Nobody tells you about the 15.3%.
The severance runs out. The first freelance payment lands. It feels like a win — until April, when the IRS asks for the tax your employer used to pay half of. This toolkit handles that moment, and the four others that wreck first-year freelancers.
Instant download · Built for developers, designers, marketers & PMs
Self-employment tax + federal + state. The calculator inside runs your real numbers.
You were good at your job. Nobody trained you to be a business.
Built for US tech workers who got the calendar invite with HR on it — and decided the next chapter is theirs.
Developers
Who can build a feature blindfolded but have never written a scope-of-work clause.
Designers
Who know their craft is worth more than the lowball offer sitting in their DMs.
Marketers
Who can grow anyone's pipeline except, so far, their own.
Product managers
Who've priced everything in their careers except their own hourly rate.
Not for agencies, not for gurus, not for people who want a course about mindset. It's templates, calculators, and scripts — for your first 90 days.
First-year freelancing fails in predictable places.
The same three moments, every time. Each one has a tool in the box waiting for it.
The April tax shock
As a W-2 employee, your company paid half your Social Security and Medicare tax. Now all 15.3% is yours — before federal and state. It's the bill that surprises everyone.
The underpricing spiral
Old salary ÷ 2080 hours feels logical. It ignores taxes, health insurance, unbillable time, and every benefit that quietly vanished — so you work more and earn less.
The invoice that never gets paid
A handshake scope, no deposit, no late fee — then week six arrives and you're writing awkward emails to someone who owes you rent money.
Real tools. No fluff PDF padding.
Interactive calculators that run in any browser, plus editable contracts, invoices, and word-for-word scripts. No course videos.
Quarterly Tax Reserve Calculator
Your state, your bracket, your number — and a payment log that tracks each IRS quarter.
Web tool + spreadsheetFreelance Rate Calculator
From old salary to minimum, recommended, and day rate — with the 1.4× math shown, not hidden.
Web tool + spreadsheetPlain-English Contract Template
Two pages. Scope, 50% deposit, late fees, revision limits, IP-transfers-on-payment. Fill in the brackets and send.
Editable documentFirst-Client Outreach Checklist + Scripts
The week-one plan plus warm, cold, and follow-up emails — written by someone who's been laid off, not a sales bot.
Checklist + 3 scriptsInvoice Template + Spreadsheet Versions
Every calculator also comes as a spreadsheet with the formulas built in — the Net-14 invoice does its own math.
Doc + spreadsheetScope-Creep Response Scripts Pro
Six copy-paste replies for "quick favors" — plus the 30-day client plan, red-flags checklist, and income tracker.
Pro tierEverything downloads with a Start Here guide, and every document carries the same rule: educational templates, not tax, legal, or financial advice.
Less than one hour at your new hourly rate.
One-time payment. Instant download. Yours forever, including updates to this edition.
The five tools every first-year freelancer needs.
- Quarterly Tax Reserve Calculator (web + spreadsheet)
- Freelance Rate Calculator (web + spreadsheet)
- Plain-English Contract Template
- Invoice Template (doc + auto-calculating spreadsheet)
- First-Client Outreach Checklist + 3 email scripts
- Start Here guide
Everything in Core, plus the client-getting-and-keeping layer.
- Everything in Core
- First Client in 30 Days — day-by-day action plan
- Client Red-Flags Checklist — screen before you sign
- Scope-Creep Response Scripts — six copy-paste replies
- Income & Expense Tracker — monthly + YTD, builds itself
Is this tax or legal advice?
No. These are educational templates and calculators built on published rules of thumb — every document says so on its face. The contract has a header telling you to have an attorney review it, and the tax calculator tells you where its estimates simplify. For your specific situation, talk to a licensed professional. The toolkit's job is to make you dangerous enough to ask them good questions.
What exactly do I download?
A zip file: two interactive web tools (single .html files — double-click, they open in any browser, work offline, and send nothing anywhere), editable Word documents, and spreadsheets with formulas built in. Plus a Start Here guide telling you the order to use everything.
I'm a developer / designer / marketer / PM — is this really for me?
Yes. The tools are profession-agnostic on purpose: taxes, rates, contracts, invoices, and outreach work the same whether you write code or campaigns. The scripts include prompts to slot in your specific skill and audience.
What's the difference between Core and Pro?
Core is the survival kit: money math, contract, invoice, first outreach. Pro adds the layer for actually running the pipeline — a 30-day client-acquisition plan, a checklist for screening bad clients before they cost you, scripts for scope creep, and an income/expense tracker. If you want a client in the next month, Pro is built for exactly that.
Do the calculators work outside the US?
No — the tax math is US-specific (self-employment tax, federal brackets, all 50 states). The contract, invoice, rate calculator, and scripts are useful anywhere, but this toolkit is built for US 1099 contractors.
What's your refund policy?
If it's not useful to you, email within 14 days for a full refund. No forms, no interrogation.
Your first 90 days, already mapped.
Templates, calculators, and scripts — not a mindset course. One-time payment, instant download, 14-day refund.
Get the toolkit