Break-even calculator
Find the exact number of units you need to sell before the business stops losing money.
What this tool does
Most founders run their business off a vague sense of how much they need to sell. That vague sense is almost always wrong — and almost always wrong in the optimistic direction. The break-even point is the smallest hard number every business owner should know by heart: how many units (or sessions, or appointments, or subscriptions) you have to move before the lights stay on.
How to use it
- Enter your total fixed costs per month — rent, software, insurance, salary you draw, any monthly subscription you signed up for and forgot about.
- Enter the price you charge per unit. If you sell time, that's your hourly or session rate.
- Enter your variable cost per unit — materials, payment processor fees, anything that scales with each sale.
- Read the result. That is the number of units you must sell each month before the business contributes a single cent to your life.
Why it matters
If your break-even number is bigger than you can plausibly sell in a month, you don't have a pricing problem — you have a math problem disguised as a marketing problem. Most solo professionals discover, the first time they run this calculation honestly, that the path to a real business is fewer clients at higher prices, not more clients at the prices they're charging today.
Questions people actually ask.
What is a break-even point?
The number of units (or sessions or subscriptions) you need to sell each month so that revenue exactly covers all costs — fixed and variable. One more unit and you start making money. One fewer and you lose money.
How do I lower my break-even point?
Three levers. Cut fixed costs (cancel the subscriptions you don't use, renegotiate rent). Raise prices (almost always the highest-leverage move for solo professionals). Lower variable costs (cheaper materials, lower processor fees, fewer free hours).
Should my salary count as a fixed cost?
If you actually want to pay yourself, yes. The most common founder mistake is leaving their own pay out of the calculation, which makes the business look healthier than it is. Put your target monthly draw in fixed costs and run the math honestly.
What if my price and variable cost are the same?
Then your contribution margin is zero and you can never break even — every sale loses you a little money on fixed costs. The calculator will show a dash. Raise the price or cut the variable cost before you sell another unit.