Start with real profit
Subtract supplies, platform fees, advertising, refunds, travel, software and other direct costs from revenue.
Count every hour
Include sourcing, admin, customer messages, fulfilment and bookkeeping—not only paid delivery time.
Worked example
$800 revenue minus $300 costs leaves $500. If the work took 40 total hours, real pre-tax hourly profit is $12.50.
Look for repeatability
A good test produces evidence about demand, margin and whether the process can improve.
Next step
Turn the lesson into action
Use the connected calculator, then save or download the matching worksheet so the decision is not lost.