Last time, I talked about the pros and cons of both leasing space to set up your business and starting slow in your home. Today, I will discuss buying and leasing equipment.
This also is a judgment call, and one that is to be made based on your situation. I was looking at some websites that rent video equipment and the prices were not all that excessive. Depending on what you need, prices range from a few hundred dollars per day to a few thousand. What did not look good was the fact that those prices are for the bare equipment, if you need any accessories at all, those would have to be rented at a range of up to a few hundred dollars per day. If you have the budget to and are looking to set up a complete production house that includes a large locale and hired help, and you are looking to go straight into big projects, then renting the equipment is not an unreasonable way to start. But considering that shoots can last weeks, it is probable if not definite, that the total cost would rise to levels high enough to make you decide that buying your own equipment is the best way to go. The good thing is that this is something you can figure out before hand, you do not have to actually go through the trouble of renting and pay massive amounts of money. You can estimate you total cost by calculating the types of projects you are looking to take on and the cost of the equipment; and this is a huge advantage because you can include these findings in your business plan and look for all the needed financing at once.
If you are one to work on your own from home, then leasing equipment is not feasible in any way, I think, because there is only so much you can do on your own. And actually, most of those who choose to start alone do not have any immediate plans that would require the rental of equipment. Any equipment used is usually for personal development within the trade and those can be anything really, there is not exactly a need for specific hardware. But when the time for expansion arrives, then the case I mentioned above would have to be implemented, with the slight variation that instead of figuring the potential expense before hand and including it in the business plan, you would have to do it when the time comes and then go out requisition additional funding.
As you probably have figured out, my method of preference here is the last one I mentioned. I have no immediate plans to take on anything major, because as I have mentioned before, this is a learning experience for me and personal development is my number one priority. But there will come a time (hopefully) when I will make the transition from the small scale to the big time, and then, I will take the appropriate measures to not waste money when it is time to get hardware.
Technorati Tags: leasing space, set up your business, leasing equipment, rent video equipment, Video Production, financing, time for expansion, potential expense, business plan, requisition additional funding, personal development
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