Are you planning to start a commercial printing business? There are now over 50,000 printing companies running all over Northern America alone but it seems that more shops are opening because of the increasing demand in printed materials. So if you are interested to add to this growing number of presses and become a commercial printer yourself, look at the four main aspects below that needs the most capitalization. From there, you can draw out your budget for capitalization in order to start a printing company.

1. Printing Machineries and Equipment. The commercial printing presses are the bloodline of your business and they can be your biggest investments as well as assets. With the many modern printers, you can now decide if you want to go offset, digital or both. You may want to know that most digital printers are more expensive than offset printers. Offset printers may be used for your local clients but digital printers will allow to you accept online orders. Determine which way you will pursue. If you want to do both, it would be good for you to start on one route only and just add machineries as needed. One unit of a factory demo digital commercial printer may be purchased around $13,000.

2. Commercial Space. You need to house commercial printing business because you need to protect your equipment as well as your stocks. A great deal of capital is required for the office space and the exact cost may vary depending on the size as well as the location of the commercial building. In 2008, the national average for retail office space rental was around $18 per square foot. This amount is multiplied with the actual floor space of your desired area and that is how much you are going to pay for your monthly rental. Then at the onset, you will have to shell out several months’ worth of the monthly rental because your landlord will be asking for a deposit and advance, which could be worth up to seven months. You have to pay this amount even before you start operating just so you could reserve the space.

3. Initial Operational Cost. In order to start operating, you will be shelling out money for infrastructure or renovations, the purchase of office furniture, logistics, and many others. Since you cannot expect your first three months as earning months, the expenses incurred in running the office/operations at this time can still be classified under capitalization. You have to make an estimate your operating costs for the first three months at the very least. You have to have spare money for that so that you will not be caught in the cold. The monthly operational expenses will include salaries and wages, printing supplies, office supplies, insurance, rental, and utility bills. You have to make a projection of your monthly operational costs while computing your capitalization because you just might have to shoulder the initial operational costs.

4. Marketing Expense. While this area is often neglected, this is a necessary expense when you are starting a new business. You have to let people know that you are already in business and what you are offering. It is like spending money to earn money. Failing to do so will mean that people will not be aware about your business and you will be spending the first few months with no or a just a few clients. Then you will think that business is not good but in reality is, you failed to invest in your marketing as a commercial printer. It is a strange thought that people would be willing to shell out $500,000 for a commercial printing business and would not even spend $1,000 on marketing. That could mean the death of a business before it can even take flight.