I had seriously considered renting gear early on but the nearest Guitar Center, or anything that I can find, that rents gear is almost three hours away! Not really cost effective to have to travel six hours round trip every time to rent gear! [emoji853]It sounds like you're early enough in the process that you may not need to buy that much gear yet. It's easier to justify the purchases if you already have bookings.
Put together a couple packages of what you want to offer. You can send prospective clients the manufacturers videos of what you plan to purchase when you're pitching your services. Buy them once you've sold and booked them out. Or potentially just rent early on. There isn't anything wrong with renting until you see what your demand is.
I'm personally partnering with another company for production elements on a gig I'm doing in the spring. I could afford to buy the gear if I wanted, but I don't think I'll book it out enough times to make that choice profitable. So instead I'm going with a company that does a lot of that work - but I'll still make money on the gig.
That way you're not guessing at what your initial clients want.
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