Do we need equipment/ does machine make the print? Is it the wand or the wizard {the setup)

How much equipment, supplies do you have that you don’t use, haven’t used in, what, a year, five, more? When you die, how many dumpsters will be filled. Did you buy it to brag or build.

I heard the phrase, “equipment poor” from a salesman suggesting that I wait before buying the new enlarger I wanted. His advice, which I took, was based upon his knowing that a new professional studio had bought too much equipment, more than their income warranted. They would fold; with that closure would come a darkroom, studio, as well as office.

The photographer didn’t have money, he had equipment. In silicon speak, he didn’t have runway… other years: his burn was too high. Tech Money loves to talk macho, military. They wear the fantasy. Role playing is the hallmark of the empty page.

Most startups across all fields fail for similar reasons. Hope isn’t knowledge. Skill isn’t profitable. Neither Hope nor Skill are unique factors. They are basics, like eyebrows.

My labs grew by bits. They grew with used equipment and new clients. Rarely did I sell equipment, although I did sell clients.

The equipment bought new would be lenses. During the 90s collapse, labs would give equipment away rather than paying salvage to dismantle and haul it.