The engagement
Most projects like this don’t fail. They stall — on one unanswered question, for a month, until nobody wants to raise it. So this is written down: what I do, what I need from you, and what happens when it goes quiet.
The Check runs on what is already public plus read-only access to whatever exists. No questionnaire, no asset list, no homework. The most common way an engagement dies is being asked for things before it has earned them.
From youPermission to look, and read access if you have accounts to share.
What people actually find when they look you up, what is wrong with it, what you don’t own, and what it is costing you — in plain language, with the evidence attached. Alongside it: a written scope and a fixed price for the work I recommend.
From youOne decision: proceed, or don’t. The Check is yours either way.
If it goes quietThe findings are yours regardless. I follow up twice and then stop; no drip campaign.
Foundation, on infrastructure in your name. I will need real content and real decisions from you — but a named, short list of them, agreed up front, not an open-ended stream of requests.
From youFour things, typically: sign-off on the structure, your real service descriptions, contact and legal details, and a decision on anything I flag as a claim I can’t verify.
If it goes quietI build everything that does not depend on the missing item and tell you exactly what is parked and what it is holding up. The project does not stop; it narrows.
Nothing is launched until the quality gate is green and the evidence is filed. At launch you receive the handover pack — everything in your name, documented, and yours to take elsewhere on any day you choose.
From youA go-live decision, and an hour to look at it properly before we flip it.
If it goes quietNothing goes live without your word. This is the one step with no default — a live site is a public statement and it is yours to make.
What I did, what changed, what people searched to find you, how many enquiries came in — and anything I am watching. It arrives on a cadence, not when there is good news, because a report that only arrives when things go well tells you nothing.
From youNothing. Read it or don’t; it is the record either way.
If it goes quietIf you go quiet for three months and nothing needs doing, I will say so and suggest pausing rather than keep billing a relationship that isn’t being used.
You will. Everyone does — a tender lands, someone leaves, the quarter gets busy. It is not a problem unless the process has no answer for it.
WhatsApp, phone, or email — whichever you replied on last. Chasing a decision by email because it is convenient for me is how a month disappears.
An unanswered question parks one item, not the project. You get told what is parked and what it is holding up, so silence has a visible cost rather than an invisible one.
Roughly day 3, day 10, day 30. After that I stop guessing and ask whether the priority has changed — which is usually the honest answer, and it is better said than assumed.
If the work genuinely cannot move, we pause. Restarting is cheap; a retainer quietly charging for a project nobody is progressing is how these relationships end badly.
The whole list, not the first instalment of one. If it grows, that is a scope change and I will say so rather than send another request.
I answer my own messages, and I would rather tell you a project has stalled than let it quietly cost you another month.
Client work starts with a conversation — no commitment, no pitch. If it turns out I'm not the right fit, I'll say so.