How to take a deposit before the work starts.

Many independent experts start work on a handshake and invoice at the end. It feels generous, and it usually works. When it does not, you have already spent the weeks, turned down other work to protect the slot, and now have to chase money from someone you liked.

A deposit changes the start of the engagement, not the relationship. The client commits, you block the time, and the first invoice is not a surprise to anyone.

It also changes how you feel about the work. When the start is paid for, you can say no to the next inquiry that wants the same weeks without wondering whether this client will still be there. That calm shows up in the first session.

Asking is easy once you know exactly what you are asking for. Settle these once, and reuse them:

• The amount: a fixed sum, or a share of the total fee. Whatever you choose, make it large enough that both of you take the start date seriously.
• What it covers: the first phase, the first month, or simply the reservation of your time.
• Whether it is refundable, and until when. For example, refundable until a week before the start date, then not.
• When the balance is due: on milestones, monthly, or at the end.
• What happens if the client needs to move the start date.

Put the terms in the brief or the proposal, in the same plain language you use with the client. A short paragraph is enough. For example:

“To reserve the start date of October 6, a deposit of $1,500 is due when you accept this brief. It covers the first two weeks of work. It is refundable in full until September 29. The remaining $3,000 is due on October 31.”

The amounts are illustrative. What matters is that a client can read it once and know what to pay, when, and what happens if plans change.

The ask goes at the end of the conversation where the client said yes, while the energy is there. State it as the next step, not as a favor:

“Great. The next step is the deposit, which reserves your start date. I will send the link today, and once it is in I will send the kickoff time and open our shared space.”

If a client pushes back, listen for the reason. Sometimes it is a company process that needs an invoice rather than a card payment. That is a logistics question, and it has an answer. Occasionally it is a sign the engagement would be hard in other ways too.

Use whatever gets the money into your own account with the fewest steps for the client:

• A payment link or an invoice from your payment processor, sent right after the call.
• Your booking tool, if it takes payment at the moment of booking.
• A checkout on your own site, tied to the first phase of work.
• A bank transfer, when a company’s finance team prefers it for larger amounts.

1. Confirm receipt the same day, in one line.
2. Send the kickoff time and anything you need from them before it.
3. Open the shared space where the brief, notes and files will live, and invite them in.
4. Record the payment against the engagement, so the balance is easy to track.

• “Can I pay it all at the end?” You can offer that, but explain that the deposit is what reserves the start date, and the date goes to whoever confirms first.
• “Can you invoice our company instead?” Usually, yes. Send an invoice for the deposit amount with the same terms, and hold the date until it is paid.
• “What if the work takes less time?” Your terms decide this. A fixed-fee engagement stays fixed; an hourly one can credit the deposit against the final bill.
• “Is it refundable?” Answer with the line you already wrote, word for word.

Follow your written terms, promptly and politely. If the deposit is refundable, refund it without making the client ask twice. If it is not, say so kindly and point to the line they agreed to. Either way, the relationship often survives, and so does the referral.

In a SoloBase Studio, a client can buy a package or paid access to a Client Hub straight into your own Stripe account. SoloBase takes 0% and never holds the money; Stripe’s standard processing fees apply.

In SoloBase the deposit sits in the proposal: your client signs by typing their name and pays it to your own Stripe, and the numbered invoice follows. Until you are in, a payment link from your own processor does this job well, and everything above still applies.