The session is the gate, not the job
In 2026 a lot of inbound threads still stall on “can we do a workshop first?” They do not want a project number yet. They want a half-day on the calendar: stakeholders in a room, files on the table, a map of what the job even is. That is not a two-minute “are you real?” screen. That is billed time. Rebuild the hourly floor on the hub from the keep you need, the weeks you can actually bill, and a tax buffer you choose there. This card never clones that buffer and never pretends to be a 50-state tax engine. $360 here is just 4 × 90 written as money. Switch currency on the hub if the invoice is not USD. Still guessing at $90? Start on how to set a freelance rate.
Workshop fee = hours you type × hourly floor. Count the session door-to-door. Four hours is 4. A full day is 8. Include prep you will actually do. The product is whatever you typed. This card will not mint a 10% slice of a job that has not been quoted, a “standard discovery package,” or a complimentary kickoff.
Worked USD: 4h × $90 = $360
Preset: 4 workshop hours. Floor $90. Credit off. Fee: 4 × $90 = $360.
That $360 is the kickoff itself. It is not the later job. It is not a standing Monday Zoom. It is not a $40 inbound tweak. Collect it before you block the half-day. Quote the real work afterward on quote a project. Do not wait for a future engagement to fund Tuesday’s workshop.
Third preset: 8 hours at the same $90. Fee: 8 × $90 = $720. You typed the 8. This page did not. A full-day workshop is still hours × floor, still billed before the project number, still not 10% of anything.
Credit starts off. Paying now does not discount the later quote.
The toggle is optional and it starts off. Off means the workshop is its own invoice. The later project is quoted in full on its own card. They paid for the session they asked for. That cash does not secretly shave the next number.
Turn it on only if you actually want that same dollar to come off a later project quote. They still pay the workshop now. Credit is a later subtraction, not a free session. If you type a later quote, remaining = that quote − the workshop fee (not below zero). If you leave the later box empty, this page will not invent a project size — and it will not fill in 10% of a future fee so the math looks official.
Second preset: same 4 hours, same $90, credit on. Fee is still $360 due before the workshop. The credit line then reads $360 toward whatever you quote after. Type a later number if you have one. Leave it blank if you do not. Either way, $360 is hours × floor, not a percent of a job that has not been priced.
Four other cards that are not this workshop
They did not ask for $0. A look before a contract exists — opening files for free, an unpaid audit, a sample teardown — is unpaid discovery. That card prices a paid alternative, or writes the decline. This card is different: they already asked for a workshop as a phase before you quote. They named the session. You name the hours × floor. Do not treat a scheduled kickoff as another unpaid look, and do not paste a “I don’t do free discovery” line onto a workshop they are ready to book.
They did not ask you to start the real job while legal still has the SOW. Hours now, signature later, at risk = hours you type × floor — worked 8h × $90 = $720, published “first week is free” — lives on the start-before-contract card. A workshop is a named paid room they agreed to book before you will quote. Production hours on a handshake is a different clock. Do not launder an unsigned build week into this half-day, and do not treat a paid kickoff as permission to run the rest unsigned.
They did not hire you yet and then drop a recurring Monday Zoom. Price that extra on the weekly-call card once the job is live and the invite sits outside the hours they already bought. A one-shot kickoff before the quote is not four standups. Do not launder a pre-quote workshop into “we’ll just hop on every week.”
They did not hand you a finished brief. Build the full package — production, meetings, revisions, plus a buffer you choose — on quote a project. Run this workshop first when you cannot price that package yet. After the session, go there. Do not hide four hours of kickoff inside a 20% buffer and pretend the workshop was free research.
They did not ping a $40 logo nudge. A tiny inbound offer vs N hours × floor is the minimum-fee card. A four-hour workshop is a named session, not max($40, 1 × floor). If the ask is actually “can you just tweak this,” stop here and use that floor comparison.
They did not ask you to assemble a visual pack they keep even if production never starts. Comps, refs, color lanes billed as hours × floor — worked 3h × $90 = $270, not free if they hire you, not 10% of a future job — live on the moodboard card. This workshop is live hours in a room before the quote. A PDF of comps is not a half-day. A half-day is not a takeaway board. Want both? Session hours here, assembly hours there.
Send the sentence before you block the half-day
Say the hours. Say the floor. Say $360 (or the product on the card). Say it is billed before the project quote. If the credit toggle is on, say that too. Paste the line from the card so the figures stay identical.
- 4h × $90, credit off. Kickoff workshop: 4 hours × $90.00/hr = $360.00, billed before I quote the project. That fee is hours × floor, not 10% of a future job, and it does not credit against the later quote unless we agree it does.
- Same 4h, credit on. Kickoff workshop: 4 hours × $90.00/hr = $360.00, billed before I quote the project. If we proceed, that $360.00 credits against the later project quote. That is hours × floor, not 10% of a number that does not exist yet.
- 8h workshop. Kickoff workshop: 8 hours × $90.00/hr = $720.00, billed before I quote the project. That fee is hours × floor, not 10% of a future job, and it does not credit against the later quote unless we agree it does.
Leave out guilt, manufactured urgency, and “everyone knows discovery is 10%.” That speech turns a half-day into a fight. This page has no official workshop percent. No confirmed fee, no blocked hours. Brief already written? Skip the session and quote the project. They wanted $0? That argument belongs on unpaid-discovery. Floor moved? Rebuild it on the hub, then come back.
Planning math, not a workshop policy
Planning numbers only — not legal, tax, or collections advice. No mandated discovery percent, no statute that prices a kickoff, no 10% project slice, no marketplace workshop calendar, and no 50-state tax engine. Keep the contract you already signed. Need enforceable workshop language? Hire counsel where you work before the half-day is on the calendar. Typing into this card does not draft that language.
You enter workshop hours, the hourly floor, a credit toggle that starts off, and an optional later project quote that only matters when credit is on. You get the workshop fee, whether it credits, remaining on a later quote if you typed one, and one sentence you can paste. USD labels here; live currency and the tax buffer stay on the hub.
Rate calculator $0 look before a contract Hours now, signature later Visual pack they keep if job dies Standing Zoom on a live job Quote the project after Tiny inbound job Set the hourly floor
Billable weeks changed? Recalculate the floor on the hub before you price the half-day. This page names the half-day they asked for before you will quote — hours × floor, credit off unless you flip it. $0 look: unpaid-discovery. Hours now, signature later: start-before-contract. Visual pack they keep even if the job never starts: moodboard. Recurring Zoom on a live job: weekly-call. Whole engagement: quote-a-project. $40 tweak: minimum-fee.
FAQ
How do I price a freelance kickoff workshop before quoting the project?
Workshop fee is hours you type × your hourly floor. They asked for a kickoff session as a gate before the project quote. That half-day is billed time, not a courtesy. Planning math, not a contract.
Should the workshop fee automatically credit against the later freelance project?
No, not unless you turn the credit toggle on. It starts off. They still pay the workshop now. Credit means that same dollar comes off a later project quote you type — it does not replace the quote, and it is not 10% of a number that does not exist yet.
Is a freelance kickoff workshop 10% of the project fee?
Not on this page. There is no official discovery percent, no required 10% of a future quote, and no industry workshop slice. 4 hours × a $90 floor is $360 because you typed 4 and 90. The later job still needs its own quote.
Is a paid kickoff workshop the same as unpaid discovery, a weekly standing call, a project quote, or a minimum fee?
No. Unpaid discovery is a $0 look before a contract exists. A weekly call is a recurring Zoom on a live job whose hours were already the deliverable. Quote a project is the whole engagement with a buffer you set. A minimum fee is a tiny inbound tweak vs N hours × floor. This card is a one-shot paid workshop they want before you will quote.
Is this kickoff-workshop math a contract, a kickoff statute, or a 50-state tax engine?
No. Planning numbers, not a lawyer, not a tax table. $360 is 4 × $90 written as money. Pick currency and a tax buffer on the hub. Nothing here is a 50-state tax engine, and using the card does not draft a workshop clause.
Where do I compare marketplace fees and Shopify $96.80 after I plan this rate?
Use the seller fee index + CSV (2026-09-19) for same-input KEEP ladders, then compare ranker, break-even, and Shopify KEEP $96.80 on $100 for the own-store path. Planning only — before COGS, shipping, ads, taxes.
Is the Shopify $96.80 KEEP an affiliate link?
Yes when you use the Start Shopify link: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Compensated as a Shopify affiliate. The $96.80 on $100 figure is Shopify Basic Payments planning math (2.9% + $0.30) before COGS, shipping, ads, taxes, or the monthly plan. Use Shopify KEEP and the break-even tool to allocate plan cost.