Setting Scope Boundaries Before Fixed-Price Projects BeginSetting Scope Boundaries Before Fixed-Price Projects Begin
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Mountain guides set a turnaround time before the climb even starts — a fixed hour where the group heads back down no matter how close the summit looks. Not because the summit stops mattering. Because "just 20 more minutes" is the exact thought that gets people killed up there.
Freelance scope creep runs on the same fuel. A fixed-price project almost never blows up from one huge ask. It's five "just one more small thing" emails, each reasonable on its own, each 20 more minutes past what you quoted.
I used to say yes to all of them because saying no to something small felt petty. Now the turnaround gets set before the project starts, inside the quote itself — this is what's included, here's what a new round costs, in writing, before anyone's tired or annoyed.
Where's your own "just 20 more minutes" moment — the request you always say yes to even though you already know better?
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