Resources
Practical help for makers, from working out what your products cost to pricing them and keeping track of stock.
Start here
You don't need an accounting degree or an operations team to understand your business. Start with the fundamentals and build from there.
See how materials, parts, products, production and orders fit together in a maker's business.
Work out what each product costs to make and use that to set your prices.
Simple habits for counting stock, recording production and knowing what you have ready to sell.
As your business grows, learn how to use the information you're already collecting to understand performance and make better decisions.
The fundamentals
These ideas sit behind every number in Cajella.
A product's cost is more than its main material. Parts, packaging, labor and machine time all add to what it costs to make.
Markup is added to cost: a $10 cost with a 50% markup sells for $15. Margin is profit as a share of the price: $5 profit on a $15 price is a 33% margin.
Revenue is the money that came in. Take away the cost of what you sold, and what's left is your profit.
A practical vocabulary
What your products are made from, such as filament, wood, acrylic, fabric or resin.
Ready-made pieces that go into a product, such as hardware, magnets, clasps or screws.
The list of everything one product needs, and how much of each.
The cost to make the products you sold, so you can compare it with the money they brought in.
Revenue minus the cost of what you sold, before your other business expenses.
A 40% margin means 40 cents of every sales dollar is profit.
Built into the product
In Cajella these numbers come from your own products and sales, so you don't have to work them out again in a spreadsheet.
Start free and see these numbers for your own products.
