How we report the numbers

Receipts First is about the real economics of local service businesses. Here's where our numbers come from and how we present them.

Where the figures come from

Every figure is the guest's own account of their business. Michael says so once, at the start of each episode: "This is [guest]'s own account of where they started."

We call a figure verified, audited or confirmed by us only when that is true.

How precise they are

A guest gives each figure exactly or as a range they're confident in. We show a range just as the guest gave it, never as a midpoint or a single number.

Context

Each scorecard states the time period (usually the last 12 months), the currency, and the business model: for example, recurring or one-off work, and owner-operator or team.

What the scorecard fields mean

Revenue: what customers paid for the service work in the period, before costs. Other income, such as coaching or courses, is shown separately and never counted as revenue.
Lead sources: where new customers came from.
Team size: who works in the business, including the owner, employees and subcontractors.
Gross margin: revenue minus direct job costs (labor, materials, job travel), as a share of revenue.
Net margin: revenue minus all business costs, as a share of revenue, shown before and after a fair owner wage.
Customer acquisition cost: the average cost to win one new customer, including the owner's time where stated.
Hours worked: the owner's typical week, including admin and travel.
Biggest mistake: the decision the owner would most like to undo, and what it cost.

We say whether margins, acquisition cost and hours cover the service business only or all income.

Valuing the owner's time

Owners who pay themselves little can make a business look more profitable than it is. So we show net margin twice: before the owner is paid, and after a fair owner wage.

We set that wage at 1.5 times the hourly cost of the best-paid worker. With no staff, we use $35 an hour, or the equivalent in the guest's currency.

That flat rate is a Receipts First assumption, not a benchmark. We use the same rate when acquisition cost includes the owner's time.

Before recording, each guest chooses how we show every figure:

Public: shown exact.
Range only: shown only as an agreed range.

We publish a figure only after the guest has marked it one of the two.

Before we publish, we send each guest every figure we plan to use, in writing. We publish only the figures they confirm.

Their confirmation means the figure is what they told us. It is not an independent check.

We tell every guest: "You choose which figures we share and how precise they are. Before we publish, we'll show you each figure to confirm. The edit and the story are ours."

Comparisons across guests

If we combine figures across episodes, we will:

explain the method
use only figures guests agreed to share
state how many businesses are included
present the result as those businesses only, not a whole industry