Working the “right” amount is a challenge: in an ideal world you could find a sweet spot between work hours that also allow you to maintain relationships to health, rest, family, friends, fun, and other responsibilities. Designing this is not easy, nor is it available to all. But, it is deeply worth trying for. 

An important step is estimating your sustainable working hours and income needs – these let you work backwards to figure out the jobs, hourly rate, sales, or salary you’d need to achieve this dream balance.

• You need $6,000 a month to live sustainably and want to work 30 hours a week? Ok, maybe look for a 4-day/week job that pays $100k, or a small business that brings in $9k a month [or $27-30k/quarter] excluding materials, rents, employee costs etc. 
• You want $4,500 a month and feel open to 25 hours a week with a few periods of more work? Look for a $70k a year job or run a business that brings in $6.5-7k a month [or $20k/quarter] after expenses.
• You want $8,000 a month and feel up for 40 hours of work? Then look into a $130k a year job paying $70/hour – or a business that nets $12-13k/month [or $35-40k/ a quarter] after expenses.

This is just the starting point – and you don’t have to sort it out alone. If you want to figure this out with a crew of queer folks who are self-employed, join Small Business Big Life, starting Sept 9 – Monday afternoons thru Oct 28 we figure our business and money out together, or take an upcoming Level Set workshop to figure out your sustainable income.