> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://course.pokesignal.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 6.3 · Choose the Role You Want > Choose the business's place in your life using sustained owner-support evidence, separate personal runway, capacity, risk, and preference. Two businesses can produce the same financial results and deserve different futures. One owner may want a larger operation to become their main work. Another may prefer a profitable evening business that protects a job, family time, or simply the freedom to stop at a chosen size. Neither decision is a consolation prize. The useful question is not *Could this become full-time?* It is *Which role do I want, and what evidence would make that role durable?* ## Choose the destination first Use one of three labels for this decision: * **Hobby-funding:** the business supports collecting or another limited goal without being asked to replace a household income. * **Meaningful part-time:** the business produces recurring income and responsibility inside a protected time boundary while another role remains in place by choice or necessity. * **Full-time intent:** the business is being evaluated as the owner's main working role and must support the complete package that role requires. These are planning labels, not legal or tax classifications, income bands, or stages everyone should climb. Write the one you actually want before testing whether the evidence supports it. ## Evidence has to outlast a peak month Gross sales do not replace a paycheck. Neither do inventory appreciation, modeled contribution, or a high bank balance. Build a series from complete monthly closes and the business's appropriate formal records. With qualified help where needed, define one consistent **monthly owner-support amount**: cash the business could supportably pay the owner for that month. Calculate it only after expenses and after preserving the outstanding commitments, protected operating cash, and other non-deployable amounts in the [Chapter 5.2](/chapters/5-2-bankroll-discipline) capital policy. That amount is not automatically formal net profit or the cash actually paid. Record the definition and keep those figures separate. If a month is incomplete or unsupported, mark it unavailable rather than estimating from sales. | Complete month | Owner-support amount | Actual owner payment | Material context | | -------------- | -------------------: | -------------------: | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | Demand, concentration, one-time cost, or missing-data note | | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | For a period with at least one complete month: **Average monthly owner support = sum of confirmed monthly amounts ÷ complete months** Show the full series and range beside the average so one strong month cannot disappear inside it. The reader chooses the evidence period; the course supplies no required number of months. ## What the other role provides A job or other primary role may provide more than cash. Record what would change rather than assuming a generic replacement figure. | Category | Current value or effect | After the role change | Gap or constraint | | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------: | --------------------: | ----------------- | | Cash compensation needed by the household | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | | Other stable household income | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | | Benefits, insurance, retirement, or leave that actually apply | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | | Schedule, care, commute, and household commitments | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | | Tax, administration, and other transition effects to verify | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | \_\_\_ | Price only what can be responsibly priced; keep nonfinancial constraints visible. For every material row, complete this verification record: > Source or qualified professional: \_\_\_. Checked on: \_\_\_. Exact person, role, plan, and jurisdiction > in scope: \_\_\_. Reviewed by: \_\_\_. Recheck when: \_\_\_. An unresolved material question blocks the role change it affects. Count each expected change once. A priced role-change gap must be incremental to—and not already included in—the household monthly cash need, and each stable income source is subtracted once. **Monthly replacement requirement = max(0, household monthly cash need + defensibly priced role-change gaps − other stable household income)** **Observed earnings coverage = chosen sustained monthly owner-support amount ÷ monthly replacement requirement** Both use the same currency and monthly basis, and the denominator must be positive. If there is no replacement requirement, record *not applicable*. The ratio is descriptive: `1.0` is not an automatic permission to change roles. The memo must state the required coverage and how long it must hold. ## Personal runway is not business cash Business operating cash cannot also be household transition money. Use only liquid personal or household reserve that sits outside inventory, pending payouts, business operating cash, protected or tax reserves, committed outflows, and unused credit. **Transition runway months = liquid personal transition reserve ÷ monthly replacement requirement** Use the same replacement requirement calculated above: it already subtracts other stable household income and assumes zero business owner support for this stress. Do not subtract the chosen owner- support amount again. If the requirement is zero, write *no modeled monthly shortfall* rather than infinite runway. The household chooses its acceptable runway; the course supplies no month threshold. Choose the coverage, duration, and runway requirements as one household decision. Start with the obligations that cannot be missed, the relevant risk/exposure, trigger, and control status from [Chapter 5.3](/chapters/5-3-the-risk-map), and how reversible the role change really is. Test the proposed requirements against the weakest complete months as well as the average. Record the basis, reviewer, and evidence that would change the boundary. ## The role must survive the whole operation Bring forward the evidence already built: | Record | Evidence carried forward | Decision or control | Scale input | | ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- | | Risk ([5.3](/chapters/5-3-the-risk-map)) | Exposure \_\_\_; trigger \_\_\_ | Response and control status \_\_\_ | Material concentration or dependency \_\_\_ | | Capacity ([6.1](/chapters/6-1-systems-before-scale)) | Unit \_\_\_; queue/age \_\_\_; constraint \_\_\_ | Response \_\_\_; estimated net hours returned \_\_\_; cash budget \_\_\_; rollback exposure \_\_\_ / maximum \_\_\_; quality/service/queue guardrails \_\_\_ | Current/desired total business hours \_\_\_ / \_\_\_ | | Demand ([6.2](/chapters/6-2-content-is-a-moat)) | Target side \_\_\_; tested channel \_\_\_ | Attributable outcome and cash/hours \_\_\_ | Continue/change/stop result \_\_\_ | Add the household boundary and the owner's preference. Financial coverage can pass while the role still fails on time, care, volatility, or simply not being the work the owner wants. When a condition is uncertain, use another bounded period of parallel operation or a smaller reversible change to answer that specific question before making a harder-to-reverse decision. ## Write the scale decision memo > **Decision.** Date: \_\_\_. Review date: \_\_\_. Chosen role: hobby-funding / meaningful part-time / > full-time intent. It fits my preferred work and protected-life boundary because \_\_\_. > > **Economic evidence.** The series covers \_\_\_ complete months. Owner-support definition: \_\_\_. > Monthly results: \_\_\_. Weakest complete month: \_\_\_. Chosen sustained amount: \_\_\_. > > Replacement requirement: \_\_\_ after subtracting stable income of \_\_\_. Observed coverage: \_\_\_; > required coverage and duration: \_\_\_ for \_\_\_. > > Personal transition reserve: \_\_\_. Zero-business-support runway: \_\_\_; required runway: \_\_\_. > Boundary basis: \_\_\_. Reviewed by: \_\_\_. Revisit when: \_\_\_. > > **Role-package verification.** Table current as of: \_\_\_. Material sources and scopes reviewed by: > \_\_\_. Recheck triggers: \_\_\_. Unresolved inputs that block this role: \_\_\_. > > **Personal and operating constraints.** The risk, capacity, and demand records above point to > \_\_\_. The binding operating constraint or blocker is \_\_\_. Household agreement or constraint is > \_\_\_. > > **Next move.** The smallest reversible step is \_\_\_. A larger role remains blocked until \_\_\_. I > will continue, test, or reconsider on \_\_\_ with \_\_\_ involved in the decision. The capstone now turns that chosen role, its unmet conditions, and the course's other completed decisions into a dated 90-day operating plan.