I used to take deposits on a vibe call. Client sounded clear. Money hit. Then the real project showed up in email #6 and it wasn’t what I priced.
Now the order is fixed: intake form → short scope confirm → deposit. No deposit before intake. Sounds strict. It’s cheaper than rework.
Why before deposit matters
Deposit locks commitment on both sides. If intake isn’t done, you’re locking fog. People also get nicer about filling a form when they know payment is next, not three weeks into Slack chaos.
The form (short on purpose)
Intake (before deposit)
Project in one sentence:
Success looks like:
Must include / must not:
Deadline + hard dates:
Who approves:
Revision rounds in this deposit:
Links / access I’ll need on day one:
If they can’t answer those, they’re not ready to pay. That’s useful information.
What I say when they want to “just pay and start”
“Happy to. Intake takes 5 minutes, then I send the deposit link.” Most fill it. The ones who push hard were usually going to be scope problems anyway.
One paid lesson
Took a deposit for “landing page copy.” Intake would’ve caught “also need email sequence + two PDFs.” I ate it to keep the relationship. Relationship didn’t renew. Intake would have either expanded the quote or killed the job early.
Deposit isn’t the start of work. Intake is. Deposit is the gate after clarity.
I helped build a freelancer client ops bundle if you want intake + briefs + delivery in one stack: https://scienceartist.gumroad.com/l/freelancer-client-ops-bundle
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