pre> </div>  <div id='u8CA95217B7C4BD7-17C-198' class='aol_ad_footer'><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Stay informed, get connected and more <A title="http://mobile.aol.com/productOverview.jsp?productOverview=aol-mobile-overview&?&ncid=aolmbd00030000000139" href="http://mobile.aol.com/productOverview.jsp?productOverview=aol-mobile-overview&?&ncid=aolmbd00030000000139" target="_blank">with AOL on your phone</A>. </div>