<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16705" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>The east coast of Florida requires a bit higher than that. I guess it's all relative, but truth be told, times are tough and they're going to get tougher before getting better. Those living on just making ends meet during the good times are going to have to make big adjustments, be it downsize, change of routines, or move. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>Being able to live in the various scenes of paradise has its price and the reality of being able to afford the great location definitely hits home when the market turns sour, or like in our case, when 2 hurricanes hit your home within 3 weeks of each other the entire economy shuts down for several months.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>My advise to all....make sure self as marketable as possible. Stay healthy and keep your edge to your game. Things will turn around in due time. In the meantime, get caught up with family time and other things in life that interests you. Many times those are things which get put on the back burner for the rainy day. Well....that rainy day is here. Plan accordingly. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>Tom Servinsky</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=wimblees@aol.com href="mailto:wimblees@aol.com">wimblees@aol.com</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, October 11, 2008 6:44 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: the economy</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><WBR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Gregor _ <<A href="mailto:karlkaputt@hotmail.com">karlkaputt@hotmail.com</A>><BR>To: Pianotech List <<A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>><BR>Sent: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:58 pm<BR>Subject: RE: the economy<BR><BR> <DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_8e625fb2-34e6-4e35-8d6e-cd9d4f1514db> <STYLE>#AOLMsgPart_2_8e625fb2-34e6-4e35-8d6e-cd9d4f1514db .hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } #AOLMsgPart_2_8e625fb2-34e6-4e35-8d6e-cd9d4f1514db BODY.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma } </STYLE> Wim,<BR><BR>the good thing is: you live in paradise :-)  At least I think so. When I think about Hawai the first thing that comes into my mind is Thomas Magnum, PI, one of my favorite tv serials. But real life is no tv show, particularly if there is no Robin Masters who pays for the red Ferari and the nice stately home :-(<BR><BR><BR><EM>A lot of my friends have the same attitude. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I do enjoy living here. When you're here for a week or two on vacation, presumably you planned to spend the money. But when you live here, and have to pay for everything, from rent to health insurance to the basics, it is very daunting at times at how much it costs. Although I do have a choice, moving back to the mainland is almost not an option. We spent what we made off our house in Alabama to move here and sustain us the first 8 months. It's all gone. So if we do move back, I literally have to start from scratch, with no money to back me, (unless I dip into our retirement accounts).</EM>  <BR><BR>How many inhabitants are there and how many other tuners? Is there a piano store? Could you sell some used pianos at times? Do you work only on Oahu or do you hop from island to island? Just curious.<BR><BR><EM>The reason I am confident that I will make it here, is because of the need for piano tuners. There are about 800,000 living on Oahu. There are only 10 full time and another 10 part time tuners. We could probably use twice that many. But, and this is the biggest problem, it takes too long to get established.<BR><BR>The Yamaha dealer just closed his doors. There are only 3 other dealers, and they are hurting, too. I do go to Kauai every 6 - 8 weeks to do a day's worth of tuning, but that is almost getting too expensive. A year ago, the flight and renting a car cost about $100. Now it's three time that much. <BR><BR>I tried selling a used piano, but it took me almost 8 weeks to sell a 30 year old Kimball which I had gone over, and would up selling for about half of what it is worth. I made about $500, and probably did about $800 worth of work on it.<BR><BR>Bottom line. Unless someone has about $70,000 to live on for a year, I would not recommend any one to move here. <BR><BR>Wim <BR><BR></EM>Gregor<BR><BR> <HR> To: <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A><BR>Subject: Re: the economy<BR>Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:13:38 -0400<BR>From: <A href="mailto:wimblees@aol.com">wimblees@aol.com</A><BR><BR><WBR>Terry<BR><BR>I tune between 10 and 15, Most weeks not even that. At $ 115 per tuning, and even with some repairs, PR's, and other stuff, I am averaging about $6000 per month in income. My rent is $2100, and with the other bills, including taxes, electricity, car, cable, phone, etc, it all comes to about $6000 per month.  Just an average of 3 tunings per week will make life easy. Now, if I can just figure out a way to do that, without it costing a lot in advertising, I'll be happy. <BR><BR>I am confident, however, that I will get the business. It just takes time. <BR><BR> <DIV style="CLEAR: both">Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Tuner/Technician<BR>Mililani, Oahu, HI<BR>808-349-2943<BR>Author of: <BR>The Business of Piano Tuning<BR>available from Potter Press<BR><A href="http://www.pianotuning.com/" target=_blank>www.pianotuning.com</A></DIV><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: pianolover 88 <<A href="mailto:pianolover88@hotmail.com">pianolover88@hotmail.com</A>><BR>To: Pianotech List <<A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>><BR>Sent: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 3:52 pm<BR>Subject: RE: the economy<BR><BR> <DIV id=EC_AOLMsgPart_2_bc9caf65-5c34-4966-9a88-0f21913845b8> <STYLE>#AOLMsgPart_2_8e625fb2-34e6-4e35-8d6e-cd9d4f1514db .ExternalClass #EC_AOLMsgPart_2_bc9caf65-5c34-4966-9a88-0f21913845b8 .EC_hmmessage P{padding:0px;}#AOLMsgPart_2_8e625fb2-34e6-4e35-8d6e-cd9d4f1514db .ExternalClass #EC_AOLMsgPart_2_bc9caf65-5c34-4966-9a88-0f21913845b8 body.EC_hmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;}</STYLE> 20 pianos-tuning only, not including PR, regulation, repair, accessories, at an average of $100 minimum per piano, would yield $2,000, or $8,000=2 0per month. You must have MASSIVE expenses and/or debt if you can't get by on that. If you add all the other extras above, you could easily ad d another $2,000-$5000 per month.<BR><BR><BR>Terry Peterson<BR><BR>> Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:42:59 +0800<BR>> Subject: Re: the economy<BR>> From: <A href="mailto:justpianos@our.net.au">justpianos@our.net.au</A><BR>> To: <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A><BR>> <BR>> wim<BR>> > HAVE to tune 15 - 20 piano a week, in order to make a<BR>> > living. The bad news is,?I am only tuning 10 - 15 piano a week.><BR>> <BR>> <BR>> With respect,what do you charge, and what are your high expenses that you<BR>> can't get by on 15 tunings a week?<BR>> I would be looking again at my business plan.<BR>> Bruce Browning<BR>> The Piano Tuner.<BR>> <BR>> <BR><BR> <HR> See how Windows Mobile brings your life together—at home, work, or on the go. <A href="http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093182mrt/direct/01/" target=_blank>See Now</A> = </DIV> <DIV class=EC_aol_ad_footer id=EC_MAILCIADB034-90b648f0360450></DIV><BR> <HR> Discover the new Windows Vista <A href="http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vista&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE" target=_blank>Learn more!</A> = </DIV> <DIV class=aol_ad_footer id=MAILCIADA034-886748f12c526d></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>