<HTML><HTML>Greetings,             &nbs= p; This is my 11th month in business. The first 3 of those months were with = no phone book ad, because I went in business in June and my listing in the n= ew phone book didn't come out till August . As a rookie I cannot expect busi= ness to be great, but it is holding steady at about 3 tunings a week. In fac= t, the next 2 weeks I have about 4-5 appointments at local schools because o= f Spring concerts, so i am actually doing alittle better for the next few we= eks or so!             &nbs= p;  I had to make a living in those 3 months when I had no phone book a= d. I called local music stores, sent a stack of my cards, called teachers, s= chools and churches, sent a card and a smal resume at their request and thos= e calls kept me going till the new ph book was issued. Those calls paid off.= In fact, I am still getting references from them. At first when you call it= s "no", "no", "no" here there and everywhere, but as time marches on it chan= ges, especially on a second "round" of calls about 6 months later. BIG TIP: Conduct phone solicitations on Wednesdays as a first choice, Thursd= ays as a second choice. Folks are most accepting and responsive on these two= days of the week...ie the weekend is approaching, pay day is coming...and o= ther pleasant weekend thoughts. I received this tip from a friend of mine wh= o is his own booking agent to get guitar gigs. He was correct, I have found = it to be true. On more than one occasion, a lady or two who answered the pho= ne at the church actually needed a tuner for her own piano at home! Keep pho= ne calls short and, to the piont. and if no one is in the church office on t= hat day or I only reach the voice mail of a high school music director or so= mething, I leave a really short sweet message that says: "Julie Gottchall, piano tuner, I am looking for work. 610-373....." . Believe me, it this pays. Now the only thing I fear is after July 4th. Last year the 4th hit an it wen= t absolutely dead till end of August. I dont't know if it was because= it was my first few months in business or if it will always be that dead in= July-August. It seems people went on vacation and wham, no calls. Best Wishes, rookie Julie Gottchall, Reading, PA</HTML>