Retirement? was What's a tuning business worth?

[Alan Barnard]

One of the reasons I got into the biz (this is about my sixth career) was/is that it is a business one can do as long as one wishes and is physically able. I will frankly need and want additional income in "retirement". The beauty of it, also, is one can set their own hours (to a point) and decide how much or little to work. It is a great career in that regard. There are some durned fine octogenarian tuners out there, we have one in our chapter who tunes about 3 pianos a day and is quite active in the guild. Then there's Jim Coleman, Sr., Virgil Smith, etc. 

I don't know your circumstance, but I'd be tempted to keep the list, maybe turn names over a few at a time to some young squirt you know and trust but keeping the cream of the crop, i.e., nice people with good pianos.

Retirement is in many ways a state of mind. Some of us really can't afford to live in that state. Some people thrive on post-career gardening and fishing, others go nuts or keel over dead in a year or two. 

Anyway, my 2 cents.

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Mike Spalding" <mike.spalding1 at verizon.net>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Received: 6/1/2007 6:57:24 PM
Subject: Re: What's a tuning business worth?


>Jim,

>It's hard to put a value on your client list.  The amount of business it 
>brings to the buyer could be nothing, could be a lot.  One experience:  
>When I was just starting out, another tech in our chapter was leaving 
>the business, and offered his client list for sale.  He had tuned for me 
>once, a half-dozen years before, after which I switched to a different 
>tuner.  I was on the list for sale.  Figured the list was pretty 
>low-quality.  Some months later, he was able to sell the list "on 
>consignment".  The deal was, the buyer would pay him an agreed 
>percentage of the first tuning of any client on the list.  Grapevine has 
>it that not much money has changed hands.

>If I were contemplating retirement, I might also consider the plight of 
>my clients, and work at finding them a competent technician who would be 
>worthy of  their trust.  The buyer of your list will want you to write a 
>letter of introduction / recommendation to your clients, and you'll want 
>to be able to say more about him than that he was the highest bidder.  
>Not that a valuable client list shouldn't bring you some income on the 
>way out, but there are other important considerations.  Just my 2c.

>Mike

>Jim Johnson wrote:
>> I will be looking to retire sometime in the next few years and I'm 
>> wondering what my business may be worth if I sell it.  Do any of you 
>> have experience either buying or selling a tuning/repair business (no 
>> physical retail location, just a well established clientele)?  What is 
>> the relationship between annual income and selling price?  Any ideas 
>> will be appreciated.