Portfolio ROI Calculator
Value the time you invest in portfolio, spec or content work against the paid business it brings in — a return-on-time-invested calculator.
How it works
Time cost = hours × cost rate · Total invested = time cost + cash · Net return = revenue − total invested · ROI % = net return ÷ total invested × 100
Portfolio pieces, spec work and content are investments of unpaid time, and time has a cost even when no cash changes hands. Valuing your hours at a realistic rate, adding out-of-pocket costs, and comparing that to the paid work the piece attracts shows whether the investment actually paid off. The revenue-per-hour figure is the practical one: it tells you which kinds of unpaid work earn their keep and which are hobbies dressed up as marketing.
Worked example
60 hours valued at $80 is $4,800 of time; with $500 of costs, the total invested is $5,300. If the piece brought in $9,000 of paid work, the net return is $3,700 — a 69.8% ROI, or $150 of revenue per hour invested.
Frequently asked questions
Why put a cost on unpaid time?
Because that time could have earned money elsewhere. Ignoring it makes every portfolio or spec project look free and hides whether it was worth doing. Valuing hours at a realistic rate lets you compare unpaid work like any other investment.
What rate should I value my time at?
Your normal billing rate is the honest opportunity cost, though some use a lower "internal cost" rate. The point is consistency — use the same rate across projects so the comparison between them is fair.
How do I attribute revenue to a portfolio piece?
Credit the paid work a piece can reasonably be said to have won — the client who hired you after seeing it, for example. It is inexact, so track it over time; a piece that keeps generating leads has a far higher true ROI than a one-off.
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Educational estimate, not financial advice.