This free calculator helps solo engineers and freelancers turn a target monthly income into a minimum hourly rate and an estimate of how many outreach contacts it takes to land clients. It is for people going independent who want a concrete starting structure instead of guesswork.
Free version: it runs in your browser — nothing you type leaves your device.
How to use the free calculator
- Enter your target monthly income and the billable hours you can realistically sell each month.
- Add your monthly business costs and the percentage of revenue you set aside for taxes.
- Set your expected reply-to-call rate and call-to-client rate for outreach.
- Read your minimum hourly rate and the number of contacts needed for your first clients.
- Copy or print the result to keep it with your plan.
How the calculation works
The calculator starts from the revenue you need each month. That figure is your target income plus your monthly business costs, then adjusted upward for the share of revenue you set aside for taxes. Dividing that revenue by your billable hours gives your minimum hourly rate: the amount each billable hour must earn before taxes and costs.
The outreach side works from your two conversion rates. If your reply-to-call rate is the share of contacts who agree to a call, and your call-to-client rate is the share of calls that become clients, then the contacts needed per client is one divided by the product of those two rates. Multiplying by three gives the contacts needed for your first three clients.
Worked example with round numbers: suppose you need $6,000 in revenue per month and can sell 100 billable hours, so your minimum hourly rate is $60. With a 20 percent reply-to-call rate and a 25 percent call-to-client rate, one in twenty contacts becomes a client, so you need about 20 contacts per client and about 60 contacts for your first three clients.
Common mistakes include overstating the billable hours you can actually sell, forgetting business costs or the tax set-aside, and treating the contact count as a promise rather than an average. Your real rates and conversion results will vary, so revisit the numbers as you learn from actual outreach.
Frequently asked questions
How is the minimum hourly rate calculated?
The calculator adds your target monthly income and monthly business costs, adjusts for your tax set-aside, and divides the result by your billable hours per month. That gives the revenue each billable hour must earn before taxes and costs.
How many outreach contacts do I need to win a client?
It depends on your reply-to-call rate and call-to-client rate. The calculator multiplies those two rates and divides one by the result to estimate the average number of contacts per client won.
What counts as billable hours?
Billable hours are the hours you can realistically sell to clients each month, not every hour you work. Time spent on admin, marketing, and learning is usually not billable, so keep the figure conservative.
Is this financial or tax advice?
No. The planner is an educational estimate only and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Check your own situation with a qualified professional before setting rates.
Can I save or print my result?
Yes. You can copy or print the result to keep it with your plan. The paid planner adds an interactive offline tool, a spreadsheet, and a PDF guide for building the full offer and outreach structure.
Free educational tool made with the help of AI and tested automatically on desktop and mobile. Results are estimates. Not financial advice.
