Hello!
Welcome to MyHrlyRt
A free, downloadable spreadsheet tool built to help artists and creatives calculate what to charge for their time and their work. MyHrlyRt.art began as a simple but powerful question:
“ How do I charge for my time as an artist?”
This free downloadable spreadsheet was developed to help artists move beyond guesswork and begin pricing their work from a place of clarity, confidence, and real financial understanding. Developed over 15 years with ongoing additions shaped by real artists’ needs, this tool was designed specifically for independent visual and craft artists who are interested in advancing their business knowledge. The worksheet guides users through the core building blocks of creative sustainability: living expenses, business overhead, project costs, taxes, and profit goals. By combining these factors into a structured hourly rate calculation, artists can better understand what they truly need to earn—and why.
The worksheet combines several integrated modules to arrive at your hourly or other unit of measure rate.
About
“How much can I make per hour as an artist?”
MyHrlyRt.art was created by Sherri Brueggemann, founder of 100%, LLC, also known as 100% for Art. Sherri is a retired public art administrator with deep experience in art production, project management, and teaching the business of art. She has been a longtime advocate for helping artists better understand the business realities of creative work.
HOW IT WORKS
Worksheet Download
A note on taxes: The spreadsheet includes fields for a general federal income tax percentage and a general sales tax rate. These calculations do not account for deductions, so they intentionally run a little high — which means if you include them when pricing, you won’t be caught short at tax time. For actual tax and accounting guidance, please consult a qualified professional. MyHrlyRt.art is not liable for income or sales tax advice.
01
Basic Living Expenses
The Basic Living Expenses module is the foundation. It includes two adjustable fields — hours worked as an artist and desired savings rate — so you can find your personal sweet spot between billable time and financial goals like savings or debt reduction.
02
Business Overhead
The Business Overhead module follows standard IRS Schedule C categories, translated for artists. Studio rent, utilities, professional fees, subscriptions, and supplies that don’t become part of your work — these costs matter, and this module makes sure they’re counted.
03
Project Expenses
The Project Expenses module adds your hard material costs — metals and gems, gallons of paint, whatever your medium demands — so your hourly rate reflects what it actually costs to make the work.
04
Unit Converter
The Unit Converter translates your hourly rate into the units most useful for your practice: cost per square inch or foot, cost per weight, cost per page, cost per presentation slide. Two new units — page and slide — were recently added to help artists value the work of writing and presenting about their work.
05
Royalty Calculator
A Royalty Calculator module is currently in testing. It features an adjustable royalty percentage to help you arrive at a confident licensing rate when others want to use your work.
Creativity and Planning
An Hourly Rate Rooted in Reality
Together, these modules help artists begin calculating an hourly rate rooted in reality, not just what a project budget says is available or what someone else appears to be charging. For many artists, pricing work is a mixture of instinct, comparison, fear, hope, and guesswork. MyHrlyRt.art was created to bring more clarity and confidence into that process by helping artists connect their creative work to the real costs of sustaining a life and practice. One of the central ideas behind MyHrlyRt.art is that covering your living expenses and sustaining your creative practice is the foundation of profit and creative sustainability. Simply “breaking even” on projects is not a sound business strategy.
Whether you are creating murals, jewelry, sculpture, paintings, ceramics, installations, public art projects, or handmade products, the worksheet is intended to help you build healthier pricing habits, better understand your costs, and make more informed business decisions over time.
It is important to note that this is not an accounting program or tax preparation tool. It is a budgeting and decision-making tool designed specifically from an artist’s perspective. Federal income tax and sales tax estimates are broadly factored into the formulas so artists can begin thinking more realistically about the true cost of creative labor and self-employment.