how long?

[Dale Probst]

Tom,
In my conversations with other technicians the most common time period
to be come established is five years in one location. Of course this
varies with the amount of work and income desired as well as with the
area of the country. In Reno there will be business classes by David
Barr (Building a $100K a Year Piano Service Business), Evelyn Smith(Your
Money and Your life: Making Work Rewarding) and Robert Guenther(How to
Stay in Business: Once You Get There) you might want to check out. Also
David Campbell will host a Marketing Roundtable that should help you to
use PTG materials to market your services. 
Hope this helps, see you in Reno,
Dale
Dale Probst, RPT
Member, TEAM2001
PTG Annual Convention
Reno, NV --July 11-15, 2001
email: wardprobst@cst.net
(940)691-3682 voice
(940) 691-6843 fax
TEAM2001 website: http://www.ptg.org/conv.htm

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Tvak@AOL.COM
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 7:55 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: how long?


List,

Next week I will be attending my first PTG convention, having joined
this 
year.  I joined the PTG because piano tuning has become a bigger part of
my 
life (and income) and I seek to improve my skills.  I want to go full
time 
and I have to admit that I have become impatient as of late with
progress 
toward that goal. 

I was spoiled last fall, when I had  6-10 tunings per week.  Finally, I 
thought, it's starting to happen!  But this spring has been highly 
disappointing:   5 tunings in March, 17 tunings in April, 10 in May, and
only 
8 in June.  Past summers have been nearly clientless.  (2 or 3/month)  

Now I know this question is unanswerable in any quantifiable or finite 
manner, but how long does it take to build up a clientele to support
oneself? 
 I noticed in the PTG survey that 33% of those surveyed earned less than
$33K 
annually.  Are my expectations simply too high?

I should provide some details to my situation:  I've been listed in the 
Yellow Pages for 3 years. 

I do send out reminder cards when a year has passed, but response varies

greatly, it seems.  

I have had evaluations by 4 different RPTs who were all very positive
about 
my work.  (One hired me to assist him at peak times; another passed
several 
clients to me and continues to send me referrals.)  Our chapter had
Associate 
Tuning Evaluations in May, and the 2 RPTs assigned to me encouraged me
to 
take the RPT exam, which I plan to take next year at the convention in 
Chicago.  (I have to mention this because I don't think the quality of
my 
work is the problem.  Not that I'm satisfied with myself... )

I work at a piano store one day a week where I do floor tunings and
preps, 
but I didn't count floor tunings in my monthly totals.  

So whaddyathink?  Am I just impatient?   How long does it take to build
up a 
clientele to support one's self?

Tom Sivak
Chicago PTG Associate