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Build a break-even sheet that tells you how many sales you need

You don't know how many jobs, covers or orders you need each month just to stand still. Get the number, and a free spreadsheet that updates when your costs or prices change.

Updated 17 Oct 2026

The prompt · ChatGPT

Help me work out my break-even point and set up a sheet for it.

My business: [what you sell]
What counts as one sale: [e.g. a job, a cover, an order, a session]
Monthly fixed costs: [rent, insurance, software, van, my minimum drawings, and so on]
Typical price per sale: [amount]
Cost of delivering one sale: [materials, card fees, packaging, staff time per sale]

First ask me up to 4 short questions about which costs are fixed and which rise with each sale. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. My break-even number of sales a month, with the sum shown.
2. A what-if table: break-even if my price goes up 5% and 10%, and if my delivery cost rises 10%.
3. A Google Sheets layout: which labels go in which cells, and the exact formulas to paste.
4. What the result means in plain words: per week, per day open.
5. The two levers that would move it most for my business.

Use only my figures, show the sums and mark any guess. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or figures. UK English.

Stay in this ChatGPT chat. Do not turn on apps or connectors, and do not use memory from another chat.

A short example

Fill the blanks, then paste. what you sell: a short note you already have. e.g. a job, a cover, an order, a session: a short note you already have. Leave the rest of the prompt as written.

This does not give tax advice. The books stay in the accounting system.

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