🪵 How much take home pay will my woodworking business actually generate?

You want to know if a woodworking business can actually replace your day job. Set your target monthly revenue and what you plan to charge on average per project to see how many builds you will need to complete each month. It's easy to look at a $10,000 revenue month and think you are rich, but what are your actual margins? This calculator shows your true take-home pay.

To build a sustainable woodworking business, you cannot just be a woodworker. You have to become a business owner who understands margins and cash flow. As Zach Vaught explains, his ratio is he doesn't ever want to have more than 30% material cost in a project.

You must also dedicate a percentage of revenue to acquiring customers predictably. As Zach Vaught puts it, he has always tried to set a marketing budget of around 10% of whatever revenue he is trying to generate for the month.

Your business needs money to survive and grow. As Zach Vaught notes, your first several projects are not income. They are investment. You are buying credibility, reviews, photos, speed, and systems.

If you pull profits too early to buy a gun you have been wanting, you leave your business just like an atrophied shriveled up little kid that can't survive. Zach Vaught advises reinvesting probably 50% to 80% of all profit back into the business.