Annual Booking Goal & Package Mix

Summary

This calculator converts an annual owner-earnings goal into an operational question: given the package contribution and capacity you enter, how many completed paid bookings would the studio need? It also allocates that whole booking count across the package mix and checks whether the modeled pace fits the number of working weeks and weekly capacity.

How the calculation works

For each package, PortraitPace subtracts user-entered variable costs and modeled payment-processing fees from average collected revenue. It multiplies each package contribution by its mix percentage and adds the results to obtain weighted contribution per completed booking.

The required contribution adds the owner-earnings goal, fixed overhead, and optional cushion, then subtracts other annual contribution. Dividing by weighted contribution and rounding up produces the required completed bookings. Package allocation uses whole numbers that add back to the total. Count capacity is the entered booking weeks multiplied by the maximum completed bookings per week.

Assemble the plan from documented parts

Use one annual period for every input. Remove vacation, education, administrative, and protected contingency weeks before entering booking weeks. For each package, use average collected revenue before sales tax, variable costs caused by completing the package, and applicable fee assumptions. Package mix must total 100% and should describe completed paid bookings rather than inquiries.

Keep annual fixed overhead outside package variable costs. If the same overhead is subtracted in each package contribution and added again to required annual contribution, the model double counts it. When another business line supports the annual goal, enter only the portion you deliberately assign as other contribution and keep a note explaining the source.

Synthetic worked example

Synthetic scenario — invented values for product demonstration and QA. Not a US or Canadian market benchmark. Imagine a studio enters an owner-earnings goal of 60,000 USD, annual overhead of 20,000 USD, 40 booking weeks, and a maximum of 3 completed bookings per week. It models two packages with invented prices, costs, and a 60/40 mix. The calculator derives a weighted contribution, rounds required bookings up, allocates whole package counts, and compares the result with a capacity of 120. None of those invented values describe typical studio performance.

Assumptions and exclusions

The model treats package mix as a planning share of completed bookings and assumes every monetary value uses the same display currency. It excludes inquiry volume, conversion rate, cancellations, collection timing, sales tax, GST/HST, owner income tax, exchange conversion, and seasonal demand. Advanced person-hour checks are only as complete as the work-time entries supplied.

Read required bookings beside both count and person-hour capacity. A plan can fit three bookings per week yet exceed available hours when the package mix shifts toward a high-touch service. Run a lower-contribution case, a changed-mix case, and a reduced-capacity case. Preserve the original inputs and compare them with completed bookings and package selections during the year. The calculator can expose a constraint, but it cannot create leads, predict conversion, or decide whether the workload is sustainable for the owner or team.

Sources and next step

The SBA source supplies general break-even context. IRS and CRA pages provide tax and business-income starting points, which is why PortraitPace labels the output as before owner income tax and excludes filing decisions. Consult a qualified professional for advice specific to your entity and location.

Use the Annual Booking Goal & Package Mix calculator, then read Annual Photography Booking Goal to assemble the inputs.