Intake
15 freelance client intake questions
Pricing from a Slack thread is how freelancers get burned. A tight intake set surfaces goals, owners, deadlines, and deal-breakers before you write a proposal.
Free one-pager: Download the Client Intake Cheat Sheet — these questions plus a red-flag table.
Goals and success
- What does a successful outcome look like in one sentence?
- What metric or signal will tell you it worked?
- What have you already tried?
People and decisions
- Who is the single decision-maker for yes/no?
- Who else must review or approve?
- How do you prefer feedback (async comments, calls, shared doc)?
Scope and constraints
- What must be in v1 vs. later?
- What is explicitly out of scope?
- What assets, logins, or brand materials do you already have?
- Any hard legal, brand, or technical constraints?
Time and money
- What’s the real deadline — and what happens if you miss it?
- What’s the budget band for this phase?
- Are you ready to start with a deposit on acceptance?
Working style
- How fast do you need replies during the project?
- Anything that made past freelancers frustrating for you?
Use the answers
Turn intake into a proposal with clear inclusions, exclusions, and a follow-up plan — the Proposal & Follow-up Pack ($17) — then onboard with the Onboarding Kit ($19).
Related: Onboarding checklist · Prevent scope creep