Meet Michael Stilwell of Stilwell Pianos and The Piano Technician Academy in Mesa, Dobson and Guadalupe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Stilwell.

Michael, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a 3rd generation piano technician and I got into the industry when I was 20 years old. I started tuning pianos and eventually started selling pianos out of my house. Stilwell Pianos has grown over the last 13 years to be the largest used piano store in the valley at over 24,ooo sf. While building Stilwell Pianos, I started the first online piano tuning school in the world about seven years ago. We are now the largest school in the world with over 350 students a year located all over the world. Our school is made up of piano technicians and e-learning specialist located in Arizona, Portland OR, and Seattle WA.

My days are typically spent handling both businesses advertising, working with customers and managing our staff of seven at Stilwell Pianos and 7 at The Piano Technicians Academy. I also speak at industry events, teach classes on piano technology and marketing and organize fundraisers for music-related organizations both locally and nationwide.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
NO! About three years into being a self-employed piano technician, I got t-boned in my car and broke my wrist. My tuning wrist! During this time I was taking 23 credit hours at ASU as well as building Stilwell Pianos and could not tune, therefore was unable to make money. That prompted my idea to build a piano tuning school so during my two months of healing, that is exactly what I did. I had a few bad partners that I had to either buy out or walk away from but eventually was able to build on my own.

When we became a retail business, we had almost no money (buying pianos to resell is expensive!) and every time a roof leaked in our shop, AC broke, somebody quit, etc, I had to pick up the slack. I have had many days where I started work at 3 am, it ended around 10 pm just to get a piano to a customer. I always tell young entrepreneurs, building a business is extremely rewarding but it is extremely hard as well. It’s not glamorous for YEARS and it takes hard work, long hours and a ton of risk. But if it didn’t, everyone would do it! Being a high functioning individual is imperative and it is very easy to lose your drive and quit. Eventually, you get to a place where you feel comfortable but never take that for granted. There is always somebody on your heals. Just this year, two new piano tuning schools popped up and one more store in the valley. We were at the top of the game in both industries but we had to readjust, reinvest and build to stay ahead. Being an entrepreneur never ends and you can NEVER rest or let down your guard or you will be crushed in your sleep!

Please tell us about Stilwell Pianos and The Piano Technician Academy.
Our piano store Stilwell Pianos is the largest used store in the valley. We pride ourselves on being the only store that FULLY preps every piano that comes through our doors. This includes tuning, voicing, regulating and buffing the finish. Going above and beyond like this is not easy and costs a lot of money but it puts us heads and shoulders above our competition. Our service, professionalism and generally fun atmosphere are unmatched. We even have a bar and concert hall in our store where we host free concerts once a month for our customers. We feed them, give them drinks and treat and even higher nannies to watch their kids play hide and seek in our store while the parents enjoy the show! Pouring back into our customers and community is just one way we stand out in our industry.

The Piano Technician Academy was the first school to offer online education to people wanting to become piano technicians. This is an extremely hard industry to get into so offering it online makes the trade available to everyone! We keep tuition as low as we possibly can and work with the piano tuning organizations to provide relevant, helpful educational material to our trade members. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars building our school and are proud to say we are the online/correspondence school that puts out more than 350 students. Most other correspondence schools use snail mail and average about 50 students a year but using technology allows us to provide education to more students every year.

What role has luck had in your life and business?
A fair amount! I was lucky enough to have very supportive parents and an overly supportive wife throughout the entire time I built my two businesses. I was also fortunate enough to come from a piano technology family. My grandfather who started our tuning business in 1956 in Decatur Illinois was one of the most influential piano technicians in the USA. My last name has definitely gotten me into doors throughout my career. Unfortunately, I did not inherit the family business clientele as it was all in Illinois and I am in AZ but having the support of other big wig techs have been very helpful.

I don’t really believe in bad luck. I am a strong believer in that life is what you make it. Everybody has struggles and excuses. I have three kids under six and one on the way. I am balancing 2 million dollar businesses and trying to stay healthy. So, you know what I did today? Got up at 5 am, went into work for a couple of hours of emails, went to the gym and went home in time to take my boys to school at 8:30 am. I could have slept but I want more so I work for it. Bad things are going to happen, and believe me, the Stilwells are not immune to problems but we work through them, keep a positive attitude and take control of our future. The glass is half full, not half empty!

Pricing:

• Stilwell Pianos has pianos ranging in price from $550-$60,000
• The Piano Technician Academy Tuition is $1250

Contact Info:

• Address: Stilwell Pianos
  1941 W. Guadalupe Rd. #115
  Mesa, AZ 85202The Piano Technician Academy
• Website: www.StilwellPianos.com, www.PianoTechnicianAcademy.com
• Phone: Stilwell Pianos 480-207-6645 Piano Technician Academy- 480-779-8782
• Email: michael@stilwellpianos.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stilwell-Pianos-151163431572007/

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