Business & Client Ops

Busted

• Acceptance criteriaThe written checklist that decides when a deliverable is done and payable, so 'done' stops being a matter of opinion.
• Accounts receivable (AR) agingA report that groups unpaid invoices by how late they are, so you can see what is current, what needs chasing, and what may not be collected.
• Anchoring (pricing)Showing a credible high price first so the price you want to sell is judged against it and feels more reasonable.
• Capacity planningCounting the hours you actually have left against the work you already promised, before you say yes to one more project.
• Change orderA short signed amendment that records a change to the agreed scope and what it does to the fee and the dates.
• Client intake formThe questionnaire a prospect fills in before you'll book a call, so budget, timeline, and scope are on the table before you spend an hour.
• Client offboardingThe end-of-project handover: files, source, logins, docs, and ownership transferred so the client can carry on without you.
• Client onboardingThe fixed sequence that turns a yes into a started project: contract, deposit, access, brief, kickoff.
• Client sign-offThe dated proof that the client approved a specific deliverable, so the project can move on without reopening the last phase.
• Client-supplied dependencySomething only the client can provide, such as copy, access, assets, or approval, that blocks your work until it arrives.
• CollectionsThe step-by-step escalation for getting a client invoice paid after normal reminders have failed.
• Contingency bufferExtra time or money deliberately held back for project unknowns, so one surprise does not immediately break the plan.
• CRM pipelineA staged board showing every potential deal from first inquiry to signed, with the next action that keeps each one moving.
• DiscoveryA small paid first phase where you work out what the real project is, so the scope and price stop being a guess.
• Effective hourly rateTotal fee divided by every hour the job really ate. The number that says whether that flat rate was a win or a trap.
• Escalation pathThe agreed sequence of people and steps for getting a blocked decision in front of someone with the authority to resolve it.
• EstimateA planning range for cost, effort, or time based on what you know now, not a fixed promise of the final price.
• Expense reimbursementThe rules for charging approved project costs, such as travel or stock assets, back to the client on top of your fee.
• Fixed-price vs time-and-materialsFlat fee for a defined outcome versus billing the hours you actually burn. The choice decides who pays when the work takes longer.
• Good-better-best pricingThree packaged options that make the tradeoffs visible and give the client a natural middle choice instead of one take-it-or-leave-it quote.
• InvoiceThe itemized request you send a client telling them what they owe, when it is due, and exactly how to pay.
• Kickoff callThe first working meeting after signing, where goals, approvers, dates, and who-sends-what get agreed out loud and written down.
• Kill feeThe agreed payment you keep if the client cancels mid-project. Insurance for the work you did and the calendar you blocked.
• Late fee / interest clauseThe contract line that charges a client for paying late, usually a percentage per month on the balance once the invoice goes overdue.
• Master service agreement (MSA)The one-time contract covering how you work together (payment, IP, liability) so each new project only needs a short scope doc attached.
• Milestone billingSplitting the fee into invoices that fire when named stages ship, so cash arrives during the project instead of all at the end.
• Minimum engagementThe smallest project fee or commitment you will accept because every client job has setup, communication, and admin costs.
• Net termsThe countdown on an invoice: net 30 means payment is due 30 days after the date the contract names, usually the invoice date, not after the work.
• Payment scheduleThe contract table that says exactly how much the client owes at each date or milestone, instead of leaving the whole fee until the end.
• Project briefA one-page summary of the job: goal, audience, deliverables, constraints, and how you will both know it worked.
• Project burn rateHow fast a project is using its fixed pool of hours or money, and how long that pool will last at the current pace.
• Project profit marginThe share of a project's fee left after every real cost of delivering it: your hours, subcontractors, tools, and the unbilled rework.
• ProposalThe document you send to win the work: their problem, your approach, what's included, what it costs, how to say yes.
• Purchase order (PO)The client's internal authorization to buy your work, often carrying the PO number accounts payable requires on your invoice.
• Quarterly business review (QBR)A quarterly client meeting that reviews results, explains misses, and agrees on the next period's priorities, scope, and budget.
• QuoteA firm, time-limited price offer for a clearly defined job, ready for the client to accept.
• Referral feeA flat payment or percentage paid to the person whose introduction turns into a paying client.
• RetainerA recurring fee that either reserves a slice of your calendar or buys a fixed monthly scope, instead of re-selling every project.
• Retainer scope guardrailsThe written in/out list on a monthly retainer: what the fee covers, what it never covers, and what happens when the month runs over.
• Revision roundsThe capped number of feedback-and-fix cycles your price covers, so 'just one more tweak' has an agreed stopping point.
• RunwayHow many months the business can keep operating before usable cash runs out at its current rate of spending more than it earns.
• Rush feeA surcharge for a compressed deadline or queue jump, priced for the disruption it causes to everything else you already committed to.
• Scope creepThe project quietly growing past what you agreed to, one 'small favor' at a time, until you're building a bigger job for the original fee.
• Scope of work exclusionsThe written list of what your fee does not cover, so the gaps in the scope are not filled in by the client's imagination.
• Service agreementThe single contract for one client job, combining the project scope and the legal terms without a separate umbrella MSA.
• Single point of contact (SPOC)One client-side owner who gathers stakeholder input and returns a single authorized decision, instead of making you referee five feedback threads.
• Statement of work (SOW)The signed document that spells out exactly what you're delivering, by when, and what counts as done. The project's definition of finished.
• Stop-work clauseThe contract line giving you a right to suspend delivery when payment or client inputs stall, so pausing is not treated as you breaching.
• Subcontracting / white-label deliveryHiring another person or agency to do client work you remain responsible for, sometimes entirely under your own brand.
• Termination clauseThe contract section that explains how either side can end the job, how much notice is required, and what still gets paid.
• Upfront depositThe slice of the fee you collect before work starts. It books the slot, filters out tire-kickers, and means you are never fully unpaid.
• Utilization rateThe share of your working hours that are actually billable. Almost always lower than it feels.
• Value-based pricingSetting the price from what the result is worth to the client instead of how many hours it takes you.
• Weekly status updateA fixed weekly note covering what finished, what comes next, what is blocked, and exactly which decisions the client owes by when.

The territory

30 core terms mapped for this field, ranked by how often builders reach for them. Each one is a future entry. Want to bust one? One entry, one file, one pull request.

• statement of work (SOW)contract exhibit defining deliverables, timeline, and acceptance for one project"the doc that says exactly what I'm building" · "the deliverables list they sign"
• scope creepunbilled work added incrementally after scope was agreed"they keep asking for one more thing" · "the project that never ends"
• change orderformal amendment adding scope, cost, and time to a signed contract"the extra-work form" · "a paid yes to a new request"
• master service agreement (MSA)umbrella contract of standing terms; projects attach as SOWs"sign once, do many projects" · "the big legal doc up front"
• retainerrecurring fee reserving capacity or a fixed monthly scope"monthly fee to keep me around" · "a subscription for my time"
• fixed-price vs time-and-materialsflat project price versus billing actual hours and costs"flat fee or hourly" · "one price versus the meter running"
• net termsdays a client has to pay after invoice date (Net 30)"how long before they have to pay" · "the 30 days thing on invoices"
• upfront depositportion of fee collected before work begins"money before I start" · "50% to book the slot" · "the upfront"
• milestone billinginvoicing tied to completed project stages rather than time"get paid in chunks as I finish parts"
• kill feepayment owed if client cancels mid-project"what I get if they bail" · "cancellation payment"
• acceptance criteriawritten conditions that mark a deliverable as done and payable"how we agree it's finished" · "the definition of done"
• scope of work exclusionsexplicit list of what the fee does not include"the list of what I'm not doing" · "what's not included"
• discoverypaid initial phase to define problem, scope, and estimate"the figure-out-what-they-need phase" · "paid research before the real project"
• value-based pricingprice set by client's outcome value, not hours spent"charge for the result not the time"
• effective hourly ratetotal fee divided by actual hours; true profitability measure"what I really made per hour"
• utilization rateshare of available hours that are billable"how much of my week is paid work"
• proposalpersuasive pre-contract document pitching approach, scope, and price"the pitch doc with pricing"
• client onboardingstructured intake sequence: contract, payment, access, kickoff"the getting-started checklist for new clients"
• kickoff callfirst working session aligning goals, roles, and schedule"the meeting where we start for real"
• revision roundscontractually capped number of feedback-and-fix cycles"how many times they can ask for changes"
• stop-work clauseright to pause delivery when payment or inputs stall"pause work until they pay" · "the right to down tools"
• dunningautomated escalating reminders chasing overdue or failed payments"the nagging emails about unpaid invoices"
• project profit marginrevenue minus true delivered cost, as a percentage"what I actually keep from this job" · "how much of the fee is profit"
• client intake formqualifying questionnaire filtering and briefing prospects before a call"the form that screens out bad leads"
• rush feepremium surcharge for compressed timelines or queue-jumping"extra charge for a tight deadline"
• client offboardingfinal transfer of assets, credentials, docs, and ownership"handoff" · "giving them everything at the end"
• project briefshort document capturing goals, audience, constraints, success measures"the one-pager describing the job"
• retainer scope guardrailsexplicit inclusions and exclusions defining a monthly retainer"what the monthly fee does and doesn't cover"
• capacity planningforecasting committed work against available hours before saying yes"can I actually take this on"
• late fee / interest clausecontractual penalty accruing on overdue invoices"charging them for paying late"

Deeper in the field

• invoice itemized payment request stating amount, due date, and payment instructions
• payment schedule contracted dates or milestones when specific amounts become payable
• service agreement standalone contract governing one engagement without an umbrella MSA
• quote fixed offer to perform defined work at a stated price
• estimate nonbinding forecast of project cost, effort, or duration
• client sign-off recorded approval confirming a deliverable or milestone is accepted
• termination clause contract terms governing how either party may end the engagement
• purchase order (PO) client authorization often required before invoicing can begin
• expense reimbursement terms for passing approved project expenses through to the client
• collections escalation process for recovering invoices still unpaid after reminders
• minimum engagement smallest fee or commitment accepted for taking on client work
• accounts receivable (AR) aging report bucketing unpaid invoices by how overdue they are
• runway months of operation remaining at current cash burn
• good-better-best pricing packaged options anchoring the client toward a middle choice
• CRM pipeline staged view of deals moving from lead to signed
• client-supplied dependency work blocked pending client assets, access, or approvals
• escalation path named contacts and steps for unblocking stalled decisions
• single point of contact (SPOC) one client-side decision-maker who consolidates feedback
• weekly status update recurring written progress, blockers, and next-steps report
• project burn rate pace of consuming a budgeted hour or fee pool
• anchoring (pricing) presenting a high reference price to reshape perceived value
• subcontracting / white-label delivery delivering under another agency's brand or hiring one out
• referral fee commission paid for a lead that converts to a client
• contingency buffer extra time or budget reserved for unknowns
• quarterly business review (QBR) recurring meeting reviewing results and renewing scope