Set out your day-rate sums in a spreadsheet from your own income, costs and billable days

In the ProCopywriters survey, 43% of respondents said they do not feel they charge enough, and the same body's guidance calls undercharging the most common pricing mistake and gives a simple sum: target income plus costs, divided by billable days. Few freelancers sit down to do the sum with all their costs and non-billable time. AI can turn your own numbers into a spreadsheet layout with the formulas written out and notes on what each line means. It should not do the arithmetic for you, state a market rate, or say what tax you owe: calculate in the spreadsheet, and ask your accountant about tax, VAT and pension.

A free AI chat tool, then your own email or messaging app

Steps

1. Write down, from your own records, the income you want to take home in a year, your business costs (software, insurance, training, accountant, marketing) and the days you expect to be unavailable (holidays, sickness, admin, marketing, learning).
2. Decide how many working days a year you have and what share you realistically bill. The guidance says most freelancers can bill 60 to 70 per cent of their time at best, but that is the trade body's claim: use your own past diary or invoices.
3. Ask the tool for a spreadsheet layout with each line, the formula in words and the cell formulas, using only your inputs. Do not ask it to calculate the result or to say what other writers charge.
4. Build the spreadsheet yourself, enter your numbers and check the result with a calculator.
5. Leave the tax line blank for your accountant: income tax, National Insurance, VAT and pension are theirs. Ask them how much to put aside.
6. Compare the day rate to your last three quotes, and use it as the floor in your next quote. Review it once a year.

The exact prompt

I am a UK freelance copywriter. I want a spreadsheet layout to work out the day rate I need.
You must NOT calculate any result, state any market rate or average, say what anyone charges, give any tax, VAT, National Insurance or pension figure or advice, or say what I should charge. Use ONLY the headings and inputs below. Write the formulas so that I can put them in a spreadsheet and calculate there.
The method I want to use, from the guidance I am following: (target income + business costs) divided by billable days gives the day rate needed.
My inputs, to be typed in the sheet and not calculated by you: target income per year [amount]; business costs per year by line [list]; working days in the year [number]; days off, sickness, admin, marketing and learning [number]; the share of working days I bill, from my own diary [percent].
Produce: (1) a table of rows and columns for the spreadsheet with a plain-English note on each; (2) the cell formulas for billable days and the day rate in standard spreadsheet notation; (3) a second layout showing the day rate if billable days go up or down by 10 days, as formulas only; (4) a blank row labelled 'tax and pension, for my accountant' and a list of questions to ask my accountant about tax, VAT and what to put aside.