It does help to run each of your mockup versions through a price calculator (I scripted my own actually) just to get accustomed to the rough total cost you'd be looking at - instead of getting a shock when you finally do it after developing a design flying blind for a while.
However, don't fall for the trap of bargaining "I'll take simpler spots so I can afford it at all / a few more chips" and in turn diluting your design. Also, shifting your good-looking designs all to the lower count high value chips to reduce costs can backfire as you will have them in play only relatively rarely and in small numbers, so the boring simple designs will dominate the table. Ending up with somewhat bland chips you will still be paying a load of money for is not a good outcome. Better to wait a little longer and get the 100% version.
You might also not need 1000 chips right up front, but easily get away with a slimmer set at first that still works, and later down the road add on to it. Cash sets can be made to work well with just 600-800 chips. Tournament sets with even less, but of course you need to keep the total chip count and the number of different denominations you need in mind.
If you feel rushed to finalize your design because the mold you want comes into rotation soon, you'll likely not have enough time to really get a good design as you need to sit on one particular version for a good while to notice its shortcomings.
I do hate waiting, but here, it really is the smarter choice.