If you make $50k/yr (as a freelance headshot photographer in a small town) using Photoshop, a $1000 license plus a $500 upgrade every two years is worth your wh

If you make $50k/yr (as a freelance headshot photographer in a small town) using Photoshop, a $1000 license plus a $500 upgrade every two years is worth your while. (I'm not up to date on the current subscription pricing but assume it's analagous.) Many people make much more than that per year using such software. In my current job at a small business, there are things we spend $10k/mo on to make $1M/mo in revenue. Even if we were only making $100k/mo, those costs would not be prohibitive (though we might be looking at reducing them further). Basically, you have to spend money to make money. If what you spend will allow you to make more than you're spending (and more than you'd make without it), it's worth it. The term many use for that sort of spending is "investment".