Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Pricing, Fees and Payments Top

Are your rates negotiable?

No. We believe our rates are very competitive given our experience.

Do you offer project-based pricing vs. hourly rates?

No. We like to keep things simple for both our clients and ourselves and to be able to better predict what a project will cost by estimating the number of hours it should require to complete based on our many years of experience. Further, we feel that our time, regardless of what we’re doing so long as we list it as a service on our website, is worth a certain amount per hour.

Since our billable time is tracked by the minute and with no minimums, simpler projects will obviously cost less as they take less time to complete, and complex projects more.

What is a “retainer” and why is it cheaper?

Retainers allow you to secure blocks of work time from us each month. The more time you buy, the lower the hourly fee. You can read more about this on our Pricing page.

Why do retainer fees have to be paid in advance?

If we block time out for you, we can’t use that time for other clients. Paying for the time in advance is incentive for you to use it and protects us against the loss of other client revenue if you don’t.

If I do not use my retainer time, does it rollover to the next month?

No. If you do not use the time you purchased, we cannot refund or credit that time (unless it was our fault that the time wasn’t used) because that is time that we cannot get back to use for another client.

What if I need more time than the retainer I secured?

Any time used beyond the retainer time will be billed at our regular hourly rate unless you secure another block of time before the original retainer runs dry. We will notify you if and when we believe your retainer may need to be extended or before time is billed at our hourly rate. Nothing will happen without your approval.

Can I use my retained time for anything?

When we agree on a retainer, we’ll both sign our Annual Terms. That document has language in it that says what services you can use the retained time for (basically, anything listed as a service we offer on this website). This ensures that the time you retain will be used for projects that we’re capable of handling and so there are no surprises.

How does your invoicing work and what payments do you accept?

For clients on a retainer, the first invoice is due immediately after the Annual Terms is executed—even if the retainer is to start at a later date. This secures the time so we will not use it for other clients.

All clients will receive invoices at the end of each month detailing the work we performed. For clients on a retainer, however, the invoice will be more like a statement. It will still detail all work performed, but the amount due will usually be zero as the retainer was paid in advance.

All invoices are emailed via attached PDF documents and are due upon receipt. Invoices are considered late 15 days after they have been sent and additional charges may apply as per our Annual Terms.

Payments can be made via check or online via PayPal using a major credit card. NOTE: There may be a transaction fee associated with PayPal payments. If so, it will be noted on your invoice.

Do you accept purchase orders?

Yes. However, purchase orders will not replace our Annual Terms nor will a P.O. secure retained time until payment is received.

Do you charge sales tax?

No. We are not required by law to do so given the nature of our business. That said, some of our vendors may charge sales tax and you will see this on their invoice (see next question too).

Why do I have to pay for some things in advance?

If your project requires us to use a third-party vendor—a commercial printer, for example—then we require payment to be made in advance for whatever that vendor charges us. This does not include our hourly rate to manage the vendor process, which will be added as a line-item to your invoice.

Office Hours, Travel and Location Top

What are your official hours?

Our office hours are 9AM-6PM ET, although we often work long into the night and often on weekends.

Where are you located?

Jacksonville, Florida.

Will you travel to my location?

No. We work virtually using all kinds of cool web technologies. If we traveled around the country, we’d have to charge you far more and we wouldn’t get very much work done.

Can I travel to your location?

No. We do not allow client visits to our home offices.

Can we have a video conference?

If a video conference is beneficial to the project at hand, we can. We usually use Skype.

Do you take time off? What’s your holiday schedule?

We do take time off once in a while. We do not announce our personal schedules unless it will effect a particular client directly. As for holidays, we usually follow the traditional corporate holiday schedule closing for things like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Watch our blog for details as various holidays approach.

Processes, Workflow, etc. Top

How do I actually assign projects or tasks to you?

After our initial telephone conversation, we should have a good idea on what types of services you need. Once that is established, we’ll both sign our Annual Terms document. That document contains spaces for two official email addresses that can be used to assign projects to us, approve things along the way, and to retain more time as required.

Do you need to be managed?

Not at all. We will require initial input from you on certain projects and may also require some input along the way—draft approvals, etc.

When should I expect updates from you?

Unless the project requires them, you will only receive updates from us when the status of a project has changed or we need input from you. During the course of a project, there may be days that you do not hear anything from us. This does not mean we are not working hard on your project.

Will you submit drafts of a project before you spend lots of time on a final version?

Absolutely. When it comes to design and/or copywriting, we may submit several draft versions where your input will be required before we move on to the final version. This saves you money by saving us time.

What if I don’t like something you did?

We hope that never happens. In the case of design work, that’s why the initial conversation is so important and why we submit drafts along the way. If you are completely unsatisfied with our work, you can fire us and pay only for the work we’ve done thus far. That’s all in our Annual Terms.

How do I know you’re not goofing off and charging me for it?

You don’t. There’s a certain amount of trust in this business, and all we can do is prove ourselves through our great work, exceptional customer service, and detailed invoicing with line-item time entries.

How can I contact you quickly?

The fastest way to contact us is via email. You can call our 800 line too, which rings to one of our offices, but we do not have a receptionist so you may be forwarded to voicemail. We return all client calls within one business day.

Can I see samples of your work?

We are still migrating some of our clients from Marketing Max to the new CriticalBiz. Once this is done, we will develop an online portfolio with images, case studies and testimonials. If you must see samples of our work, we can email samples to you related to whatever project you’re looking for us to tackle—provided the client whose work we want to share with you permits us to do so.

Do you ever turn down work, even if you offer the service?

It happens. Instances where we may have to turn down a project, even if we offer the service, include: a deadline that we cannot meet due to other client obligations, expectations that we do not feel confident we can meet, or working with a business or a person that we are not comfortable working with for whatever reason.

What DON’T you do?

We do not take on most secretarial or administrative tasks, as well as a few other things. Things we do not do include: large manual data entry, cold-calling, appointment setting, bookkeeping or accounting, paralegal work, personal chores, gift purchasing, silent shopping, anything to do with the adult industry, anything to do with anti-Americanism, anything we deem to be unethical, anything illegal, anything we honestly can’t handle or are inexperienced with, and those projects that we deem to be a conflict of interest with other clients or their projects.