Forecast Your Profit on the Back of a Napkin

To estimate the profit of your side hustle, you don’t need a finance degree or a scientific calculator. You just need a napkin, a pen, and the power of observation.

EQUATIONS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED: Original: $0.00

expected income - expected expenses = projected profit Optimistic: $0.00
____________ - _____________ = $____________ (cha- Conservative: $0.00
ching!)
(price) x (# of signups/sales/etc.) = projected profit
Original Projection:
MAKE A RANGE OF PROJECTIONS: Item Income or Expense
Income Per Sale $0
How do you know if your projections are accurate? Much of the time, you won’t know until you
launch and see how people respond. So unless you’re confident that you can accurately predict Expenses Per Sale $0.00
both (a) your net income (price minus expenses) and (b) how many customers you’ll have, don’t
just do one projection. In addition to the original one, make an “optimistic” projection based on Profit Per Sale $0.00
strong results, as well as a “conservative” one based on weak results.
Sales Per Month 0

TEST A RANGE OF PRICES AS WELL: MONTHLY PROFIT $0.00

In this scenario, we adjusted the cost of what you're selling. The

number of sales/customers stays the same, but your profit Conservative Projection:
increases because each person pays more.
Item Income or Expense
Income Per Sale $0
RANGE OF PRICES: Expenses Per Sale $0.00
Price Options: Constant Number: Insert in first cell Below! Projected Profit Profit Per Sale $0.00
$0.00 0 $0.00 Sales Per Month 0
$0.00 0 $0.00
 $0.00 0 $0.00 MONTHLY PROFIT $0.00
BEST PRICE POINT OF THE
THREE: $0.00
Optimistic Projection:
A Real Example: The Birdwatching Class Item Income or Expense
Income Per Sale $0
In the book I give the example of a birdwatching class. There are two main Expenses Per Sale $0.00
variables here: the price of the class, and the number of students in the class. If Profit Per Sale $0.00
you’re trying to figure out how much money you might make with this course,
you’ll get your answer by adjusting either variable. Sales Per Month 0

MODEL: 10 students @ $39 = $390 MONTHLY PROFIT $0.00

This is the basic model. You start with this and then adjust the variables to make
predictions.

SCENARIO 1: 10 students @ $59 = $590

In this scenario, we raised the price from $39 to $59.

SCENARIO 2: 15 students @ $39 = $585

In this scenario, we kept the price the same, but increased the number of
students.