Picking a day rate by copying what someone else charges is how freelancers end up earning less than the job they left. Work backwards instead: start with the money you want to keep for the year, add what the business itself costs you, then divide by the days you can actually bill — not the 260 weekdays on the calendar, because holiday, sick days, admin, invoicing and chasing new work all come out of that number first. Enter your figures below and you get the day rate, the hourly equivalent, and how much revenue you need each month to stay on track.
How it works: profit needed = target take-home ÷ (1 − tax %), revenue needed = profit + business costs, and billable days = (52 − weeks off) × (days per week − non-billable days). The day rate is revenue ÷ billable days. The buffer rate assumes 10% of those days go unsold, which is the gap most freelancers hit in their first year.