Tom,
Listen to Chuck's advice. I concur with all he said.
If you have already purchased Randy's course, use it well. Do your best
to disregard the distractions of incorrect references and
stream-of-consciousness types of text. I ordered his course in 2003. It
took two years to complete it. I doubt he has updated it like I was
hoping he would, but fortunately it does contain a lot of good
information.
There are other courses available, such as Rick Butler's course. Check
it out. Rick works one-on-one with you.
Early on in Randy's course he suggests you join PTG, which I did. He
also early on recommends you find a mentor. Fortunately, I did. While I
was working through my correspondence course, I was spending my days off
working in my mentor's shop doing whatever he wanted me to do. It gave
me the chance to ask questions about my course study. During PTG
meetings, I asked chapter leaders to have technicals about things I was
studying. Between my course study, days in the shop with my mentor, and
PTG technicals, I finally got situated well enough to actually tune for
money.
I chose the Registered Piano Technician route for personal
reasons...mainly because Randy intimated that it was the more
challenging route to pursue. Thank you Randy Potter for planting that
seed. That is another benefit of his course. I'm throwing that seed to
you for free.
Chuck is right; this business is hard to learn well, no matter which
route you take. It's easy to be mediocre in any business, including
tuning pianos.
I hope you join PTG, I hope you plug in to your local chapter, and I
hope don't take no for an answer by keep looking for answers. That
attitude will serve you well, and it will feed your family beyond your
expectations.
When I got laid off from my regular job I was only tuning three pianos a
month. Four years later I made more money than when I was working for
someone else. During those four hard years, I kept going to my monthly
meetings, kept looking for answers, and kept attending training meetings
whenever possible. So my advice to you is to keep investing in yourself
and it will pay off. PTG can be a strong support group in that regard,
and it can be a great resource. You have to claim it, though. If you
really want it, you will find a way. If you don't really want it, being
self-employed in this business will eat you up anyway. Your choice.
John Parham, RPT
Hickory, NC
Original Message------
Tom,
I also have graduated from Randy Potter's course. Everyone has given you good advice. The course IS a correspondence course. It does present you with a voluminous amount of material which, combined with Reblitz and Igrec, will give you a great foundation in piano technology That said, I found that his course needed a MAJOR editing!! There were so many repetitions of the same material and so many repetitions of the same anecdotes that it got weary after a while.
The best thing I did in conjunction with taking the course was to join the PTG and go to every national convention, my regional convention and every chapter meeting for the first five years. The PTG has the most amazing group of people who are willing to share their knowledge with anyone willing to take the time to listen and learn.
Piano technology isn't easy. It has a fairly steep learning curve and you will never stop learning. But be prepared to spend at least a couple of years of study before you get to a level where you'd want to take someone's money for your services! Perhaps that's one advantage of Randy's "slowness"--you get to keep studying and practicing your skills while you wait months for him to get back to you regarding your completed assignments! I had specifically questioned the long turnaround time and was assured that "it was getting much better", but that didn't happen. Probably never will. So if you take the course, expect to wait at least a month and usually more for any feedback.
Join the PTG--you'll be glad you did!
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Chuck Raynor, Associate
Piano Technician
Raynor Piano Service
St. Helena Island, SC
843-838-4815
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