Tool · Engine Economics

A good business can still be
the wrong engine.

I learned this the expensive way. I built a coaching business I believed in, and when I finally counted the hours it took to win each client against what each client was worth, it paid about what an off-duty shift does. Working harder would only have made the loss bigger. Run your idea through the same math before you spend a year on it.

Nothing you type here is saved or sent anywhere. The math runs in your browser, and closing the page erases it.
What a customer is worth
Be honest. If you don't know yet, guess low.
Software, materials, subcontractors. Anything you spend because this customer exists.
What a customer costs you in hours
Everything it takes to land one: conversations, proposals, follow-ups, plus your share of posting, networking and pitches that didn't land. This is the number people leave out.
Your comparison and your limits
The number this engine has to beat. Monthly take-home divided by hours worked.
From The Way Out. Shows whether this engine alone could clear it.
$0
What it really pays per hour, after tax
$0
One customer is worth

How it works: a customer's value is what they pay over the time they stay, minus fees and direct costs. Their cost in hours is the time to win them plus the time to serve them. Divide one by the other and you have the real hourly wage of the business. At capacity, part of your hours goes to replacing the customers who leave. Education, not financial or tax advice.

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