# Book the right clients and keep your focus hours > Designers, developers, writers and consultants work alone, so every call has to earn its place. A discovery call that screens the lead, a deposit that holds the project slot, mornings that stay yours, and the estimate and invoice once the work is agreed. Page: https://timelydo.com/solutions/freelancers ## How it works 1. **Set up your offers** Make an event for your discovery call, one for a paid review and one for a project kickoff. Set the length, the price, a deposit and the questions each one asks. 2. **Share one link** Paste your link into a proposal, your portfolio, your email signature or the footer of an invoice. Leads book the discovery call, and clients you already work with get a link only they can use. 3. **Qualify, get paid, invoice** The answers and the payment arrive with the booking. When the work is agreed, send an estimate, and turn it into an invoice as soon as your client accepts. ## Let the brief decide who gets your calendar A discovery call costs you half an hour even when the lead was never a fit. Ask what they are building, what they can spend, when they need it and for a link to the brief, then let a rule decide what happens next. A lead below your minimum goes to a smaller paid review instead, and only the leads who fit ever see your times. - Fifteen question types, among them choices, a number for the budget, a link to the brief and a file upload - Rules that show a question, make one required, stop the booking with your own message or send the lead to another event of yours - Questions can come before the calendar, so a lead who does not fit never sees your times - Offer the call in 15 or 30 minutes and let the lead choose, or switch on approval and answer each request yourself ## A deposit that holds the date A project slot that is only pencilled in can vanish. Make the kickoff a paid event with a deposit, a fixed amount or a percent, and the date is yours the moment the client pays it. The rest is collected by card before the kickoff, through a pay link we email. If the client backs out, your refund steps decide what goes back, and a fee can cover a no show. - A deposit as a fixed amount or a percent, and a pay link for the balance sent before the date - Refund steps by notice, such as everything back more than a week ahead and half back more than two days ahead - A late cancel or no show fee, charged by you to the card used at booking - Paid add ons such as rush delivery, a coupon for a referral, and a rule that raises the price from an answer about scope ## Prepaid sessions for clients who keep coming back Some clients want a few reviews over a quarter, not one call. Make a package of five design reviews, valid for 90 days, with a purchase page of its own. The client pays once by card, gets a credit code and books each review with it, with no second payment and no account. A credit pays for one booking of a paid event, so give that event the length you want a credit to cover. - Every package has its own purchase page and link, to paste into a proposal or an email - The code and a balance page with what is left arrive by email - A credit comes back on a fair cancel and always when you cancel, and unused ones expire after the days you set - The limits, said plainly: a credit is one booking, not an hour. It works on events that charge, a package takes no coupon, and a sale does not make an invoice yet. ## Mornings that no booking can touch Deep work needs long stretches, and one call in the middle of the morning ends one. Open only the afternoons for calls, cap how many you take in a day and in a week, and keep your calendars connected so a client never books over the rest of your life. - Different hours for every day, with as many windows as you like, and up to five availability calendars - A cap on calls per day and per week, a minimum notice and padding between the times you offer - Google Calendar and Office 365 remove busy times, and new bookings are written back - Times shown in each client's own time zone, so a client abroad never has to work it out ## A front door that already looks like a studio Every freelancer needs somewhere to send people. Your profile lives at your own address and lists what you offer, with your name, your role, a short bio and your social links. Pick one of ten booking page designs and a colour scheme, or your own colour, so the path from the first click to the receipt looks like you. Hide an event from the profile and share its link only with the clients it is meant for. - Your own address, for a proposal, a bio or an invoice footer - Ten designs and six colour schemes, light and dark, the same look on the booking, confirmation and cancel pages - Hidden events and single use links for clients you already have - A QR code, an embed for your website and a button for your newsletter ## Estimate first, invoice when they say yes Most freelance work starts with a number. Send an estimate with its own number and a date it is valid until, and your client accepts or declines on a page, with a reason if they decline. When they accept, one click makes the invoice with exactly what you offered. Bill hours as 1.5 or 1h30, log your time as you work, and take payment by card or record a bank transfer yourself. - An accepted estimate becomes a draft invoice in one click - Log your hours, then invoice them all at once, or invoice a booking in one click - Hourly lines, a discount, tax rates you choose and EU VAT numbers checked against the official service - Pay in parts for a big project, or a recurring invoice for a retainer ## Offers - Free discovery calls and paid reviews - Project slots with a deposit - Packages of prepaid sessions - Other lengths people can pick on free events - Group workshops with seats - Hidden events and single use links ## Screening - Fifteen question types - Rules that show, require, stop or redirect - Questions before the calendar - A link or a file for the brief - Approval for free events - Answers saved with the booking ## Money - Card payments to your own Stripe account - Deposits and balance pay links - Refund steps and late fees - Coupons, add ons and tips - Estimates and invoices - Payment in parts and recurring invoices ## Your time - Different hours for every day - Up to five availability calendars - Caps per day and per week - Google Calendar and Office 365 - Each client's own time zone - Eleven languages for your clients ## Questions and answers ### Is it really free? Yes. TimelyDo is completely free for individuals. Features for teams and organizations are being built and will come later. A card payment carries the usual payment processing fees. ### Can I screen leads before they take my time? Yes. Put questions on the discovery call, such as the budget, the deadline and a link to the brief. A rule can stop a lead with your own message, or send them to another event of yours, for example a smaller paid review. Questions can also come before the calendar, so someone who does not fit never sees your times. For a free call you can switch on approval and answer each request yourself. ### Can I take a deposit to secure a project slot? Yes. Connect Stripe, make the kickoff a paid event and set a deposit as a fixed amount or a percent. The rest is collected by a pay link we email before the date. Your refund steps say what goes back when a client cancels, and you can charge a late cancel or no show fee to the card used at booking. A deposit is a booking payment, no deposit invoice is made. ### Can clients buy prepaid hours? You can sell a package of sessions. A credit pays for one booking of a paid event, not for an hour, so give the event the length one credit should cover, such as a 60 minute review. Credits work only on events that charge, and not on events with a late fee or single use links. A package takes no coupon, and a package sale does not make an invoice yet. ### How do I keep my mornings free? Set different hours for every day and open only the afternoons for calls. Cap the calls per day and per week, add a minimum notice and padding between the times you offer, and connect Google Calendar or Office 365 so busy times are removed. Times are shown in each client's own time zone. ### Can I send an estimate and then an invoice? Yes. An estimate has its own number and a date it is valid until, and your client accepts or declines it on a page. An accepted estimate becomes a draft invoice in one click. Accepting records the click, the name typed and the time. Whether that makes a binding agreement depends on where you and your client are. TimelyDo does not work out tax for you, you enter your own rates. ### Can I meet a client every week? A client you work with can have a hidden event or a single use link that only they can book. A series of dates booked in one go works for free events only, so a paid event is booked one date at a time or paid with a package. For a retainer, a recurring invoice sends the same invoice on a schedule. ### What does it not do yet? TimelyDo is built for people working alone. There are no team features yet, such as round robin or shared team calendars. A deposit or a package sale does not make an invoice, you send that yourself.