Put your intake in one form, not five emails

When a new client has to send information across several separate emails, texts, and a phone call, something always gets missed. One clean intake form fixes this. It's one of the first things I check when sizing up how a business runs. It asks every question you need once, in order, and gives you a record you can search later instead of a scattered thread.

Building this form takes an afternoon. Skipping it costs you weeks of follow-up emails asking for the one detail nobody sent. It also makes the client feel handled rather than interrogated, because they answer everything once instead of getting pinged with add-on questions later.

Keep the form short. Ask only what you truly need to start, and save the nice-to-know questions for later in the relationship. A long form scares people off before they've even started working with you, and half-finished forms are worse than no form at all.

Try this today: write down every question you've had to chase down by email across your past several client projects, then turn that list into one short form you send before any work begins.