Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Przybyla.
Adam, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Tuning and servicing pianos is actually a second career for me. My background is in audio production, and I spent a good decade or so working as a sound engineer, so I’ve always had an interest in the technical side of making music, as well as a knack for using my ears. In 2012 I found myself at somewhat of a crossroads, realizing that I wasn’t necessarily interested in spending the rest of my life mixing sound in loud bars or recording music that I didn’t particularly care for. Just by chance, I happened across a short article about one of the technicians who tunes for the Chicago Symphony, I was suddenly inspired to figure out what it would take to learn how to be a piano tuner. Being a guitar player, it had simply never occurred to me that that was something I’d be interested in. Fortunately, at the time, one of only two dedicated piano technology schools in the country happened to be right here in Chicago, so I enrolled and spent a year learning the basics of the trade. Upon graduation, I decided to relocate to Austin, TX, thinking that it would be cool to start this new career in a completely new place. In the three years that I was there, I built up a pretty good little business, and was making a full-time living working on pianos, but my wife and I never really fell in love with Austin, itself, and we missed Chicago, so we decided to come back. Thus, I’ve essentially had to start all over with getting my name out there and building up my business again. I’ve been very fortunate to have made some great connections here, and, even though I’ve only been back for about six months, things are progressing quite nicely.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think it has been a relatively smooth road, all things considered. I was told from the get-go that it would take some time to build a sustainable business, but, honestly, it’s actually happened more quickly than I thought it would. Walking away from my business in Texas was definitely a tough decision, but I learned enough in the time that I was there that I felt extremely confident about moving back to Chicago and doing it all again. I’ve been able to make connections with other piano technicians who are extremely generous about sharing their knowledge, and even referring work to me, so that helps.
The most difficult thing for me is marketing and finding ways to attract clients of my own. I’m too cheap to pay somebody else to do it, so I’m just doing what I can do myself and trying to let it happen organically through word-of-mouth. This is a big city, and there are a lot of pianos here, so I know it will happen, eventually.
AP Pianoworks – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m a full-service piano technician, meaning I tune pianos, repair and adjust the many parts inside of them, clean them, fix broken strings, and basically everything short of completely taking an instrument apart and rebuilding it from the ground up. I’m a one-man operation, but I also do contract work for a couple of other technicians, tuning and working in their shops. The majority of my work is done right in a client’s home/space, although it occasionally makes more sense for me to remove part of a piano to bring it home and work on in my own shop.
While I’m certainly not the only tuner around who does it, I pride myself on tuning pianos by ear, as opposed to using an electronic device. It’s a very old-school, somewhat mysterious skill that I worked very hard to learn, and, while it takes a little more time, it forces me to really focus on what I’m doing, which produces a higher quality of work that I think my clients appreciate.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
If I can make a decent living doing work that I’m passionate about and truly enjoy, then I’m being successful. I never set out to be a businessman, but I figured out a long time ago that I’d really rather be my own boss, so I suppose that has forced me to be a businessman, by default. The number one most important thing to me is that I wake up every morning looking forward to the day ahead and come home feeling fulfilled by the work that I did. Financially, as long as I can pay the bills and support my family, and generate a nice profit for savings, vacations, retirement, etc., then all is well. Like most any business, I’m sure, there are slow periods, and my goal for my own business is to grow it to a point where it’s sustainable, and to where those slow times aren’t cause for panic. If it can grow beyond that, great, but I’m a simple guy, and I have no interest in turning this into some sort of piano service empire. I don’t want to be so big that I have to hire on and manage a staff (other than maybe an accountant0 and lose sight of why I started doing this in the first place.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.appianoworks.com
- Phone: 773-426-5087
- Email: appianoworks@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/appianoworks
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/appianoworks
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ap-pianoworks-river-forest-4
- Other: https://plus.google.com/+Appianoworks
Image Credit:
Adam Przybyla
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