The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You are thinking about hiring and need the full monthly cost of the role and the extra sales or saved time it has to cover.
- {{business}}
- {{role}}
- {{role_details}}
- {{employer_costs}}
- {{one_off_costs}}
- {{business_numbers}}
- {{payoff}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Help me work out whether {{business}} can afford to hire {{role}}, so I can make the decision with real numbers rather than a feeling. I want the full monthly cost of the role, how much extra revenue it has to bring in to pay for itself, and how my cash holds up while that happens. The role (pay, hours, start date, what the person would do): {{role_details}} Employer costs on top of pay, from my payroll provider or accountant (payroll taxes, insurance, retirement contributions, benefits): {{employer_costs}} One-off costs (recruiting, equipment, training): {{one_off_costs}} My numbers (average monthly revenue, gross margin %, monthly fixed costs, cash in the bank): """ {{business_numbers}} """ How the hire would pay off, and how many months I think that would take: {{payoff}} Produce: 1. Monthly cost of the role: a table with each cost line, its calculation and the total, with one-off costs shown separately. Convert weekly figures to monthly as x 52 / 12. 2. What it has to cover: extra revenue needed per month = monthly cost / gross margin, with the calculation, for example "3,900 / 0.45 = 8,667 in extra sales a month". Then put it in the units of my payoff note, such as extra clients, jobs or hours a month. 3. Cash: starting from my cash and my current monthly profit or loss (revenue x gross margin minus fixed costs), show the lowest cash point and the month it falls in, or the month cash runs out, (a) if revenue does not rise, and (b) if the extra revenue in step 2 arrives after the time in my payoff note. Look 12 months ahead. If I gave no time, show 3 and 6 months and label them as illustrations. 4. What would have to be true: up to 4 plain statements, for example "I can fill 20 more appointments a week". 5. Questions for my accountant or payroll provider: up to 4. Rules: - Use only my figures. Do not estimate payroll taxes, benefit costs or wages. If I have not given employer costs, show the calculation without them, label the total "incomplete", and carry that label to every figure built on it. - Do not give legal or tax advice on employment status or contracts, and do not tell me whether to hire. A good answer gives me three figures I can test: the monthly cost, the extra revenue needed, and the lowest cash point. Keep the text outside the tables under 300 words. If my numbers do not add up, for example my fixed costs are already higher than my gross profit, say so first.
Variables
- {{business}}
- Your business in a few words, for example "my hair salon".
- {{role}}
- The hire, for example "a full-time salon assistant" or "a part-time bookkeeper".
- {{role_details}}
- Pay, hours, start date and the main duties.
- {{employer_costs}}
- Employer costs on top of pay as figures your payroll provider or accountant gave you, or "don't know yet".
- {{one_off_costs}}
- Recruiting, equipment and training costs, or "none".
- {{business_numbers}}
- Average monthly revenue, gross margin %, monthly fixed costs and current cash.
- {{payoff}}
- How the hire earns its keep and how soon, for example "frees me for 10 more client hours a week within 2 months".
Why it works
- Background facts. Employer costs must come from your payroll provider or accountant, because payroll tax and benefit costs vary by place and a guessed figure makes the whole answer wrong.
- What good looks like. It turns the cost into the extra revenue the hire must bring in, in your own units such as clients or jobs, which is the number an owner can test against reality.
- What to avoid. It does not tell you whether to hire; it shows the numbers and the conditions that would have to hold, and leaves the decision with you.