Startup Costs and Simple Pricing

What You Will Learn

• List one-time startup costs and ongoing monthly costs
• Distinguish needs from wants in a startup budget
• Calculate a simple price using cost-plus and hourly methods
• Find a break-even point in simple terms

Lesson Notes

Startup Costs vs. Ongoing Costs

Startup costs are one-time expenses before you open: equipment, first supplies, licenses, registration. Ongoing costs repeat: supplies, phone, transportation, insurance.

Divide your startup list into needs (cannot open without) and wants (can wait). Start lean and add equipment as profit allows.

Fixed and Variable Costs

Fixed costs stay about the same each month (phone, insurance). Variable costs rise with each job or product (supplies per house, ingredients per cake). Many new owners forget their own time, transportation, and taxes.

Simple Pricing

• Cost-plus: cost to make one item plus a markup. A candle costing $4 in materials might sell for $10.
• Hourly for services: the hourly pay you need, plus supplies and a share of costs, times the hours a job takes.
• Check the market: you don't have to be cheapest; you must be worth it.

Andrea priced cleaning jobs so low that after supplies and bus fare she earned almost nothing. She added up her real costs, raised her price, and most customers stayed. (Andrea is a composite example.) All numbers here are practice examples; real prices depend on your area.

Break-Even and Fair Dealing

Your break-even point is where sales cover all costs: monthly fixed costs ÷ (price per sale − variable cost per sale) = sales needed.

A just weight is God's delight (Proverbs 11:1): honest quotes, no hidden fees, and promised work delivered. And the labourer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7): do not undervalue your work.

Key Terms

In-Class Activities

Startup Cost Worksheet

List every startup item your business needs. Mark each as Need or Want. Estimate costs using the printed price sheet. Total the Needs column. Then find three ways to lower that total (borrow, buy used, start smaller).

Price It Right

Practice problems: (1) A candle uses $3 of wax, $1 of scent, and $0.50 for the jar and wick. With a markup that doubles the cost, what is the price? (2) A cleaning job takes 3 hours. You want $18 per hour and supplies cost $6 per job. What should you charge? (3) Monthly fixed costs are $120. Each job earns $60 with $6 in supplies. How many jobs to break even?

Assignment: My Startup Budget and Price

For your business idea, complete:

• A startup cost list with Needs and Wants and a total for Needs.
• A list of monthly fixed costs and variable costs per sale or job.
• Your price, showing how you calculated it (cost-plus or hourly).
• Your break-even point per month.
• One sentence on how your pricing reflects Proverbs 11:1.

Graded with the Module Assignment Rubric.

Reflection Journal

Proverbs 11:1 says a just weight is God's delight. Fair pricing honors customers and honors your own labor. Have you ever undervalued yourself or your work? What would it look like to price your work honestly and without fear?

Prayer focus: Ask God for honesty in every transaction and confidence in the worth of your work.

A Just Weight

In Bible times, merchants weighed goods on a balance. A dishonest merchant used a false weight to cheat customers. Proverbs says God hates a false balance but delights in a just weight. Fair dealing matters to God.

Fair pricing works in two directions. It is fair to customers: honest quotes, no hidden fees, and delivering what you promised. It is also fair to you: covering your costs, paying yourself, and setting aside money for taxes. The labourer is worthy of his hire.

Many new owners undervalue their work. They charge too little because they are afraid no one will pay more, or because they have been told their work is not worth much. Then they work hard and earn almost nothing. Counting your real costs is an act of honesty, not greed.

Start lean. Separate needs from wants, borrow or buy used when it is honest and safe, and grow from profit. A small, healthy business is better than a large one built on debt and stress.

Think About It

1. Have you ever undervalued your own work? ______________________
2. Which startup items are true needs for your idea? ______________________
3. What does a just weight look like in your pricing? ______________________

Daily Devotions for Week 6

A Just Weight

A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.— Proverbs 11:1 (KJV)

God delights in honest dealing. Fair prices honor Him.

Reflect: Where do you need to deal more fairly?

Pray: Lord, make my dealings just.

Do: Write your price and explain how you calculated it.

Worthy of Hire

for the labourer is worthy of his hire.— Luke 10:7 (KJV)

Your work has value. It is right to be paid fairly for it.

Reflect: Do you believe your work has value?

Pray: Lord, help me see my work as You see it.

Do: Add up every cost of one job, including your time.

Profit in Labour

In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.— Proverbs 14:23 (KJV)

Talking about a business is not the same as working it. Faithful labour brings fruit.

Reflect: What work can you do today instead of only talking?

Pray: Lord, bless the labour of my hands.

Do: Complete one worksheet section you have been putting off.

Honest Measures

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.— Leviticus 19:35 (KJV)

God cares about honest measures, down to the details of trade.

Reflect: What details of your business need honest measure?

Pray: Lord, make me honest in every detail.

Do: Check one calculation twice.

Faithful in Least

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.— Luke 16:10 (KJV)

Faithfulness with small amounts prepares us for larger ones.

Reflect: How are you handling the little you have?

Pray: Lord, make me faithful with little.

Do: Track every expense you make today.