Companion to the lessons "The honest money", "Pricing and travel fees", and "Keep them coming back"
1. Cost-per-Service Calculator
Line
Your service
Reference
Service price
Market: women's cut and finish $70–$100; single-process color with finish $75–$150; senior house-call cut $30–$50
Travel fee billed
Flat $20–$40 far end of a 10–25-mile radius, or about a dollar a mile past the free zone
Product and disposables
Working rule: 10–15% of service price; track a month and replace the rule with your number
Mileage cost (round-trip miles × IRS rate)
2026 IRS business rate: 72.5¢/mile through June 30, 76¢ from July 1
Insurance share per service
Dedicated stylist policies roughly $199–$370 a year
Software share per service
Your booking-tool subscription ÷ monthly services
Tax set-aside
15.3% self-employment tax on net earnings; setting aside a quarter of collections covers it plus income tax
Net before time
2. Effective-Hourly Math (worked examples from the course, assumptions labeled)
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Single house call
Cluster: three in one building
Your appointment
Booking
Cut and blowout at $90, 12 miles away
Three clients in one assisted living building at $30 each, 15 miles away
Revenue
$90
$90
Time invested
75 min on site + 50 min drive + 25 min load/unload/sanitize = about 150 min (2.5 hr)
About 150 min including drive and setup, because you unpack once
Product
about $10
about $6
Vehicle cost
24 mi round trip × 76¢ = about $18
23 mi round trip = about $17
Effective hourly
about $25/hr
about $27/hr
Density, not ticket size, is the mobile operator's profit lever. A 20-mile round trip burns about $15 of true vehicle cost at the IRS rate, whether you bill a travel fee or not.
3. Travel-Zone Fee Table
Zone
Definition
Your fee
Zone one
Roughly a 10–15 minute drive from home; convenience premium in the base price covers it
Zone two
Out to the far edge of the typical mobile radius, about 10–25 miles; flat fee, commonly $20–$40
Zone three
Beyond that; per-mile pricing typically about a dollar a mile, most operators between 75¢ and $2, or decline and refer out
Zone-three pricing should sit above the IRS rate or the trip is charity.
4. Recurring-Book Projection (clients × average ticket × visits per year)
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Worked example
Your book
Average ticket
$65
Cycle
5-week cycle (roughly 10.4 visits/year)
Client value per year
roughly $675
Recurring clients
Projected recurring revenue per year
Cadence reference: nail fills every 2–3 weeks; haircuts 4–8 weeks by shape; color retouch 4–6 weeks, gray coverage at the short end; event work one-off and seasonal.