How to use this. Print this page (or save as PDF). Fill in the white boxes by hand. The MUST band tells you what your business has to produce to keep the lights on. The FREEDOM band tells you the capital you need so you don't have to keep producing. Both numbers start with one question: do the math you've been avoiding. Tip: in your browser's print dialog, choose Portrait and 100% scale.
Get In to Get Out · Exercise 2
Your MUST & Freedom Numbers
Two numbers every agent has to know. One keeps you alive. One sets you free.
Numbers don't care how hard you work. They don't reward effort. They expose whether your model works. If it doesn't, they tell you why.
Your MUST Number
The minimum financial outcome your business requires to survive. Not a goal. A floor.
Step 1 · What do you need to keep?
What you keep after tax and expenses.
$
At $100K profit, assume ~25% tax rate.
$
Splits, fees, tools, payroll, technology.
$
Step 2 · Work backward to volume
$
Enter as decimal. Example: 2.5% = 0.025
★ Your MUST Number
$
Net profit + tax + expenses = gross income your business must produce
Units Required
MUST ÷ (price × commission rate)
Annual Volume
$
Units × average sale price
Net Margin
%
Net profit ÷ MUST
Review weekly. The MUST is a floor. Below it, the machine is breaking.
Your Freedom Number
The capital that lets your investments cover your life. Where you stop needing the business.
Step 3 · What does your life cost?
The honest cost of your actual life.
$
Default 8%. Adjust to your investing approach.
%
★ Your Freedom Number
$
Living expenses ÷ return rate = capital that, invested, covers your life passively
Deployable Capital
$
Annual net profit − living expenses
Years to Freedom
Freedom Number ÷ deployable capital. The number to shrink.
Freedom is not a feeling. It is a balance sheet. The day the capital pays for the life is the day you stop needing the business.