New Year's rant

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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Susan
    Loved it.  The unexamined life isn't worth  living.
  Dale

For the  second time in not so very long, someone is talking about
me "working for  free" if I don't charge a bundle for various minor
services. In fact, the  previous time, someone said that my opinions
didn't have to be considered,  because I "worked for free."

I think I can make a good case for my  pricing practices, which
suit me, my area, my customers, their pianos, and  my bank account
just fine.

I suspect that this hustler mentality is  forced upon people by their
choice of location ... or perhaps their choice  of location followed
naturally from a hustler mentality. If someone chooses  to live in
a region where living costs and overhead expenses are sky-high,  that's
up to them. Perhaps they like having to put in all that time  on
freeways getting to jobs in a large region. Perhaps they like
making  six figures by hustling all day 6 days a week, so that they
can support our  government by being in a high tax bracket. Perhaps,
they simply have a lot  of dependents or illness in the family, and
must work that hard. (If so, my  condolences ...) Perhaps,
they even like working for super-rich people and  big, up-tight
institutions, which I have found, with some notable  exceptions,
to be very over-rated.

Whatever one's income, region,  needs, etc., there are two ways
to price: either one sets one's basic fees  high enough that the
little extras like vacuuming are already covered, or  one nickels-and-dimes
customers by fattening up the little chores into  full-fledged
"services" for which one must extract sizable fees. To  achieve
this, one must put on a salesman's hat. It doesn't fit me. Nor  do
I enjoy spending 30 minutes or an hour thoroughly cleaning a
grand,  when I can get the worst of the detritus, dust, grit,
fingerprints, paper  clips, etc., seen to in about five minutes.

By making the little stuff  a normal part of basic piano service,
one has the freedom to choose how  much of it to do or not to do.
One also does not need to chat up a customer  to wring some more
money from them. And what happens if they don't feel  like paying
for a big-deal cleaning? Does one just leave the piano  filthy,
and wade through the grime for the rest of the tuning? And  if
they turn down "extra" $-costing service, there is that sour taste  in
everyone's mouth afterwards. I can get along quite well without
that  sour taste.

Everyone is welcome to run their businesses exactly as they  please.
If someone wants to charge a second full tuning fee for  sticking
around, touching up a tuning for five minutes, and going for free  to a
(good) concert, also getting known by sight (and liked) by a lot
of  the audience, that's fine with me. Do whatever suits you.

I chose an  easy-going laid-back informal place, with lots of
educated and enlightened  people living nearby, in a lovely region
(somewhat over-damp some times of  year, like now) where living costs
were reasonable. I settled down, my work  got more and more
interesting, the concert work arrived, steady repeat  customers gradually
appeared (without phoning or postcards from me) and I'm  moving
toward a lighter work load as I near retirement age. It
all suits  me just fine. I don't intend to burn out, pushing
for $$$ all the time. I'm  solvent, I like the freedom, and I'm
doing it all in a way both I and my  customers like.

So -- what's a holiday without a good rant? -- you can  take your
six figures and stuff it into the mortgage of your overpriced  home,
your "health" insurance, your liability insurance, your tool  insurance,
your annuity for when you just can't hack it anymore, your  high
car insurance, your exorbitant state and local sales taxes,  your
advertising, the upkeep of your fancy vehicles, your high  grocery
and restaurant costs, lots of bookkeeping to keep track of it  all,
and a good chiropractor to deal with the physical results of  too
much tuning and driving, etc. etc. etc.

And of course, I could  be completely wrong about your lifestyle,
your customers' lifestyle, and  your cost structure. It's always
possible to be completely wrong. If the  shoe doesn't fit, just
don't put it on. Do what suits you -- as I do,  without apology.

Happy New Year, anyway.

(thanks, Conrad, for  the sleek new 2006-model flamesuit ...)
Susan Kline


 

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