We have been here time and time again. Faced with needing equipment we don’t currently own we have asked ourselves, should we rent this, or buy this? It’s difficult because part of the fun we have as creatives is working with our equipment, so naturally, we’d love to always have new equipment! But the reality is that always having new equipment mot usually means have no revenue at the end of the day.
We started with Part 1 of this blog series, Rent vs. Buy, talking about the first questions we ask ourselves when we are faced with that decision. If you missed it, read it here first!
Is It the Best Option?
If you run through those questions and do decide that it’s time to purchase the equipment, the first thing you need to do is celebrate! (OK, maybe not really, but you can do your own happy dance!)
If we decide that it makes good business sense to make a purchase, we then research like crazy to make sure we are making the best purchasing decision. Personally, we believe whole-heartedly in making investments in only equipment that is at a professional level. Does that mean that we opt-out of potential purchases because of cost at times? Yes. But it also means that when we do eventually make the purchase, that gear will last us a lifetime.
Amazon deals on third party equipment can be so tempting. It’s awesome to feel instant gratification and own that equipment more quickly than if we waited to purchase the higher quality option! But what we have found in our experience with lesser quality gear is that we usually still end up purchasing the professional gear down the road and spending more in the long run!
We once purchased a white backdrop set up kit from Amazon. It was a great deal and promised to be high quality and sturdy! We received it and instantly knew it was lesser quality, but figured we’d get a lot of use out of it for the price, so we kept it! Boy, were we wrong!! After only a handful of uses, the poor quality started to show as pieces began to break. We ended up purchasing the professional level gear just a year later. The unfortunate part with that story is that we ended up paying 1.5x more for the professional gear if you factor in the cost of the cheaper set that failed us.
If you are in this for the long haul, we can’t recommend any more strongly to wait and invest in the best gear once you decide you need to make a purchase. Even if that means putting off your purchase until you’ve finished one or two more sessions – it will be SO worth it!
As Benjamin Franklin said, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
Oh, and we have one last piece of advice that’s super important in Part 3!
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