I
3–5 days
Discovery
I read what you wrote, then I ask you the questions you didn’t answer.
You get
A return note. A scope read. A go/no-go on whether I’m right for this.
Inside the studio — how a one-person studio ships
§ 01
How I work · in three parts
Quiet rooms, sharp axes.
I’m a one-person studio building marketing sites, internal tools, calculators, and lead paths. Twenty-five of these in twenty-four months came from the same operating style: small scopes, working software, and proof before public claims. Most weeks end with something clickable or a clear reason to stop.
Below: the five acts every project moves through, then the ten questions I get most. Read both before you brief me. If anything here isn’t what you need, close the tab.
§ 02 · The five acts
Every project moves through the same five rooms.
II
2–4 days
Scope
I write the smallest version of your project that still earns its keep.
You get
A one-page scope. Fixed price quoted in days. A start date.
III
2–4 weeks
Sprint
I build it. You see it Friday. Then Friday again. Then it ships.
You get
A live staging URL every Friday. A draft you can click through.
IV
1–2 days
Reveal
We go live, quietly. No launch deck, no kickoff Slack channel.
You get
A production URL. A handoff doc the size of an index card.
V
Ongoing
Handoff
You own it from here. I keep the lights on for 30 days, no charge.
You get
Repo access. A bug fix window. A standing offer to brief me again.
§ 03 · Ten questions
Answered once. If any disqualify us, good.
Before we work together
How do you price?
Fixed price, quoted in days, never hours. Most projects land between $8k and $40k. I’ll send the number with the scope, in writing, before either of us commits.
Do you take rush jobs?
Not under two weeks. I work one project at a time and I won’t burn the current one for a new one. If your deadline is shorter than that, I’ll tell you who else to call.
What do you not work on?
Crypto, gambling, anything that needs to lie to its user. Also: pure agency overflow where I never speak to the actual client. The work gets worse and I get bored.
Why solo? Don’t I want a team?
A team is right when the work is bigger than one person. For a marketing site, an internal tool, a calculator, a portal — one person is faster, cheaper, and the design holds.
Once we start
How do we communicate?
Email is primary. Phone for anything urgent. I don’t live in Slack, Linear, or Notion — I’ll work in your tools when there’s a reason to, but I won’t pretend I’m on your team.
What’s the weekly cadence?
Monday brief check-in (15 min, async OK). Friday demo of working software (staging URL, no slides). That’s it. No standups, no sprint planning theatre.
Can the scope change mid-sprint?
Once. Quietly. If the change is small I’ll absorb it; if it’s real I’ll re-quote in writing before I touch the code. Scope creep is a process problem, not a billing one.
After delivery
What happens after launch?
Thirty days of free bug fixes. After that, retainer at $4.5k/month (10 hrs) or one-off briefs at the same day rate. Most clients come back twice.
Do I own the code?
Yes. You own the delivered work unless we agree otherwise in writing. Handoff terms are part of the scope before launch.
Can I hire you again later?
Yes. Returning clients skip most of the warm-up. I already know the system, so the second brief usually starts faster.
§ 04 · Public record
The studio now keeps public-safe story and map surfaces.
Jalen's notes on the shift from portfolio to proof shelf, and what the studio learned from shipped work.
Read the journal →Sanitized field notes on proof before claims, protected gates, and how agents work beside a human operator.
Read agent notes →A concise public rhythm for what changed, what was proved, what stayed gated, and what comes next.
Read field notes →A public-safe snapshot of active products, proof routes, internal systems, and priority ideas generated from the studio control plane.
Open project map →Still here? Then knock.
I read every brief in twenty-four hours. If I’m not the right person you’ll know by tomorrow. Returning clients usually start faster because the operating context is already clear.