Valuing ourselves

[David Andersen]

I've been an acolyte of Ed Foote in the business realm for about 10  
years because he KNOWS what he's worth, and raises his rates EVERY  
SINGLE TIME he needs to, usually every 18 months. He's been in the  
top 1/2 of 1% of earners in this craft for 30 years.

Let me ask you some questions:

1. Are you proud of your craft?

2. Do you think it takes as much focus and skill to function in the  
high end of the pianotech world
as it does to function as a technician in the high end of home/small  
business computers?

3. Do you think you're going to live forever?

4. Do you want to work with and deal with a**h**les on a daily basis?

If you sincerely and truthfully answered yes, yes, no, and no, then

GO TO THE HIGH END AND STAY THERE. Really. Quit bitching and  
complaining about competition and taxes and driving and cheap  
clients, and not enough money to go to conventions. If you're a  
highly trained, honest, professional craftsperson and you're not  
making $2,000 a week, it's you---you have a diminished perception of  
yourself and your worth, and other people are picking up on and  
responding to that. It's a classic problem in our craft. STAND UP.  
Look at things in the cold light of day. Do you WANT to work on old  
uprights that are falling apart owned by people that are cheap and  
untrusting? I don't want to work on a nasty piano even if it's owned  
by the Dalai Lama. I want to work on good, clean pianos owned by  
people and venues that treat me well and pay me what I ask for
gladly and eagerly---because I take the work seriously, make a  
radical positive change in the way their instrument sound and feels,  
and they truly love and honor and respect that. It's important to  
them, for a myriad of reasons.

Two other bitches, as long as I'm ranting.

1. DO NOT compare me to a plumber. My work is way, way different than  
making a turd go through a pipe.

2. DO NOT complain about working on dog-ass pianos. If you stick a  
pin in your house on a map, and draw a circle around it with a 50- 
mile radius, I guarantee that unless you live in the wilderness,  
there's a thousand good pianos (conservatively) in that circle  
waiting for your magic touch. There are no excuses; just reasons why  
you don't succeed. How you see yourself, how you FEEL on the inside,  
has everything to do with how you're treated on the outside.

End of mad soliloquy. Out of breath. Must.....rest........

David Andersen

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