CalcStack — free, instant, no signup. The interactive calculator loads automatically.
Your old salary is the floor of the math, not the price.
Leaving a $150,000 job to consult does not mean charging $150,000 worth of time — overhead, taxes, insurance, and unpaid bench time mean you must bill roughly $195,000 to land the same income. This calculator converts your income goal, overhead share, and realistic billable days into the day rate and hourly rate you actually need.
People quitting salaried jobs to consult use it the week before they give notice: income goal plus overhead divided by realistic billable days. It replaces the classic mistake of dividing old salary by 2,080 and wondering why year one went broke.
220 weekdays minus 15–25 days of vacation/sick time, minus business development, admin, and gaps between engagements. Most independent consultants who track it honestly land at 100–150 billable days. Planning at 200 is the classic first-year mistake.
Day rates sell better for project work — clients compare a $1,600 day to their loaded cost of an employee day (often $800–1,200) and it reads as reasonable, while $200/hour reads as expensive. Hourly is safer for open-ended support work where scope creep is likely. Quote days, track hours.
Solo consultants with no office: 25–35% covers self-employment tax, health insurance, software, accounting, and marketing. Add 10 points if you rent space or carry subcontractors. The common error is counting only visible expenses and forgetting the employer-side payroll tax you now pay yourself.