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Hi all,
I'm a 20 year old college student and pianist. I've been apprenticing to be a piano technician for a while now, and I'm now trying to start finding business. I feel that the biggest challenge for me might be my age, since being so young makes me seem less reputable. (Which is understandable though since I am relatively inexperienced). Yes, I'm sure I have a lot to learn still, but I feel confident in my tuning abilities and feel ready to get my start. (And as a college student I can certainly use all the money I can get!)
Did any of you start this young too? How did you find clients?

I started in my early 20's and often heard client's say: "I expected someone older". Ironically I just heard that again last week, even though I'm 47! I enjoyed that!

For that reason I made it a goal to pass the PTG tuning exam as soon as possible. Having the RPT credential gave me confidence and proved that I could work to a reasonable standard.

The biggest issue with new piano tuners is that they think they are doing a better job than they actually are. Fine, yet stable tuning takes many years to master. If you promote yourself as an apprentice and charge an apprentice rate, you can probably get "paid to practice".

In my area the going rate for a tuning is between $125 and $189. A new tuner who could improve the sound of some sorely neglected pianos for a $75 "student tuning" could probably find quite a bit of work.

Word of mouth is a huge part of this type of business, so the main thing is going the extra mile to make each client happy!

Great advice from Ryan!

I started tuning at 19YO. I did several tunings for free at churches and for other music students at my college at first. Then I started floor tuning at a piano store for cheap. When I felt confident enough to service pianos as a business I began to charge. I didn't set my rates at the bottom of the scale. But I did spend a lot of time at each tuning. I wanted to get a reputation for quality. I did get my RPT as quickly as I could.

I experienced some "ageism" at times. But since most of my work came from word-of-mouth references people already knew I was young when they called. I had a couple of people not want to let me in their house when they saw my long hair and beard. I just said "no problem it is your house" and I went away.

Good luck to you!!

Craigslist.

Charge the apprentice rate, and you should be
good to go.

Good Luck!

Hello, Word of mouth due to the good job done.

Working for shops

Depending of your ability to make the tone and the touch pleasing on pianos that are mostly a little off their regualtion parameters, will give you even more work

Making tunings that stay put longer because you accept to use a little more time, will also build your reputation (often heard comments about that)

as you will spend more time on the tuning anyway, I would focus on stability, learn concert techniques for this one.

understanding tone projection and enveloppe=understanding voicing
Hammers with little tone thickness do not allow the best unison.

Good luck

What has your mentor suggested -- in terms of readiness, geographic area to service, transportation, fee to charge, dress, professional presentation (including business cards, connection with local pianists/teachers), and so on --?

I would try to network with piano teachers. If you do an excellent job tuning a piano teacher's piano,then when the teacher's students ask for recommendations they will recommend you. We use our piano teacher's tuner for example.

Business permits, income taxes and deductions . . .

Yes, put away at least a quarter of what you make for taxes. Self-employment (Social Security, mostly) is almost 16%, and there will be other taxes as well.

How sad. It was definitely their loss! What year or years was that anyway?

I would suggest magnetic signs on your vehicle. A rolling billboard! A website is a must these days. There are places you can set one up for free.