Educational guide · operations
Client onboarding playbook: first week without chaos
Bad kickoffs create unpaid “quick questions” for months. A tight onboarding ritual takes under an hour and pays for itself on the first project.
Before kickoff: collect only what you need to start
- Goals + success metric (one sentence each)
- Decision maker + who approves invoices
- Assets / access list (logins, brand files, repos)
- Timeline + hard deadlines
- Communication channel + expected response time
- Out-of-scope examples (3 bullets is enough)
If you can’t fill those six lines, you’re not ready to start — you’re ready to guess.
Kickoff email template (copy / paste)
Subject: Kickoff confirmed — [Project] week-1 plan
Hi [Name],
We’re locked for [start date]. Here’s how week 1 works:
1) Success metric: [one sentence]
2) I’ll deliver: [deliverable] by [date]
3) I need from you by [date]: [assets / access]
4) Channel: [email / Slack] · response window: [e.g. 1 business day]
5) Out of scope for now: [3 bullets]
Reply “confirmed” and send the access list. Looking forward to it.
— [You]Day 1–7 cadence
- Day 1 — Access check + confirm success metric in writing.
- Day 2–3 — First draft / scaffold; one async update (3 bullets max).
- Day 4 — Feedback window opens; one revision round only.
- Day 5–6 — Polish + handoff notes.
- Day 7 — Close week: what shipped, what’s next, what’s out of scope.
Scope-creep firewall (say this early)
“Happy to add that — I’ll send a mini change-order with price + timeline so we stay on track.” Put it in the kickoff email so it feels like process, not pushback.
Related guides
Need email scripts + SOPs filled in?
This playbook is free to use. If you want the full onboarding kit (scripts, checklists, kickoff SOP), it’s in the shop.