"Let's just get started, we'll sort out payment later."
This sentence is usually said with good intentions. But quietly, it carries a false assumption: that labor only begins once there's something tangible to show for it.
But labor doesn't start with the file you deliver.
Labor Begins Before It's Visible
A project actually begins with the first conversation with the client. The moment you're listening to what they want, eliminating possibilities in your head, thinking "how would this be solved", the project has already started, even while there's nothing on screen yet.
This process of thinking and planning isn't abstract. It takes time, attention, and expertise. The time a designer spends before drawing the first draft, the analysis a developer does before setting up the architecture: all of that is labor. Being invisible doesn't make it any less real.
Mental Labor Deserves Compensation Too
This is exactly where a deposit comes in. It's compensation for those first thoughts, that mental energy, that expertise, before the project is even finished.
Seeing it only as a "security fee" misses the point. A deposit tells you: this work wasn't worthless until it was delivered. It had value from the start, because there was labor from the start.
Walking Away Doesn't Cost Everyone the Same
A client can walk away from a project. Their budget can change, their priorities can shift, the project can be put on hold. These are ordinary things, and they're nobody's fault.
But there's an asymmetry here: for the client, walking away is usually just a change of decision. For you, it's time already spent, time that doesn't come back. You can't just erase a week of thinking, research, and drafting because the project got cancelled. That time is already gone; that labor is already spent.
Not taking a deposit means carrying that entire risk yourself. Taking a deposit means sharing that risk between both sides.
A Deposit Isn't a Sign of Distrust: It's a Sign of Clarity
Just like the contract we talked about in our previous post, asking for a deposit doesn't mean you don't trust the other side.
On the contrary, someone who asks for a deposit knows the value of their own labor and time. And working with someone who knows their own worth is actually reassuring for most clients too, because it shows they take the work seriously.
So How Much, and How?
There's no standard rate; it depends on the size of the project, its duration, and the time invested upfront. But a common approach is to take a portion of the total (say, a third or half) at the start.
What matters isn't the exact percentage, but that it's been discussed and clearly written into the contract. (We touched on why the contract matters so much in our previous post.)
Your time is valuable. Protect your labor, your mental energy, and those first hours you put in.
This post is for everyone who knows their worth, sets their boundaries, loves their work, and loves themselves just as much. The Why? series continues. 🐾
