Your numbers
$
hrs
$
$
$
%
Verdict
Worth it
Beats your day rate by 35%.
Monthly gross revenue$800
Monthly net (after costs)$750
After tax set-aside$540
Effective $/hr (post-tax)$12.47
Vs your day rate—
Break-even week—
12-month profit (after tax)—
12-month profit curve
Cumulative profit after upfront cost and monthly costs, before tax set-aside. Green = profitable, red = still underwater.
How this works. Monthly hours = weekly hours × 4.33. Monthly net = revenue − recurring costs. After-tax = net × (1 − tax%). Effective $/hr = after-tax ÷ monthly hours. Break-even = upfront ÷ monthly net (months), shown in weeks. Verdict compares effective $/hr to your day-job rate. All math runs in your browser; nothing is sent to a server.
How to read the verdict
| Verdict | Effective $/hr vs day rate | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Clear win | ≥ 1.5× | Better than your day job per hour. Scale it. |
| Worth it | 1.0× – 1.5× | Beats day-job rate. Worth your time if you can sustain it. |
| Marginal | 0.5× – 1.0× | Only worth doing if you love the work or the upside is uncapped. |
| Not worth it | 0 – 0.5× | You'd earn more picking up shifts at the day job. |
| Losing money | negative | Costs exceed revenue. Cut bait or change the model. |
Three things this calculator can't see
- Upside. A newsletter at $200/month today is worth more than a vending machine at $500/month — one compounds, the other doesn't. The ROI calc is a snapshot, not a forecast.
- Skill transfer. "Losing money" while learning copywriting that earns you a $20k raise next year is, on net, not losing money. Account for what the work teaches you.
- Opportunity cost. If "day-job rate" is $0 because you're a student, the bar is much lower. Set the day rate to your realistic next-best use of the hour.