Starting a Project Right
What to do in the first 24 hours of a contract to set the tone, prevent misunderstandings, and get the project off to a clean start.
The first 24 hours set the tone
The way a project begins shapes how it proceeds. A strong start builds client confidence, reduces the number of check-in messages you receive, and establishes you as someone who runs projects — not just completes tasks.
Within 24 hours of a contract starting, you should do four things:
- Send a kick-off message. Confirm you're starting and summarize what you've agreed to in your own words.
- Confirm scope. Restate the deliverables so there's a written record both of you can refer back to.
- Set communication expectations. Tell the client your working hours, your preferred channel, and how often they can expect updates.
- Request any assets or access you need. Don't wait until you need something to ask for it — get ahead of dependencies at the start.
This takes 10-15 minutes. The payoff is fewer surprises, fewer disputes, and a client who feels like they hired a professional.
The kick-off message
A kick-off message is a short message sent at the start of every project. It isn't a formality — it's a practical tool that creates a written record, confirms alignment, and sets the tone for communication.
What to include:
- Restate the scope in your own words. "I'll be building a 5-page website with the pages we discussed: Home, About, Services, Portfolio, and Contact." If your version of the scope differs from the client's, better to catch it now.
- Confirm the timeline. "I'll have an initial draft to you by [date], with final delivery on [date]."
- List what you need from the client before starting. Brand assets, logins, content drafts, reference files. Make it a short list with a deadline.
- Tell them your working hours and response time. "I work Mon-Fri, typically responding within a few hours during that window."
Example kick-off message:
Hi [Name], great to be working together. Here's a quick summary of what we've agreed so I can make sure we're aligned before I start. I'll be redesigning your 5-page website — Home, About, Services, Portfolio, and Contact — including responsive layout and brand-matched styling. First mockup by [date], revisions turnaround 48 hours, final delivery by [date]. Before I start, I'll need: your logo files (SVG or PNG), any brand color hex codes, and your existing content or notes on what you want changed on each page. I work Mon-Fri and aim to respond within a few hours. Let me know if anything looks different from your end and I'll get started.
Getting what you need from the client
Clients often forget to provide the assets and information you need to start. This is rarely malicious — they're not doing this every day like you are. Common things clients forget to provide:
- Brand guidelines (colors, fonts, logo files)
- Logins and credentials (CMS, hosting, social accounts)
- Content drafts (copy, images, product descriptions)
- Reference materials (competitor sites, design inspiration, previous versions)
- Stakeholder context (who is the final decision-maker, who will approve work)
Ask for everything you need at once, not drip by drip. A client who gets one question on Day 1, another on Day 3, and another on Day 5 starts to feel like the project isn't being run efficiently. Consolidate your requirements into a single list in the kick-off message.
Set a dependency with a consequence: "I can begin once I receive the brand files and login credentials. If I don't have them by [date], the delivery date will move accordingly." This is professional, not aggressive — it simply makes the project timeline accurate.
Milestone planning
On any project longer than a few days, break the work into checkpoints with the client. The first deliverable should come early — around 30-40% into the timeline — so you can catch misalignment before it's too late to correct.
Never work for weeks in silence and then deliver a "big reveal." If you've been moving in the wrong direction, you want to find out at week one, not week four. Early milestones give the client confidence that progress is happening, and they give you the chance to course-correct based on feedback before too much work is locked in.
Even on fixed-price projects, you can structure your communication to follow a milestone rhythm: share a sketch or outline before full execution, share a draft before the final version, confirm direction before doing revisions. The Upwork milestone system is the formal version of this — use it where it fits.
Setting communication cadence
Tell the client at the start how often they'll hear from you. This prevents the anxiety that builds when a project goes quiet. It also prevents the opposite problem: a client who messages you daily for updates because you never told them they didn't need to.
A reasonable default:
- Projects over 2 weeks: brief daily or every-other-day status update
- Projects under 2 weeks: update every 2-3 days, or at each major milestone
- Short projects (2-3 days): one update when halfway done, one at delivery
Agree on the channel too. Upwork messages is the default and strongly recommended — it creates a timestamped record attached to the contract. Switching to WhatsApp, email, or Slack moves the conversation off-platform and out of any dispute record.