hope and despair.

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I messed up with a potential customer. because a previous customer was unpleasantly surprised when I told her the estimated cost of bringing her piano up to pitch and then tuning it, I explained the possibility of needing a pitch adjustment to this customer. I believe, by the tone of her voice, that I gave her too much information and she won't be calling back. To be fair, she was given the piano by a family who's mother was just put in a nursing home. The piano hasn't been tuned in many years, and sounds as if it has been sitting in less than ideal environment, so it probably will need pitch adjustment plus tuning, at the least. but waiting to be helpful, preventative of surprises, and too much of a talker, I messed it up.

on the plus side, I have been called about a temporary position with eBay. I am waiting for the forms to arrive via email. Hopefully I'll do better with that. It is a 4 month contract weekend 40 hours, job, which will allow several days each week for piano tuning. One can hope. If only I can avoid "shooting myself in the foot".

Anyone that plans on having a piano for more than furniture ought to know that it is a tempered instrument and when it sits out of tune for that long and was just relocated to boot, it's going to need a lot of help. If this customer plans on using it they'll be calling again, but that's highly contingent on their plans for actual use.

I get a fair deal of 'tire kickers' with my specialty and many of them I will tell directly and in roundabout ways that I'd rather avoid going out on a call just to turn 1 screw. I have had a handful of customers who thought they could get it done cheaper and better elsewhere only to find themselves wrong on both counts, and 1 of those clients is a complete convert to where they'll work their schedule to my availability.

Those 'uninitiated' clients get me a bit uneasy as well, but I can appreciate something you observed in that people who suddenly acquire something are the most flighty; my best experiences have been with people who have owned the item since early adulthood in most cases.

If there's a way you can emphasize how tedious/ nasty/ potentially hazardous the job is to the brain pickers that's probably just as valuable as the skills themselves

looks like the temp ebay job is a bust. the potential customer did at least call back to say that she is going to wait a few weeks.

checking on tunings in a metro town 5hrs from here. If I can get enough tunings lined up there to keep me busy every day for 7 days worth of tunings each month, I might be able to eventually move to the area and be successfully self employed before too long. one can hope.