As a small business owner, deciding your hourly rates is one of the most important tasks that you face. You have to look at your business in a holistic manner, balancing costs with profit, and calculate a number that can satisfy both.

There is a fine line between picking rates that are too high and will cause customers to turn away, and so low that you are unable to sustain your business. Picking your hourly rate can be the hardest first decision you make. Pick a rate too high and you risk losing customers, pick a rate too low and you risk being unable to sustain your business. There are also a lot of expenses that new business owners don’t always think of: taxes, insurance and even vacation/sick days. In addition, you want to be able to make enough money so you can hit your income goals, live comfortably and have a good quality of life. Quite simply, there is a lot of math involved that you may not have realized. How do you figure out the perfect number?

The solution is MyTana’s Hourly Rate Calculator. This new, free calculator is a quick, helpful guide for figuring out the base number that you should charge. It allows you to plan for expenses and taxes and set a sustainable rate for your business. Simply download and fill in your information—how much you would like to work, insurance costs, taxes, reinvestment allowance—and the calculator will take care of the rest. The formulas automatically reveal your base minimum hourly rate, and you can go from there. Use this tool to aid you in meeting your income goals and help account for any unforeseen expenses that can eat away your profits.