There’s a big difference between making as a hobby, and making for a living, and today I’m going to share with you something that will give you an idea of how many things you’ll need to be making and selling every day, week, or month, to be bringing in a respectable income.

There’s a couple of things you need to think about first though!

Firstly, what is a respectable income, to YOU? What are you aiming for? And I’m talking about the ideal outcome here, not what you *think* you can make in your first year, or even your second year… I’m talking about the end game. Aim high here, people.

Next, you have to be sure that you will be able to dedicate the time required to create the income you are aiming for. Meaning, if you want to earn $50,000 revenue (equivalent to your current full-time income, for example), it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to do this if you are currently working a full time, 35-40 hour per week day job. That is burn-out territory, and you definitely do NOT want to go there.

You might also like to read: How I made $607 in my first online market and how you can too

So if $50,000 is your eventual revenue target, and you are currently working full time, your first plan of attack will be to decide at which point you will transition to a part-time day job, so the rest of your week is dedicated to your small business. And by dedicated, I mean interruption (specifically of the child variety) free, if at all possible. And then decide at which point will you quit your day job all together, and make your business your full-time gig.

Of course these things can seem kinda big and scary to plan or even think about, but really all you’re doing is saying what you’d LIKE to happen, and if it doesn’t, no worries. You’ll re-adjust, set some new plans and just keep going. Everything is figureoutable.

So let’s look at some figures.

Let’s say you’re average product costs $45, and you want to bring in $50,000 revenue per year (this is before expenses).

You’ll need 1,112 people to buy one product per year – $50,040

That’s 93 products per month – $4,185

Or 24 products per week – $1,080

Now let’s look at the same number of products being sold, but put our average price up by just $4 to $49 (side note, studies show people are more likely to purchase at $49 rather than $45, even though it’s more expensive… it’s that magical number 9 at the end!).

24 products sold in one week – $1,176

93 products sold per month – $4,557

1,112 products sold per year – $54,488

That’s an extra $4,448 per year, from raising your average product price by just $4.

So, what about if your products were on average, $149 each?

24 products sold in one week – $3,576

93 products sold per month – $13,857

1,112 products sold per year – $165,688

Or if your average price is $149, but you’re still aiming for $50,000:

You’ll need 336 people to buy one product per year – $50,064

That 28 products per month – $4,172

Or just 7 products per week, 1 a day! – $1,043

What I want you to do right now is put pen to paper (or create a spreadsheet if that’s your thing), and work out what it will take, how many products you would need to sell per year, month and week, to make $10,000, $50,000 and $100,000.

Is it more, or fewer products than you thought? Is that number of products per week currently realistic, or will you need to outsource some tasks down the track (or put your prices up!).

Let me know in the Makers Co Community group!