What do the words of a practice of one mean?
Retainer, day rate, deposit, package window, statement of work, engagement letter, set-aside: the words that come up once you work for yourself, each in a line. Most of them describe how you’re paid and what you’ve promised, so knowing them makes a conversation with a client shorter.
Selling
- 1
Session
A booked block of your time, at a fixed length and price.
- 2
Package
Several sessions sold together, usually at less each, used within a set time.
- 3
Package window
How long a client has to use a package’s sessions.
- 4
Retainer
A monthly fee for time or availability held for one client.
- 5
Day rate
A price for a full working day, for work billed by time rather than by result.
- 6
Project
A piece of work with a defined result and a price for the whole.
- 7
Discovery call
A short first conversation, often free, to decide whether to work together.
- 8
Course on set dates
A group that meets on fixed dates, bought as a whole.
- 9
Group session
One session with several seats, each sold separately.
- 10
Product ladder
Three or four offers at rising sizes that a client climbs one at a time.
Agreeing
- 1
Client agreement
The terms a client accepts before paying: what, when, how much, cancellation and confidentiality.
- 2
Statement of work
A per-project document listing deliverables, dates, scope, changes and payment.
- 3
Engagement letter
A short agreement for advice, setting out what you advise on and how you’re paid.
- 4
Scope
What the work includes. Out of scope is what it doesn’t.
- 5
Change request
A client’s ask for work outside the scope, priced on its own.
- 6
Cancellation window
How close to a session a client can move or cancel at no charge.
- 7
No-show
A client who misses a session without telling you.
- 8
Kill fee
What a client pays if they end a project partway.
- 9
Revision round
One set of comments on creative work, gathered together.
- 10
Intake question
What you ask a client before the first session.
Getting paid
- 1
Deposit
A share of the price paid at booking to hold a date or start work.
- 2
Balance
What’s left to pay after a deposit.
- 3
Invoice
A written request for payment, with what it’s for and when it’s due.
- 4
Payment terms
How long a client has to pay an invoice, such as 14 days.
- 5
Card fee
The share of a card payment the payment provider keeps.
- 6
Platform fee
The share of a payment the software you sell through keeps.
- 7
Payout
Money moved from your payment provider to your bank.
- 8
Refund
Money sent back to a client, in full or in part.
Tax and records
- 1
Set-aside
The share of each payment counted out for tax before you spend anything.
- 2
Take-home
What’s yours after tax and costs.
- 3
Sole proprietor
In the US, a person running a business under their own name, with no company between them and it.
- 4
Sole trader
The UK term for the same thing, registered with HMRC for Self Assessment.
- 5
Estimated tax
In the US, tax paid in four installments during the year rather than all at the end.
- 6
Payments on account
In the UK, two advance payments toward next year’s Self Assessment bill.
- 7
Cash basis
Counting money when it arrives or leaves, rather than when it’s invoiced.
Checked 2026-10-11.