Today's Agent Skill: Break-Even Point Calculator
What It Does
Understanding your break-even point is fundamental to every pricing and hiring decision, yet most small business owners guess rather than calculate. Without knowing exactly how many units you need to sell—or how much revenue you need—to cover your costs, you're setting prices in the dark. This skill calculates your break-even point in under a minute and models what happens if you raise prices, cut costs, or both.
How It Works
The agent takes your fixed monthly costs (rent, salaries, insurance, subscriptions), your variable cost per unit sold, and your selling price per unit. It calculates the exact volume and revenue required to break even, then runs three scenarios—a 10% price increase, a 10% fixed cost reduction, and a 10% variable cost reduction—so you can see which lever moves the needle fastest.
How to Deploy It
Paste your cost structure into Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, or Windsurf and run this skill. You'll receive a complete break-even analysis with scenario comparisons in seconds. Works best when you pull your fixed costs from a recent P&L or bank statement before running it.
SKILL.md — Ready to Deploy
## Description
Calculates a small business's break-even point from fixed costs, variable costs, and selling price, then models what-if scenarios to show how pricing or cost changes affect profitability.
## Trigger
Run when the user provides fixed costs, variable costs per unit, and selling price per unit—or asks "how many units do I need to sell to break even?" or "what is my break-even?" or when they are setting prices for a new product or service.
## Input
- Monthly fixed costs (rent, salaries, insurance, subscriptions — itemized or as a total)
- Variable cost per unit sold (materials, shipping, payment processing fees)
- Selling price per unit
- Optional: current monthly sales volume
## Steps
1. Sum all fixed costs into a single monthly fixed cost total.
2. Calculate contribution margin per unit: selling price minus variable cost per unit.
3. Calculate break-even units: fixed costs divided by contribution margin.
4. Calculate break-even revenue: break-even units multiplied by selling price.
5. If current monthly sales volume is provided, calculate the gap between current volume and break-even volume.
6. Model three what-if scenarios: (a) 10% price increase, (b) 10% reduction Copy the full SKILL.md and drop it into your agent's skills directory to activate this skill.