They want a public case study. Here’s the extra.

The fee bought the work. They asked you to publish it.

2026 Slack still reads “can we put this on the site,” “send a writeup and stills for LinkedIn,” or “we need a quote we can post with your name on it.” Nobody asked you to take the credit off. Nobody asked you to teach ops. Nobody asked for a live walkthrough. The site, film, or system already left. What they want now is a public pack — a story, stills, a sentence they can paste — so their audience sees the work with you attached. Bill that clock against the hub floor. Yearly keep, weeks you can actually sell, and whatever tax buffer you set live on that hub — this page does not clone them and is not a 50-state tax engine. Read $360 as 4 × 90 with a dollar sign. Invoice in another currency? Switch it on the hub. Still guessing at $90? Build it on how to set a freelance rate.

Case-study extra = hours you type × hourly floor. Start at the outline. Stop when they have stills and a sentence they can paste. Four hours is the worked example. Eight hours is a long process piece. Two hours is a tight stills-and-quote pass. You own the hour count. This card will not gift the writeup because “a case study is free marketing,” will not mint 10% of the original fee, and will not hang a per-still sticker on each crop so a 12-image gallery looks official.

Worked USD: 4h × $90 = $360

Preset: 4 hours. Floor $90. Case-study extra: 4 × $90 = $360.

That $360 is the public writeup sitting on top of work they already bought. It is not a nameless export. It is not a wiki ops can follow. It is not you talking on Zoom. Put the dollars in writing before you open a blank page. Do not wait for “the case study was included because it markets us both.” This page never tucked a public writeup inside that fee.

Second preset: 8 hours, same $90. Extra: 8 × $90 = $720. The 8 is yours. A longer story — more stills, a process section, a quote they can post, a second crop for Stories — is still hours × floor, still billed because the work already left, still not free marketing, still not 10% of the project.

Third preset: 2 hours at $90. Extra: 2 × $90 = $180. A tight stills-and-quote pack is still a public case study they asked for after the work. Short does not mean complimentary, and it is not a per-still ticket.

Four other doors — none of them post a public story

They want no name on the file. That is the opposite product. Hours to strip credits and rebuild a nameless pack live on the white-label card. Worked example there: 3h × $90 = $270. Not 20% of the project. Not a portfolio-value multiplier. Killing the byline is not a writeup they can post. A public case study is not a ghosted PDF. Want both — a nameless client pack and a version you can publish? Strip hours there, writeup hours here. Do not treat “take your name off” as the same ask as “write it up for our blog.”

Internal pages so the next operator can keep the build alive without pinging you — README, wiki, screenshots for ops — sit on the documentation card (worked 6h × $90 = $540). Those stills teach the inheritor. These stills go on a URL their audience can see. A runbook is not a public story. A public story is not an SOP. Need both? SOP hours there, posted-writeup hours here.

A live Zoom after delivery so their people can click along while you talk sits on the training-handoff card (worked 3h × $90 = $270). Extra heads in the room become extra hours you type, never a per-seat classroom SKU. A call does not publish a writeup. A writeup does not walk a room. Need both? Call hours there, posted-writeup hours here.

A living do/don’t book after the mark — clear space, lockups, “don’t outline the wordmark” — sits on the brand-guidelines card (worked 6h × $90 = $540). Not 20% of identity. Not a per-page mill. Misuse slides are not a public case study. A public case study is not a brand book. Need both? Brand-book hours there, writeup hours here.

You type the hours. This page will not mint free marketing or 10%

Portfolio Twitter still recites “the case study is free marketing,” “10% of the fee for the writeup,” “everyone bundles the Behance page.” None of that is a rule this card runs. Web vs film vs product only names which work already left. Dollars here are hours you type × floor. This page will not mint a complimentary publicity pack, and it will not mint 10% of the original quote.

If they ask for “the usual case-study percent,” answer that this card has none. Show $360 from four hours, type 8, or type 2. You own the hour count. Skip the lecture. No confirm, no public page. The work they already bought still stands.

Paste the line before you write the public page

Name the hours. Name the floor. Name $360, or whatever the card shows. Name that it sits on work they already bought. Copy from this card so the email dollars match the screen dollars.

• 4h × $90. Case-study extra: 4 hours × $90.00/hr = $360.00. Public writeup, stills, and a quote you can post after the work already left — hours × floor, not free marketing, not 10% of the project, and not tucked inside the fee they already paid. Please confirm $360.00 before I open the public page.
• 8h long writeup. Case-study extra: 8 hours × $90.00/hr = $720.00. Public writeup, stills, and a quote you can post after the work already left — hours × floor, not free marketing, not 10% of the project, and not tucked inside the fee they already paid. Please confirm $720.00 before I open the public page.
• 2h stills + quote. Case-study extra: 2 hours × $90.00/hr = $180.00. Public writeup, stills, and a quote you can post after the work already left — hours × floor, not free marketing, not 10% of the project, and not tucked inside the fee they already paid. Please confirm $180.00 before I open the public page.

Skip guilt and “everyone knows the case study is free marketing.” That speech turns a posted writeup into a fight. This page has no official case-study percent and no complimentary exposure line. No confirmed fee, no public page opened. A nameless pack belongs on white-label. An internal SOP belongs on documentation. A live Zoom after delivery belongs on training-handoff. A do/don’t book after the mark belongs on brand-guidelines. If the $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this writeup extra.

Planning math, not a publicity policy

Planning numbers only — not legal, tax, or collections advice. No complimentary publicity pack, no statute that prices a Behance page, no 10% slice of a shipped job, and no 50-state tax engine. Keep the contract you already signed. Need language about who can post what, and whose name stays on it? Hire counsel where you work before the first public paragraph. Filling this card does not draft that language.

Inputs: hours you type for the public writeup, plus the hourly floor. Outputs: the extra, and one sentence to paste. Dollars on this card are labeled USD. Live currency and any tax buffer stay on the hub.

Rate calculator Nameless pack, not a public writeup Internal SOP, not a posted story Set the hourly floor

Billable weeks moved? Recalculate the floor on the hub before you price the public pack. This page names a posted writeup they asked for after the work already left — hours × floor, not free marketing, not 10% of the job. Nameless pack with no byline: white-label. Product SOP an inheritor reads: documentation. Live Zoom so their people can run it: training-handoff. Living do/don’t book after the mark: brand-guidelines. Floor still a guess? Start on how to set a freelance rate.

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