The Freelance Revenue Estimator projects billable revenue from available work time, utilization, hourly pricing, and additional fixed-fee income. It converts a weekly schedule into an average monthly and annual revenue estimate.
The model is helpful for testing workload and pricing assumptions before committing to a target. Utilization is the portion of available work hours that can actually be billed, so administrative work, marketing, and time off should not be counted as billable by default.
1. Estimate available time
Enter the average hours per week you plan to work.
2. Set utilization
Enter the percentage of available time expected to be billable.
3. Enter your average rate
Use a blended hourly rate when clients pay different prices.
4. Add fixed-fee income
Include recurring monthly retainers or productized services not captured by hourly billing.
5. Account for time off
Enter the number of weeks you expect to work during the year and review annual and monthly results.
Where:
The headline is estimated annual gross revenue before costs, taxes, unpaid invoices, and collection delays.
The model assumes the same average schedule and pricing throughout the year.
Given: 30 hours per week, 70% utilization, $100 per billable hour, $1,000 monthly fixed-fee revenue, and 46 working weeks.
Calculation: Billable hours = 30 × 70% × 46 = 966. Hourly revenue = 966 × $100 = $96,600. Fixed-fee revenue = $1,000 × 12 = $12,000.
Result: Estimated annual revenue is $108,600, or $9,050 per average month.
It is billable client time divided by total available work time. Nonbillable administration, sales, learning, and breaks reduce utilization.
Only when you truly expect to bill throughout the year. Reduce the figure for vacation, holidays, illness, and planned gaps.
Enter stable monthly fixed-fee income in the dedicated field. Irregular projects can be converted to a monthly average or modeled separately.
No. It estimates earned or billed revenue, not the timing of cash collection.
Adjust rate, utilization, available hours, or fixed-fee revenue and observe which change produces a realistic workload.