I bought my innova with the intentions of starting a business immediately. I think that it will take some time before you feel comfortable doing customer quilts and that is based solely on how much time you will have to practice. I bought mine with a computer system thinking I could start right away. And while it didn't take me too long to put out quality work..it would have if I was doing hand guided work. I started accepting customers 6 months after receiving my equipment. I'm making payments but not relying on my business to make the payments and that has worked for me. I'd probably be scrambling and putting a lot more effort into finding customers if I needed that income to pay for the equipment it but I'm active duty military with a 2 year old so I still work full time too. Doing charity quilts is a great way to get some experience without quite as much stress...good luck!