Find the number of clients that covers your costs
Enter your fixed monthly costs, your retainer, what each client costs you to serve and a profit target. Get the break-even clients, revenue and the clients for your target. Free, no account.
Your break-even
Example inputs, pre-filled so you can see how it works. They are not typical agency costs or retainers: replace every number with your own.
Each client leaves $1,000, so you need 4 clients ($6,000 a month) to cover $3,500 of fixed costs, and 6 to make $2,000 a month. You are 1 clients below break-even.
- Left per client: $1,500 − $500 = $1,000
- Break-even: $3,500 ÷ $1,000 = 4 clients (rounded up)
- Profit target: ($3,500 + $2,000) ÷ $1,000 = 6 clients
- Today: 3 × $1,000 − $3,500 = $-500 a month
If the retainer changed
| Case | Retainer | Break-even clients | Clients for target |
|---|---|---|---|
| -10% retainer | $1,350 | 5 | 7 |
| Your retainer | $1,500 | 4 | 6 |
| +10% retainer | $1,650 | 4 | 5 |
Copy the numbers
This is arithmetic on the costs you enter. Fixed costs are what you pay whether or not you have clients; the cost to serve is what each extra client adds. It does not include tax, your own unpaid time or the cost of winning a client, and it assumes every client pays the same retainer and costs the same to serve.
How break-even is worked out
Each client brings a retainer and costs something to serve, such as contractor time, ad credits or software seats. What is left is what that client adds toward your fixed costs. Divide the fixed costs by what one client leaves, round up to a whole client, and you have the break-even count. The profit target works the same way with the target added to the fixed costs.
- Put in every cost that does not change with client count: pay, tools, insurance and rent.
- Put your own pay in the fixed costs if you want the profit to be profit after it.
- If the number of clients is more than you can serve, the answer is a higher retainer, not more hours.
Find the clients to get there
Search 67Leads by trade and city, or start with businesses with no website and businesses with few reviews. For the margin on the clients you have, use the agency profit margin calculator.
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Questions
Divide your fixed monthly costs by what each client leaves after the cost to serve them, and round up. Use your own costs: we do not state typical ones.
Anything you pay each month whether or not you have clients, such as pay, tools, insurance and rent.
Then no number of clients covers your fixed costs, and the page says so. Raise the retainer or lower the cost to serve.
No. It fills templates with what you type and makes no network calls.
No. The result is written when the page is served and not saved.
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