<HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff">In a message dated 12/2/04 6:08:22 AM= Pacific Standard Time, lgulli2586@rogers.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I am an avid reader of the = archives. Quite often I hear people refer to their shop. I wondered if the s= hop is in your house, and another building on site...or a separate building = with public access.  Also after 5 years in business what is reasonable = to expect number of tunings weekly, repairs, rebuilds, refinishing etc. Do y= ou do all the above, none of the above. I dont have much to compare to and am curious to see where I stand...or = should I consider a new direction. FWIW I hope to achieve RPT in 2005. </BLOCKQUOTE> Richard, I have a shop in the garage, but it's only seen a little use.  Most= of my time is spent at clients' homes or on the road.  My schedule has= been pretty full for the whole year, and while I keep threatening to expand= the use that it gets, it hasn't happened yet.  But it's there if and w= hen I need it.   I do tuning, repairs, regulation, evaluations and estimates.  Haven= 't done much rebuilding yet, but have done a bit of restringing and the like= --most of it in the customers' homes. My average tuning schedule for a week in 2004 would have seen me at arou= nd 15 appointments a week, most private, but some store warranty jobs as wel= l.  The regulation and repair jobs are usually booked after an assessme= nt at the original appointment.  I spend maybe a day a month in stores I was fortunate in that I had many contacts in the business before going= on my own.  I learned tuning basics almost 30 years ago, spent time as= a mover, a salesperson, and as an "all of the above" at a small store. &nbs= p;I never burned any bridges, so when I needed good will after some personal= travails, people were willing to help me out with business. The first couple of years I did a lot of store work.  Now I have to= make special time to do any store work at all for people who have helped me= out.  This is my 4th year at it as a full-timer. I also am looking forward to passing the tuning and technical tests in 2= 005.  I've had trouble fitting them into my schedule (weak excuse...)-;= ), but I have about a year left to try, or I'll have to re-take the written-= -time to get hoppin'! Do you have good contact with dealers, schools, churches, and teachers i= n the area?  Things do snowball eventually, if you're conscientious, do= good work, and aren't Charles Manson. Dave Stahl</HTML>