Should we rent or should we buy?
Are we the ONLY ones who have faced this decision time and time again? (Please tell us we’re not alone!)
When we set out in our business full time, we felt like we were pretty well prepared. We had the essential equipment we needed. We had worked hard to become debt free and save up before taking the plunge! We felt comfortable that we were set for success. And in many ways we were. But as our business continues to grow, we’ve consistently found ourselves needing different equipment that wasn’t in our gear closet. On the one hand, it’s a great problem! It means that we are growing and doing new things. It means that we have new opportunities that we need to be able to respond to.
On the other hand, it means expenses. Potentially lots of them. And the funny thing about photography gear…it all seems to come at a premium! 😉
We’ve been faced with multiple situations where we ask ourselves this question: “Do we rent this, or buy it?” Naturally, we’d love to own everything! That’s just human nature, right? From a business perspective, however, that doesn’t always make sense. Knowing we aren’t the only ones facing those types of decisions, we thought we’d outline a few additional questions we ask ourselves before coming up with an answer to that question.
How Often Will We Use It
When it comes to camera gear (toys) it can be so easy to need a lot of things. As creatives, we love trying new tools and equipment because it allows us to be more creative! If you don’t know, Jon has played guitar since he was 12 and in that time, he’s had quite a few guitars! He’s seen multiple times that a new guitar can bring new inspiration, or help him break through a plateau in his playing abilities. So there’s definitely truth to the fact that new gear can unlock new creative ideas.
The problem is that having fun with creative ideas doesn’t always make good business or financial sense, and purchasing lots of gear can leave you with a whole lot of toys and no revenue! That’s never a good place to be. So we evaluate a potential purchase based on facts.
How often are we renting this equipment, and how much have we spent on rentals to date? If this is a piece that you rent again and again, it might make great sense to purchase it!
How many sessions do we have paid and on the books that could use this? Again, this is another great, fact-based question to bring into reality how sensible of a purchase it may be. Sometimes it can feel like we have a lot fo use for something, but when we stop to look at the facts, we realize that there might not be as much potential as we had hoped, and renting is the answer!
How quickly will I see a return on my investment? With the answers to the top two questions in mind, then figure out how quickly you would pay for the equipment with your work.
These questions aren’t always fun to ask ourselves. Honestly, there are plenty of times we get emotionally attached to wanting to purchase something, and facing the facts is the last thing we want to do. But answering those questions honestly has saved us from making hasty, uninformed decisions, and we are so thankful for the times we’ve said no to buying.
We’ll be covering the other two steps we take before making a purchasing decision over the next couple of days, so keep an eye out for Part 2!
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