Revenue
$0
COGS
$0
Gross profit
$0
Gross margin
—
Overhead
$0
Net profit
$0
Net margin
—
Weddings
0
Avg/wedding
$0
How to use this tab: Select each package and enter how many weddings you expect to book at that tier per year. Adjust the price and every cost line item (crew, editing, delivery, travel) — the dashboard recalculates everything in real time. The sticky bar at the top always shows your totals so you never lose sight of the numbers while editing.
- Set realistic booking counts first, then use the Scenarios tab to test price changes without losing your baseline.
- Travel and lodging default to $0 — fill these in with your average per-wedding estimate once you know your market radius.
Package mix — weddings per year
All packages — quick view
| Package | Bookings/yr | Price | COGS | Gross profit | Gross margin | Annual revenue |
|---|
What is overhead? These are your fixed annual costs that exist whether you shoot 5 weddings or 50. Unlike COGS (which scale with each job), overhead is the price of keeping the business alive. Knowing this number is critical — it sets your breakeven point and tells you how many weddings you must book before you make a single dollar of profit.
- Add or remove items freely — every category is fully customizable.
- The Breakeven card shows the minimum weddings/year to cover all overhead. Anything above that is profit.
- Most photographers dramatically underestimate overhead. Be thorough — include everything from Adobe CC to the portion of your phone bill used for business.
Fixed annual costs
Total annual overhead
$0
Monthly overhead
$0
Overhead per wedding
$0
Breakeven weddings/yr
—
Your full financial picture in one place. The waterfall shows exactly where your revenue goes — from top-line revenue down to what actually lands in your pocket. The P&L is the same view in table form, useful for sharing with an accountant or using for a loan application.
- Gross profit is what's left after paying your crew and direct costs. Net profit is what's left after overhead too — this is your actual business income.
- Green = healthy (30%+ net margin). Yellow = watch it (15–30%). Red = restructure now (<15%).
Key metrics
Revenue waterfall
P&L statement
| Line item | Amount | % of revenue |
|---|
Package contribution breakdown
| Package | Bookings | Price | COGS detail | Gross profit | Margin % | Rev share | Annual contribution |
|---|
Test pricing changes without breaking your baseline. The left column is always your current setup (live from the Packages tab). The right column is your sandbox — adjust any package price and booking count to see exactly how revenue, margin, and net profit would change. The difference column highlights gains and losses in green/red.
- Try raising your most-booked package by $500–$1,000 and see the annual impact.
- Model what happens if you drop a low-margin package entirely.
- Use this before any price increase conversation with yourself — the numbers make the decision obvious.
Scenario comparison
Current (baseline)
Scenario (edit below)
Difference
Scenario package editor
Edit prices and booking counts below. Changes only affect the scenario — your baseline on the Packages tab is untouched.
| Package | Current price | Scenario price | Current bookings | Scenario bookings | Revenue impact |
|---|
What's the minimum you can charge and still hit your income goal? This calculator works backwards from your target net income to tell you the floor price for each package. It accounts for your COGS, your overhead, and your target booking mix. If your current prices are below the floor, you're undercharging. If they're well above, you have pricing power.
- Set your target annual net income — this is what you want to actually take home (before taxes).
- Set your expected booking mix — how many of each package you realistically expect to book.
- The calculator shows you the exact price each package must be at, assuming a proportional price increase across all packages.
| Package | COGS/wedding | Overhead allocation | Floor price | Recommended price | Your current price | Gap |
|---|
Are you on track to hit your annual goal? Enter how many weddings you've booked so far this year and which month it is. The tracker tells you your booking rate, whether you're ahead or behind pace, and exactly how many more bookings you need to hit your target.
- Wedding bookings are seasonal — most couples book 12–18 months out. If it's January and you have zero bookings, that's normal. If it's June and you're at 30% of goal, that's a problem.
- Use the lead gen spend recommendations to decide when to increase platform spend.
The gap between "net profit" and what you actually take home is bigger than most photographers expect. As a self-employed business owner, you pay self-employment tax (15.3%) on top of regular income tax — and there's no employer splitting it with you. This tab shows your real take-home after all taxes so you can plan accurately.
- Self-employment tax (15.3%) applies to the first ~$168k of net profit. Half of it is deductible, which helps slightly.
- You can reduce taxable income through retirement contributions (SEP-IRA, Solo 401k), health insurance deductions, and business expense deductions — the overhead tab covers most of these.
- These are estimates. Always work with a CPA for your actual tax situation.
Tax inputs
Take-home breakdown
FIRE = Financial Independence, Retire Early. This tab connects CoWedCo directly to your early retirement timeline. Enter your target nest egg (the amount you need invested to retire), your current savings, and how much of your annual take-home you'll invest — and it shows you exactly which year you cross the finish line.
- The 4% Rule: A common FIRE benchmark — you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio per year without running out of money. So a $1.5M portfolio supports $60k/year in withdrawals indefinitely. Adjust to find your number.
- Roth Conversion Ladder: Since you're targeting early retirement (before 59½), traditional retirement accounts have early withdrawal penalties. A Roth ladder lets you access money penalty-free — convert traditional IRA funds to Roth 5 years before you need them.
- Increasing your annual savings rate by even $5k/year can move your retirement date up by 1–2 years.
What is your time actually worth per wedding? Most photographers price by market comp — not by what their time is worth. This tab calculates your real effective hourly rate per package by mapping total hours spent against net profit per wedding. The result often reframes every pricing decision you make.
- Include all time: inquiry calls, contract admin, day-of shooting, culling, editing, delivery, follow-up. Most people undercount by 30–40%.
- If your effective rate is below your target hourly rate, you need to raise prices, reduce hours, or both.
- Elite packages usually look better here even though they cost more — more hours yes, but the margin per hour is often higher.
| Package | Price | COGS | Overhead/wedding | Net/wedding | Est. hours | Effective $/hr | vs. target |
|---|
Which lead sources are actually worth the money? Track every inquiry by source, whether it converted, and at what package. The ROI calculator shows you cost-per-lead and cost-per-booking by channel — so you can decide whether your $3,600/year Knot subscription is earning its keep or whether referrals are outperforming everything at zero cost.
- Log platform costs in the Overhead tab — they'll auto-populate here.
- Even rough estimates are useful. You don't need perfect data to see that one channel converts at 2x the rate of another.
- Most photographers discover referrals have a 10–20x better ROI than paid platforms. That insight alone can reshape where you invest your time.
Channel ROI
Inquiry log
SourcePackage bookedValueConverted?