Freelance language professionals are in demand. Individual business people use different techniques to set their prices. Underlying any reasonable range of prices, however, is a threshold, the break-even point. Turning down an assignment may be necessary for several reasons, including unsuitability of the subject matter, the language, deadlines or conflicting prior commitments. Conversely, there are excellent reasons for taking on work that does not pay enough. However, almost all freelancers need to know when accepting a particular assignment would be unprofitable. This paper reviews the basics of building a business budget, converting that into a minimum price to use in business planning and when negotiating assignments.