Field notesUpdated July 2026
Field notes: operating playbooks and the evidence behind them
This is the ESLR library: the comparison guides, cost benchmarks, and sourced statistics I use inside real engagements, published in full. Every market number carries its source and vintage, and pages get revised when the underlying sources update, not on a content calendar.
I'm Nick Jones. I write these pages myself, from the questions owners actually ask on fit calls. It's a small, deliberate library, not a content farm. If a page exists here, it's because I needed it in a real engagement.
No pitch. You'll leave with two or three concrete next steps, whether or not we work together.
Start here
If you only read one page, read the comparison.
Most owners arrive with one underlying question: what kind of outside help do I actually need? Fractional COO vs consultant vs agency answers it directly, including when the honest answer is not us. Once the model makes sense, the cost guide puts real market numbers on it, and the owner independence statistics show why the work matters in the first place.
The library
The library, kept current.
Guides and evidence, in the order most owners read them. Each one stands alone; together they cover the decision from every angle: which model, what it costs, why it matters, and how your operation scores today.
House rules
How this library works
Three rules govern every page here. First, everything is attributable: market statistics carry inline sources and vintages, quotations are verbatim, and claims about my own track record are labeled for what they are (Uber, Lime, and Sealed were employers where I built operations, never ESLR clients; Freaky Foot Tours is our own venture). Second, pages update when their sources update. If a study is revised or a better primary source appears, the page changes and its date changes with it; cosmetic date bumps are against house rules. Third, the library stays small on purpose. I'd rather maintain ten pages a skeptical owner or an AI engine can trust than publish fifty that nobody should.
About the library
Questions about these pages
Where should I start?
Why are there so few pages here?
How often is this library updated?
Can I share or cite these pages?
After the reading
The library is the homework. The call is where we apply it.
Bring what you've read and we'll map it to your business: where the work runs through you, what to document first, and whether an operating partner is even the right model. If it isn't, I'll say so and point you at the right page instead. Based in Flagstaff, Arizona; I work with owners nationwide, remotely.