Enter what you'll spend once to launch, what you'll pay every month, and what each sale brings in. The calculator adds up your startup costs, finds your monthly break-even, estimates when you'll earn back the launch money, and builds a simple 12-month projection you can paste into a one-page business plan. It starts with the example cleaning business from our business plan guide — replace the numbers with your own.

Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved. Results are pre-tax estimates for planning, not financial advice.

1. One-time startup costs

Equipment, first inventory, licenses, insurance deposits, website, launch marketing (capex and pre-launch spending).

Total: $0

2. Monthly fixed costs

What you pay every month even with zero sales: insurance, software, phone, rent, base marketing (opex).

Total per month: $0

3. Pricing and sales

Use averages. A "sale" can be a job, an order, or a monthly client.

Your results

–Total startup cost
–Contribution per sale (price − variable cost)
–Sales per month to break even
–Sales per month to also pay you your target
–Month you earn back the startup cost
–Year-one profit after startup costs (pre-tax)

12-month projection

MonthSalesRevenueVariable costsFixed costsOperating profitCumulative cash

Cumulative cash starts at minus your startup cost and adds each month's operating profit. Taxes, owner pay, and loan repayments are not deducted.

How the calculator works

  • Contribution per sale = average price − variable cost per sale. This is what each sale contributes toward fixed costs and profit.
  • Break-even sales per month = monthly fixed costs ÷ contribution per sale, rounded up.
  • Sales needed to pay yourself = (fixed costs + owner pay target) ÷ contribution per sale, rounded up.
  • Monthly sales = month-1 sales plus the monthly increase, capped at your capacity. Real months are lumpier — treat this as a planning ramp, not a forecast.
  • Payback month = the first month in which cumulative cash turns positive.

Getting realistic inputs

  • Price: check what three local or online competitors actually charge. If you plan to undercut them all, ask why customers would trust the cheapest option.
  • Variable costs: include supplies, packaging, shipping, fuel, card-processing fees (roughly 3% of the price), and marketplace fees.
  • Fixed costs: don't forget insurance, phone, software subscriptions, and a minimum marketing budget.
  • Sales ramp: most new businesses grow slower than their owners expect. Run a pessimistic version with half the growth and see if you can survive it.
  • Taxes: in the U.S., self-employment tax is about 15.3% of net profit on top of income tax. Setting aside 25–30% of profit is a common rule of thumb.

Next step: put the numbers into a one-page business plan, compare funding options if the startup total is larger than your savings, or browse ideas under $1,000 if it's too big.