What moves your earnings
Your accepted hours come from how many companies you have, how many recorders each runs, how many shifts they record, how much is accepted and how long companies keep recording. Here is which ones you control.
On this page
The levers
Your fee is fixed at $2.00 per accepted hour, so the only way to earn more is more accepted hours. Five things set that number:
| Lever | Who decides | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Number of companies | You | Keep your list full, follow up, and pick companies with real hands-on work and steady shifts. |
| Recorders per company | The owner, with Colby | Suggest more phones once every current phone records on most shifts. |
| Shifts recorded | The owner and the crew | Watch Today for unused phones and call the owner when one sits. |
| Acceptance | The crew | Share the crew sheet, check the first hours, and pass on fixes fast. |
| Companies that keep recording | The owner | Stay in touch, solve problems early and check in around week 6. |
1. Number of companies
This one is fully yours. Each company you bring in adds hours for as long as it records, with no end date.
- Keep your People list full. When an owner says no or goes quiet, add another.
- Give every owner a follow-up date. Today lists who is due.
- Pick companies whose work is on the accepted tasks list and whose crews work regular shifts. Steady shifts mean steady hours.
- Bring in companies in the U.S. only.
2. Recorders per company
Each phone is one recorder at a time. More phones mean more recorded hours, but only if they are used. A company's contract sets how many phones it starts with, and more can be agreed in writing.
- Suggest more phones when the current ones record on most shifts. The owner tells Colby. Kit requests from your portal are coming.
- Don't push extra phones on an owner whose phones already sit unused. Unused phones can cost the owner under their Order Form.
- Each recorder records under their own account, never a shared one.
3. Shifts recorded
A phone records only when someone wears it on a shift and uploads afterward. Today flags a phone that has gone 3 nights without recording or has no recorder. The owner's own hours page measures each phone against 40 hours a week.
- Ask the owner to give phones to the people who work the most shifts.
- If a recorder leaves the job or their account was shut off, the owner tells Colby before that phone goes to anyone else. A new person on a phone that belonged to a shut-off account can look like the same recorder coming back.
- Remind crews to upload after each shift on Wi-Fi and keep the app open until it finishes. Hours count only once uploaded.
- For long shifts, the battery pack keeps the phone going.
4. Acceptance
Only accepted hours count, for the company and for you. Review looks for a phone worn on the forehead and tipped down, both hands in view, good light, real work at a normal pace and the right task picked in the app.
| Common reason hours are rejected | The fix |
|---|---|
| Camera aimed forward or up, hands out of the picture | Tip the phone down until both hands are in the middle. |
| Phone worn on the chest or neck | Head only. A chest or neck mount is never accepted. |
| Dark or blurry video | Lights on, lens wiped, strap snug. |
| Not working: driving, sitting, phone set down, long breaks | Pause recording when not working. |
| Wrong task picked in the app | Pick the task that matches the work before starting. |
| Same thing done over and over, or slowed down | Real work that needs doing, at a normal pace. |
Your best moment is the first week. Ask the owner what notes the crew got, and pass on the fix before they record more. See helping crews improve and camera setup. Recorder-by-recorder results are coming to your portal. For now, Today shows rejected hours in total and Earnings shows accepted hours for each company.
5. Companies that keep recording
With no end date, the companies that stay are where most of your accepted hours come from. A company's first Order Form runs 6 weeks and then renews unless someone gives notice. Around week 6 the owner decides whether to keep going, add phones or change the hour target.
Example
Example 1's crew, stopping or staying
Stops after 6 weeks: about 117 accepted hours in the first four weeks, plus about 80 more. About 200 accepted hours in all.
Keeps recording for 48 weeks: the same start, then about 40 accepted hours a week. About 1,880 accepted hours in all.
Multiply either total by $2.00 per accepted hour.
- Check in with the owner in week 2 and again before week 6. Ask what is working and what is a hassle.
- Solve small problems before they become reasons to stop: a missing strap, a recorder who left, a building that said no.
- Make sure the owner can see their own hours at colby.ing/portal. Owners who see their accepted hours grow tend to stay.
Keeping companies recording goes further.
What does not move your earnings
- The rate on your link. Your fee is the same $2.00 per accepted hour at any rate. A rate can still help an owner say yes.
- Sign-ups on their own. They count only once the company records and hours are accepted.
- Rejected hours. Recording more of the same rejected setup adds nothing.
- More phones than the crew can wear. Unused phones add no hours.
Check the levers once a week
The Monday review in your week checks each lever company by company. Growing your business covers what to do once those checks come back clean.
Questions
Which lever matters most early on?
Number of companies and first-week acceptance. Later, keeping companies recording matters most, because those hours have no end date.
Can I ask a company to record more hours?
You can suggest it. The owner decides. Only real work counts: hours padded with slow or repeated work get rejected.
Can I see each recorder's results?
Not yet. Recorder-by-recorder results with video playback are coming. For now, Companies shows recorded hours and Earnings shows accepted hours, company by company.
Does helping crews take a lot of time?
Mostly in the first week or two of each company. After the setup is right, most crews keep it right.