Stop Guessing Your Prices. Do the Math.
This calculator uses the Profit First framework layered with my sustainable business calculations on top to find the minimum hourly rate your business needs to actually support your life. Not your worth. Not your competitors' rates. Your math.
Your Minimum Viable Rate
Profit First Allocations
What Should You Charge for That Offer?
Enter the details of a specific offer to see what it needs to be priced at to hit your minimum viable rate.
Include actual delivery time — calls, sessions, async work.
Onboarding, prep work, follow-up, notes, email communication.
For group offers, enter the number of seats. For 1:1, leave at 1.
Can I Afford a New Expense?
Test whether a new cost fits inside your operating expenses budget — and what it would do to your revenue target if it doesn't.
Enter the full monthly cost including any associated fees or taxes.
How This Works
This calculator combines two frameworks
The allocation percentages (profit, owner's pay, tax, operating expenses) come from Profit First by Mike Michalowicz — a cash management framework worth reading if you want to implement it fully. But Profit First tells you how to divide revenue once you have it. It doesn't tell you how much revenue you need to actually sustain your life, your capacity, or your sanity.
The sustainability math layered on top — the 42-week year, the 20 billable hours, the take-home calculation that accounts for healthcare, emergency reserves, and an honest cost of living — is what I've developed through years of working with service-based entrepreneurs on business design. Most pricing advice either ignores these variables entirely or assumes you can figure them out later. This calculator builds them in from the start, because a business that's profitable on paper but unsustainable in practice isn't a design success.
Why math beats feelings
"Charge what you're worth" is unhelpful advice for most people — especially those with evidence-based brains who need proof before belief. Confidence doesn't come first; it follows evidence. Starting with math gives you a grounded floor to hold onto, especially in sales conversations when someone pushes back on your price. The line is the line — you calculated it in advance, calmly, before any pressure was involved.
Why these percentages might not match yours
The Profit First allocations are starting targets, not universal laws. Your actual percentages depend on your business model, your industry, your team size, and how far along you are in implementing Profit First. A product-based business looks different from a service business. A solopreneur looks different from someone with contractors. If your numbers don't match the defaults, override them — the calculator is built for your real situation.
What this calculator doesn't do
This calculator gives you a floor, not a ceiling. Your minimum viable rate is the number below which the math doesn't work — but you should be charging more than the floor whenever your value justifies it. It also doesn't account for every variable in every business — use it as a starting point and a sanity check, not a complete financial model.
What to do if the numbers feel impossible
If your minimum viable rate comes out much higher than what you're currently charging, that's uncomfortable information — but it's useful. It means there's a gap between where your pricing is and where it needs to be. The fix is usually incremental: raise your rates in steps, collecting evidence at each level that clients will pay it. Small annual increases (3–5%) are maintenance. Larger jumps are sometimes necessary to close a significant gap. Both are better than knowing the math doesn't work and doing nothing about it.