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 · 30-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.
Zicula is a one-person studio. Every kit here — including this one — is written, tested and shipped through documented process. This store's own build, QA and deploy pipeline runs on the same kind of SOPs and checklists we sell.
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.
30-day full refund — write us within 30 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 30 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