Jobs Needed to Break Even
How many jobs, orders or sales a month you need to cover your costs and pay yourself.
Materials, fuel, fees for that one. Leave empty for none.
Licences, insurance and registration rules differ by country and place, so check yours before you start.
Type your monthly costs and what one job earns, and the number you need appears here.
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Enter your monthly costs, the pay you want, and what one job brings in and costs. This shows how many you need each month to cover your costs, and how many to pay yourself too.
Most beginners know what they would like to earn but not how much work that takes. Turning it into a number of jobs a month, and a number a week, makes it concrete. It also shows quickly whether the price you plan to charge can work at all.
How it’s worked out
- Kept from each job is what one job brings in minus what it costs you to do.
- Jobs to cover costs is your monthly costs divided by what you keep from each job, rounded up.
- Jobs to cover costs and pay is your monthly costs plus the pay you want, divided by what you keep from each job, rounded up.
- Per week is the monthly number divided by about 4.33.
Each job brings in $350 and costs $80, so you keep $270. With $800 a month of costs you need 3 jobs to cover them, and with $2,000 of pay as well you need 11 jobs a month, about 2.5 a week.
Common mistakes
- Using the price without the cost of doing the job. Materials, fuel and fees come off every single one.
- Counting an average job when yours vary. Use a typical one, or run it for each type.
- Forgetting that jobs take time. If the number of jobs does not fit in your week, the price has to go up.
- Skipping the pay you want. Covering costs only means working for nothing.
Questions
What is a "job" here?
Any unit of work you get paid for: a job, an order, a trip, a sale, a class. The picker changes the word to suit.
What if each job loses money?
Then no number of jobs will break even. The tool tells you so. Raise the price or lower what each costs you.
How is this different from the break-even point calculator?
The break-even point calculator is for selling units of a product. This one is for people selling their time or jobs, and it adds the pay you want to take home.
What should I do next?
Check the rate you need to charge, or see what you really earn after costs and fees. The links under the result lead there.
Estimates only
These are estimates and general information, not financial, tax, legal or professional advice. Costs, pay, tax and licensing rules vary by country and place, so use your own figures and check the rules where you live.
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