JournalSeptember 2026
The first ninety days
A partnership that starts with a calendar, not a promise.
The first two weeks are a test, and the test is unpaid. You book three conversations with people you already know. A booked conversation is a name and a time, with me invited. A promise to “reach out” is not a conversation.
If a call happens, I attend. You introduce me. I talk about the work. You are not left alone with a question you cannot answer.
Through the next month I write every proposal. You follow up on the dates we agreed. By day ninety there is either a paid project in motion or a clear stop. No fee is owed for meetings that never become an invoice.
I pay a share only when the client’s money has cleared, and I pay it within a week. The first transfer is the whole relationship. Everything before that is just talk.