{"uid":"cap_yQDlPSXkK2egC_BDX8HRb","slug":"business-frameworks-owner-pay-first-cash-flow-decision-2cb631e9","name":"Business Frameworks: Owner Pay First Cash Flow Decision","description":"","url":"https://business-frameworks.matryoshka-paradigms.workers.dev/apply/cash-flow/decide/owner-pay?utm_source=zero.xyz","method":"POST","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","$schema":"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema","required":["input"],"properties":{"input":{"type":"object","required":["type","method","bodyType","body"],"properties":{"body":{"type":"object","required":["owner_hours_per_year","market_wage_per_hour","reported_cash_flow"],"properties":{"reported_cash_flow":{"type":"number","description":"the business's annual cash flow before any owner wage"},"distributions_taken":{"type":"number","minimum":0},"market_wage_per_hour":{"type":"number","minimum":0},"owner_hours_per_year":{"type":"number","minimum":0}}},"type":{"type":"string","const":"http"},"method":{"enum":["POST"],"type":"string"},"bodyType":{"enum":["json","form-data","text"],"type":"string"}},"additionalProperties":false},"output":{"type":"object","required":["type"],"properties":{"type":{"type":"string"},"example":{"type":"object"}}}}},"responseSchema":null,"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.05","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"registry","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.05/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.05","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.05","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_VmfLum9SYoZ1NAm38kvlu","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.05","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":null,"unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Applies the 'pay the owner first' rule to determine whether a business generates real cash flow after accounting for a market-rate owner wage, and flags if the business is effectively a money-losing job.","exampleAgentPrompt":"I work about 2,000 hours a year in my business, and a market rate for my role would be $75 per hour. My business reported $120,000 in cash flow before any owner wage — can you tell me if this business is generating real economic profit or if it's basically just a job that loses money?","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Solo founder viability check","prompt":"I'm a solo founder putting in 1,800 hours a year. A comparable employee in my role earns $65 per hour on the market. My business shows $95,000 in annual cash flow before I pay myself anything — is this business actually profitable after factoring in my time, or am I running a money-losing job?"},{"title":"Acquisition due diligence owner wage test","prompt":"I'm evaluating a business where the owner works 2,500 hours a year and the market wage for that work is $50 per hour. The reported cash flow is $200,000. After paying the owner a fair market wage, does this business still generate positive cash flow, or is it effectively a job dressed up as a business?"},{"title":"Pre-sale business health assessment","prompt":"Before I try to sell my landscaping business, I want to know if it passes the owner-pay test. I work 2,200 hours a year, market rate for my work is $45 an hour, and the business cash flow before owner wages is $80,000 — does this business have real economic value or is it just paying me to work?"}],"resultDescription":"Returns the calculated cash flow after deducting the market-rate owner wage (owner_hours_per_year × market_wage_per_hour subtracted from reported_cash_flow), a binary or categorical decision on whether the business is a real business or a money-losing job, the text of the business framework rule node applied, and its public citations. The computation is fully deterministic — no AI model is involved.","failureModes":["Missing required fields (owner_hours_per_year, market_wage_per_hour, or reported_cash_flow) returns a validation error","Negative or non-numeric values for hours or wage fields may be rejected","Payment failure (x402 micropayment not completed) blocks the request","Malformed body type (not json/form-data/text) returns an input error","Network timeout on the Workers edge node"],"whenToPreferThis":"Choose this endpoint when you need a deterministic, rule-based evaluation of whether a business generates genuine economic profit after compensating the owner at market rate — no AI hallucination risk, consistent outputs for the same inputs. Prefer this over general financial analysis APIs when the specific 'pay the owner first' business framework decision is needed, particularly for small business valuation, acquisition screening, or self-employment viability checks.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-10-11T18:40:59.987Z","isFirstParty":false,"canonicalSlug":"business-frameworks-owner-pay-first-cash-flow-decision-2cb631e9"}