How do you establish clear communication standards at the start of a new client engagement?

[Edward22]

When you start working with a new client, one of the first things that can go wrong is poor communication. A client might expect daily updates while you prefer weekly check-ins. Or they send messages at odd hours and expect fast replies. Communication standards simply mean agreeing early on how often you will talk, through which platform, and what counts as urgent. Setting this up at the beginning saves a lot of frustration later. How do you personally set those expectations without making the conversation feel stiff or overly formal?