An Introduction and A Number Of Questions

[Zane Omohundro]

Hello all,

My name is Zane Omohundro and I'm a Junior piano performance major at 
Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.  I've been considering becoming a 
piano technician and have been poking my head around the PTG, reading emails 
on this list, reading websites about tuning/regulation, reading books, 
contacting various piano techs for insight, and I'm attending my first PTG 
meeting this Tuesday.  I'm trying to get a feel for your intriguing 
profession before jumping in headfirst.

I'm currently in the entrepreneurship certificate program at my school which 
basically teaches you how to start, manage, and control a new business. 
More specifically, I am taking an entrepreneurial finance class which brings 
me to the second half of my email...


...In this finance class, we create a pro-forma financial plan which is a 
fancy way of saying we analyze costs associated with our business, and 
forecast sales.  I am looking for any insight you can give me into the 
numbers involved with being a self-employed piano technician.

I realize that financial information is often very private and not something 
which is given out easily.  I am simply looking for help in estimating 
associated costs and average sales.  If you choose to give me specific 
numbers, I WILL NOT go running to tell your competition.

Here is a list I came up with of costs associated with your profession: 
Transportation, Misc. Parts, Raw Materials, Tools (including electronic 
tuners), Books/Training materials, PTG Dues, Conferences, Website 
Development/Maintenance, Phone Service, Reminder Cards, and Advertising.

Questions:


1) Is that list of costs accurate?  What am I overlooking?  Can you help me 
estimate any of those areas?  I'm guessing that transportation and parts 
cost the most?

2) How many pianos do you service in a week? How many can you do a day?  How 
do seasonal changes affect your business and where are you located?  Do you 
service pianos on weekends?

3) Do you take credit cards or are you strictly cash based? Do you generate 
invoices? Do you establish a written contract with your customers for the 
services you intend to provide?

4) How much do you spend on advertising? Do people visit your website?

5) How do you determine how much to charge? Is it a flat fee for tuning and 
an hourly fee for regulation/repair?  Are you willing to share any of these 
numbers?


This email is getting rather long so I will bring it to a close.  Anything 
you can tell me will be more helpful than what I know now.  Please contact 
me off list at zaneomohundro at gmail.com or we can open this up to discussion.

Thank you all very much for your time.  Thank you also for your lively 
discussions which are giving me a glimpse into your world.

-Zane Omohundro
zaneomohundro at gmail.com