The one page business plan for a contractor going full time

Going from side work to full time is a big jump. Most contractors make it on a gut feeling. Not a number. A one page plan takes the guesswork out.

Start with your monthly nut

Your "nut" is what you need every month, no matter what. Rent or mortgage. Insurance. Truck payment. Phone. Materials float. And a real paycheck for yourself. Not leftover cash. Write it down as one total.

Say your personal costs run $3,500 a month. Add business overhead: insurance, truck, tools, phone. Say that's $1,200 more. Your nut is $4,700 a month before you make a dollar of profit. Most contractors guess too low here. They forget bills like insurance that come due once a quarter, not every month.

Work backward to jobs needed

Once you know your nut, figure out how many jobs it takes to cover it. This depends on your average job value and your typical margin.

• If your average job nets $600 in profit, you need about 8 jobs a month to cover a $4,700 nut. That leaves a little room.
• If your average job nets $150, like smaller handyman work, you need over 30 jobs a month. That's a very different daily grind.

Write down two numbers: jobs to break even, and jobs to get ahead. Most people only figure out the first number. Then they wonder why they feel broke even while "busy."

List your actual lead sources

Be honest here. Where do your jobs really come from today? Referrals from past customers. A Facebook page. Word of mouth through a supplier. A sign on your truck. Write down each source. Note roughly how many jobs it brought you over the last 3-6 months.

This matters because side work often runs almost entirely on referrals from people who already know you. Full time usually needs more volume than referrals alone can supply. That's especially true in slow months like January or February in Wisconsin. If one source brings 90% of your work, that's a gap. Plan for it. Don't ignore it.

Add a cushion for slow months

Contracting work isn't steady across the year. A landscaper or roofer sees a real dip once winter hits. Your one page plan needs a line for this: how many months of savings do you have to cover the nut during a slow stretch?

A common rule is 2-3 months of the nut saved before you go full time. Save more if your trade has a hard winter slowdown. This isn't a promise of smooth sailing. It's a buffer, so one slow month doesn't force a panic decision.

The number that says you're ready

Put it all together in one line. Are you hitting your break-even job count now? For at least 3 months straight? Using only your current lead sources? While still working your other job or limited hours? If yes, you have real proof, not just hope, that full time will work.

Maybe you hit that number some months and miss it in others. That's useful too. It might mean you need a stronger lead pipeline first. It doesn't mean the leap itself is a bad idea.

Don't let a missed call be the reason you fall short

One quiet leak in a contractor's numbers is missed calls that never turn into jobs. If you're stretched between a day job and side work, calls go unanswered more than you'd like. Each one might be a job that would've helped you hit your number. The missed call calculator puts a real number on what those missed calls cost you every month. Worth knowing before you decide your lead sources aren't enough.

The whole point of this plan is that it fits on one page: your nut, jobs needed, lead sources, cushion, and readiness number. Pin it somewhere you'll actually see it. Update it every few months as real numbers come in. A plan you never look at again isn't a plan. It's just paper.