In order to be a designer of national or international consequence, and not that of a local designer doing coupon-paks, local brochures and the like – designing can be something of an overwhelming budgetary experience at first. And while that's typical of starting nearly any home business, before you go into it thinking it's simply about buying a computer, check this out…
COMPUTER EQUIPMENT –
MAC PRO 8-CORE:
• Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
• 12GB (6x2GB)
• 2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel)
• Apple Mouse
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User's Guide
• Microsoft Office Mac 2008 - Home and Student Edition
• HP OfficeJet 6500 Wireless All-in-One Printer, Copier, Scanner, Fax
• AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro - Auto-enroll
• MobileMe Membership (One Year)
Cost: $6,326.90
SOFTWARE –
ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 4 DESIGN PREMIUM
Cost: $1,799.00
FONTS – ADOBE FONT FOLIO 11 (2,300 fonts)
Cost: $2,599.00
50-65 FONTS (House Industries, Hoefler & Jones, etc.)
Cost: $7,500.00
ACCESSORIES –
FILTERS, IMAGE ARCHIVE, EXTERNAL HARDDRIVES,
BACK-UP DISCS, BUSINESS CARDS, COLOR GUIDES, ETC.
Cost: $2,625.00
TOTAL: $20,849.90
Figure in that new fonts keep coming, computers have a life-line of 3-4 years, software updates every 18 months, etc. – and this is indeed simply the basic, upfront costs of having your own freelance business. It can be somewhat overwhelming, especially for those entering the workforce out of college with student loans hovering like wolves at the door.
