The blog

October 16, 2026

Scoping an app before you put a number on it

Accounts, roles, integrations and sensitive data. Four questions that decide what an app costs, and that a client never thinks to mention.

5 minute read

October 13, 2026

The five things a video brief has to settle before the first shot

Length, format, voice-over, music and where the footage comes from. Five answers that decide the edit, and that cost a redo when they arrive late.

5 minute read

October 9, 2026

A garment order stands or falls on the size breakdown

Why a total quantity is never enough, who should supply the blanks, and the questions to settle before anything goes on a press.

5 minute read

October 6, 2026

The four documents a job actually needs

What it really takes to run a job properly, what each document prevents when it is missing, and the list of things not to add.

8 minute read

October 2, 2026

Ending things with a client

The two situations not to confuse, the four reasons that hold up, and why a breakup email between jobs is a bad idea.

8 minute read

September 29, 2026

The quote you should not write

Six observable signals and the mechanism that makes each expensive, three signals that alarm people for nothing, and how to say yes anyway when you cannot say no.

8 minute read

September 26, 2026

Taking orders straight from your own site

What "ordering" means for commissioned work, the four conditions to meet first, and the trap that makes most attempts fail.

7 minute read

September 23, 2026

Charging for a rush, travel, and weekend work

Why a surcharge announced afterwards never lands, the four supplements that justify themselves, and the sentence that lets the client choose.

7 minute read

September 20, 2026

What an identity project needs from the client before you start

The existing files, the positioning, where the logo will live and what cannot change. What a brand designer cannot guess before drawing a logo.

6 minute read

September 20, 2026

A client cancels midway through

The three reasons for cancelling and their three answers, why a deposit's wording matters only on the day it matters, and the document that turns a dispute into an invoice.

8 minute read

September 17, 2026

Taking over somebody else's project

Why 70 per cent done does not mean 30 per cent left, the three questions to ask before quoting, and the sentence that stops you inheriting the last promises.

7 minute read

September 14, 2026

How long a job actually takes: estimating properly

The three costs nobody prices, the difference between working time and lead time, and the three-month habit that fixes the problem for good.

7 minute read

September 11, 2026

What belongs on a services page

The four things a prospect is trying to decide, the one almost no portfolio answers, and why "price on request" takes you off the shortlist.

7 minute read

September 8, 2026

Could you show me a first idea?

The difference between showing competence and doing the work, the four things that reassure a client for free, and the only good answer to an unpaid pitch.

7 minute read

September 7, 2026

Turning down a project before it starts, without regret

The signs that announce a difficult project, the questions to ask before accepting, and how to decline cleanly.

7 minute read

September 6, 2026

Getting a quote approved remotely, without e-signature software

What you are actually after is not a signature, the three ways to get a dated agreement, and the version trap that cancels all three.

7 minute read

September 4, 2026

Keeping a client in the loop during a project

The update rhythm that stops a client from asking where things stand, without turning your day into emails.

5 minute read

September 4, 2026

Onboarding a new client after they say yes

The first week is where jobs drift, not the last. The four things to send before work starts, the one to refuse, and how to set the tone of the whole job in the first round.

9 minute read

September 4, 2026

A client comes back six months later and wants their files again

The most avoidable forty minutes in this trade, the question that costs more than the missing file, and the three things to decide before it happens.

7 minute read

September 2, 2026

Two people, one set of client jobs: who sees what, who replies

The failure that costs most once you are not working alone, why "we'll split them between us" does not last a week, and the three questions to settle once.

8 minute read

August 31, 2026

An unpaid invoice: the three chases, and what comes after

Why most late invoices are not refusals to pay, the chase almost nobody sends, and the point at which you stop working.

7 minute read

August 29, 2026

The half-answered brief: what to start on anyway

Sixteen answers out of twenty, the three reasons a question gets skipped, the only one that really blocks, and the test that says whether you can begin.

7 minute read

August 27, 2026

How many rounds of feedback to plan for, and how to write it down

Why "three revisions included" never holds, what to count instead, and the one sentence that halves the number of rounds you run.

7 minute read

August 26, 2026

An AI that knows your trade, not an AI that writes in your place

Why Kalepio's AI writes questions rather than answers, what it refuses to do, and how to count a quota when twenty messages are worth one questionnaire.

6 minute read

August 26, 2026

Agreeing a date with a client without six messages

Why finding a slot costs a week, the four mistakes that stretch the exchange, and the only thing that genuinely shortens it.

7 minute read

August 25, 2026

A scoping call or a brief form: which comes first

What a call hears that a form never will, what a form writes down that a call forgets, and why almost everybody does the two in the wrong order.

7 minute read

August 23, 2026

Notion or Trello as a client portal: what works and what breaks

Two excellent tools for you, and five specific ways they break the moment a client looks at them. Including the case where you really should stay put.

7 minute read

August 21, 2026

Five questions to ask before writing a quote

Ten minutes of questions that save two hours of quote nobody signs, the one that predicts how many rounds you will run, and how to talk budget without asking for it.

7 minute read

August 19, 2026

A form is not a job

What Typeform, Tally and Google Forms do perfectly, and the four things a form structurally cannot do for a client job.

7 minute read

August 17, 2026

Running client briefs on Google Drive: what works and what breaks

What Drive genuinely does better than anything, the four places a scattered brief gets lost, and the exact point at which changing your method starts to pay.

7 minute read

August 17, 2026

What your client cannot see, and why they keep asking where things stand

Why silence reads as a stall, the three moments a client always worries, and what to tell them at each one before they have to ask.

8 minute read

August 15, 2026

Managing your clients with an AI, without handing over the keys

Connecting Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini to your orders and your client book: what it is actually good for, what the assistant can do, and what it will never be able to do.

6 minute read

August 14, 2026

Billing an extra revision, without it going badly

Why the third version happens, how to count revisions, when to name the price, and what to do when the mistake is yours.

6 minute read

August 14, 2026

Chasing a client who has gone quiet, without apologising

Why a client goes silent, how often to chase, what the three messages should say, and when to call a dormant job.

6 minute read

August 14, 2026

The client brief template: what to ask before you start

A brief that fits on one page, the eight blocks that come up in every trade, and what happens when one of them is missing.

6 minute read

August 14, 2026

Delivering files to a client without WeTransfer

Why an expiring link is a problem six months later, what a delivery has to contain, and how to make it wait for the payment.

5 minute read

August 14, 2026

Deposit, balance, delivery: what order to ask for the money in

How much to take up front, when to ask for the rest, and why delivery is the only leverage that actually works.

5 minute read

August 14, 2026

Saying no to an out-of-scope request, without losing the client

How to spot an out-of-scope request, the four possible answers, and the sentences that decline without closing the door.

5 minute read

August 14, 2026

Scoping a freelance job without ten rounds of back and forth

Where the back and forth comes from, how to group it into two or three rounds, and what to write down before you start.

5 minute read

August 14, 2026

Freelance project tracking: where every job stands, without a spreadsheet

Why the tracking spreadsheet never survives, the four states that describe any job, and the one distinction that changes a working day.

6 minute read

August 14, 2026

What a brief form has to contain, trade by trade

The questions every trade shares, the ones that change completely, and the form mistakes that make a client give up halfway.

5 minute read

August 14, 2026

What a freelance quote has to contain

The lines every quote needs, the three that prevent disputes, and why a quote is written after the brief rather than before it.

5 minute read