Dubsado, Bonsai and HoneyBook charge $29–55 every month to store your client work — and hand you blank templates (checked 2026-09-26). This kit ships the process they left out: 42 intake questions, the kickoff script, the scope worksheet, the access checklist, the weekly rhythm and the handoff — plain files, $42 once.
Get the Client Onboarding Kit — $42$42 one-time · ≈ ฿1,490 · 25 files · instant download · 14-day full refund
Three facts from the vendors' own pages and the communities where this pain is described daily (all captured 2026-09-26).
"Starter $35/month, Premier $55 — and the plan includes 'Form & email templates.'" — templates you still write yourself.
Dubsado pricing page · dubsado.com/pricing · Bonsai lists "All templates" at $25–59/user/mo · HoneyBook "All professional templates" at $29–109/mo
"After losing $2K to scope creep last year, I rebuilt my entire client onboarding." · "…after losing a $3k project because my process looked unprofessional."
r/freelance · Jul 2026 and Jun 2026 — real losses posted by real buyers
"Went from 90 min per client to like 12." · "…so it stopped eating a full day per new client." Four people hand-built their own onboarding kits in 3 months — because there was nothing to buy.
r/Entrepreneur Apr 2026 · r/smallbusiness Sep 2026 · self-built-kit posts Jun–Sep 2026
Every file carries the same worked example — a fictional two-person studio onboarding a coffee roaster — so you see a filled-in version next to every blank.
Six categories, traffic-lighted as answers arrive: a red answer becomes a kickoff agenda item before anything is signed. Includes the response log CSV.
Six timed segments, word-for-word lines for the hard moments, and the 24-hour recap email that turns spoken agreements into written ones.
The in/out/assumptions worksheet, a one-page change-request form with two worked examples (one approved, one declined), and a milestone plan with input dates.
The week-one checklist of what to request and by when — invites and shares, rotation at handoff — plus the asset tracking log CSV and the one-page request email.
Welcome packet, cadence playbook with an escalation ladder for silent clients, the 5-line Friday update, and four scope-creep scripts you can read aloud.
Handoff checklist with a live walkthrough, the 6-question offboarding survey with a testimonial ask that quotes their own words, and the archive system.
Draft briefs, recaps and replies with any AI — behind a fact-check gate: every name, number and date verified by you before a client sees it.
Ten steps with ASCII pictures and a "what success looks like" check at every stage — 20 quiet minutes and the kit is yours, configured.
Three real files from the kit, trimmed: the intake questionnaire's first category, the kickoff call agenda (trimmed), and the scope-alignment worksheet (trimmed). Instant download — no email needed.
Verified against the vendors' own pricing pages at the time of writing (2026-09-26). Prices change — check before any purchase, including this one.
| What you get | Client SaaS (Dubsado · Bonsai · HoneyBook) | Agency SaaS (ManyRequests) | Notion dashboards | This kit ($42 once) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | $35–55/mo Dubsado · $25–59/user/mo Bonsai · $29–109/mo HoneyBook (annual) — $228–1,308 per person per year | $59–99/mo ($39–79 annual) + $20–30 per extra seat | One-time purchase, priced per template | $42 once, printed on this page |
| Cost of month 12 | The seat bills again — the process is still yours to write | The platform bills again — $468+/yr from year one | One-time — inside Notion | $0 more — the files are yours |
| Who writes the process | You do — "Form & email templates" and "All professional templates" are blank shells | Their "requests" are a structure, content included | A database to fill — no agenda, script, or cadence | The questions, the script, the checklists — ready to read aloud |
| If you switch tools | Your templates live in their app — export and start over | Same — portal and workflows stay behind | Notion-locked by design | Markdown + CSV — works with Notion, Google Docs, email, any PM tool |
| Scope creep mid-project | Not addressed — that is process, not software | Extra requests become billable work items | Not addressed | Change-request form, the three trades, four read-aloud scripts |
| Contract | Monthly or annual seat commitment | Month-to-month — per seat, ongoing | None | None — pay once, download, use |
Facts captured 2026-09-26 from the vendors' own pages: dubsado.com/pricing (Starter $35/mo, Premier $55/mo; annual $335/$525), hellobonsai.com/pricing (Essentials $25/user/mo, Premium $39, Elite $59; annual $19/$29/$49), honeybook.com/pricing (Starter $29/mo billed yearly, Essentials $49, Premium $109), manyrequests.com/pricing (Lite $59/mo, Pro $99/mo; annual $39/$79; seats $20–30), notion.com/templates/category/client-portal (498 templates listed by name; per-item prices JS-rendered).
No outcome promises. A clear process makes you easier to hire and harder to derail; it does not conjure good clients, good prices, or good luck. The kit installs the questions, the scripts and the rhythm — it makes no claims about your revenue, retention, or referrals. Anyone promising those is selling you a number.
It is not a contract. The scope worksheet is an internal alignment record and the recap is a summary of a conversation — neither carries legal force. Real agreements come from your own lawyer. The kit is policy-neutral on purpose: your terms, your jurisdiction, your counsel.
English files, honest hours. The files are in English — the working language of most client work. And it is a system, not a robot: one-time setup is about 20 minutes, each new client costs about 45 minutes of onboarding, and the weekly cost is one five-line update.
From "every new client gets a different version of me" to a process your clients can feel — in three moves.
Follow SETUP.md once: copy the folder, fill your name, response times and update day into the brackets, trim the questionnaire to your business. The worked example shows you a filled-in version of everything.
Send the questionnaire that day, traffic-light the answers, run the kickoff from the agenda, send the recap within 24 hours, align scope, request access with dates — in that order, for once.
Friday updates from the 5-line template, changes through the one-page form, and a handoff that ends with a survey, a testimonial in their own words, and an archive you can search next year.
14-day full refund — write us within 14 days and we refund in full, files stay yours.
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Neither — on purpose. The SaaS products rent you a place to keep client work; the expensive part is the process that runs inside it. That part is files: questionnaires, agendas, scripts, checklists. This kit is those files — you own them, and they work with whatever tool you already pay for.
One zip, 25 working files: the loop map with time budgets, a 10-step novice SETUP with pictures, the 42-question intake questionnaire + response log CSV, the kickoff agenda + call script + 24-hour recap template, the scope-alignment worksheet + change-request form (two worked examples) + milestone plan + milestones CSV, the access-and-assets checklist + tracking log CSV, the welcome packet + cadence playbook + 5-line update template + four scope-creep scripts, the handoff checklist + offboarding survey + archive checklist, and the 8-prompt AI pack behind a fact-check gate. Markdown and CSV — nothing to install.
We can't promise that, and you should distrust anyone who does. What changes with the kit: every client gets the same intake, the same kickoff, the same written scope — so surprises surface in week one instead of invoice three, and your process stops depending on your memory or your mood. "More professional" is what clients report; it is their judgment, not our claim.
Yes — that is the normal setup. The kit is the process layer; your tool is the storage layer. Paste the questionnaire into a form, the agenda into a doc, the CSV into a sheet. When you switch tools someday — and you will — the kit moves with you. That is the one thing seat-based pricing can't say.
Both. Solo: it is the senior-process voice in the room on day one. Team: it is the SOP that makes client #14's onboarding identical to client #3's, whoever runs it. The license covers use inside your business; each studio needs its own copy.
If the kit doesn't fit how you work, write us within 14 days of purchase and we refund in full — the files stay yours, to keep or delete. One refund per purchase; we ask only for optional feedback.
$42 one-time · ≈ ฿1,490 · free v1.x updates · instant download
Get the Client Onboarding Kit — $42