# How do I set a monthly profit goal for my business?

Work backward from what you need: the monthly pay you want, plus the share of profit you set aside for tax, plus any money to keep in the business. To take home $3,000 a month while setting aside 25% of profit for tax, you need $4,000 of monthly profit ($3,000 / 0.75). Add your monthly expenses to get a sales target. A ProfitDrawer bookkeeping spreadsheet stores the goal in Settings and shows progress on its Monthly Dashboard.

Steps:

1. **Monthly pay target:** what you want to move to your personal account.
2. **Tax set-aside:** many self-employed people set aside 25% to 30% of profit. Profit needed = pay / (1 minus set-aside).
3. **Reinvestment:** add any amount for savings, equipment or a cash cushion.
4. **Sales target** = profit goal + monthly business expenses. With $2,500 of expenses, $4,000 of profit needs $6,500 of sales.
5. **Turn it into work:** divide the sales target by your average job or order. At $150 a job, $6,500 is 44 jobs (43.3 rounded up).

Then track it:

- Compare actual profit with the goal every month.
- Expect seasonal months; you can set a yearly goal and check the average.
- If you keep missing the goal, check prices first, then costs, then how many jobs you can fit in.

General information, not tax advice.

- Source: [Small Business Bookkeeping Spreadsheet (ProfitDrawer)](https://profitdrawer.com/p/small-business-bookkeeping-spreadsheet.html)
- Updated: 2026-10-29
- Published: 2026-10-29
- Category: Pricing and profit
- Canonical: https://profitdrawer.com/answers/how-do-i-set-a-monthly-profit-goal-for-my-business.html
- Publisher: ProfitDrawer (https://profitdrawer.com)