About

For micro-businesses, street vendors, and home-based entrepreneurs, complex accounting software is overkill. However, knowing the difference between "markup" and "margin" or knowing exactly how many units must be sold to pay the rent is a matter of survival.

This tool is stripped of corporate jargon. It asks three simple questions: What does it cost you? What do you sell it for? What are your monthly bills? In return, it provides the critical health metrics of your business: Gross Margin (how much you keep of every sale), Net Profit (what you actually take home), and the Break-Even Point (the safety line).

Accuracy here prevents the common mistake of underpricing goods, ensuring that every sale contributes to covering fixed expenses like electricity, stall rent, or permits.

Formulas

The core of micro-business math relies on the relationship between variable costs (per unit) and fixed costs (per month).

{

UnitProfit = Price − CostMargin = (UnitProfit ÷ Price) × 100BreakEven = FixedCosts ÷ UnitProfit

Reference Data

Metric	Formula	Good Range (Retail)	Meaning
Gross Profit	Price − Cost	-	Cash earned per unit sold.
Gross Margin %	ProfitPrice × 100	20% - 50%	Percentage of revenue that is profit.
Markup %	ProfitCost × 100	50% - 100%	Percentage added to cost.
Break-Even (Units)	FixedCostsUnitProfit	Lower is better	Units to sell to pay $0 bills.
Net Profit	(Profit × Units) − Fixed	> 0	Actual take-home money.

Frequently Asked Questions

This is the #1 mistake. Markup is % of Cost. Margin is % of Price. If you buy for $50 and sell for $100, your Markup is 100%, but your Margin is only 50%. You keep 50 cents of every dollar sold. This tool calculates Margin, which is safer for financial planning.

Fixed costs are bills you pay regardless of how much you sell. Examples: Rent, shop electricity, permit fees, internet, or the salary of an employee who is paid a flat rate. Do not include raw materials here.

If your break-even number is high, your Fixed Costs are too high, or your Unit Profit is too low. You need to either cut your monthly bills or increase the gap between your buying price and selling price.

Yes. For a service, "Unit Cost" might be $0 (or the cost of transport/materials used), and "Price" is your hourly rate. The tool will tell you how many hours you need to work to cover your overhead.