They Don’t Need You Always. They Need to Know When.

When I got my very first client, I was terrified of one particular conversation: telling them how often I’d actually be checking messages. Everything in me wanted to say “anytime, always available” — because that felt like what a good service provider should offer. What I actually said was that I check messages twice a day, morning and afternoon, and I’ll flag anything urgent as soon as I see it.

I waited for the pushback. It never came. If anything, they relaxed. Looking back, I understand why: an honest number is easier to live with than an open-ended promise. They knew exactly when to expect me, which meant they stopped wondering whether a message had been seen, ignored, or lost somewhere. The certainty did more for the relationship than round-the-clock availability ever would have.

That’s the whole idea behind this week’s action, and it’s a small one on purpose. Pick the relationship — a client, a colleague, whoever’s currently guessing at your availability — where the guessing is causing the most friction. Not the most complicated relationship. The one where unclear expectations are costing you the most right now, in back-and-forth messages or in someone quietly assuming you’re less responsive than you actually are.

Then say the actual number out loud. Not “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can” — that tells someone nothing they can plan around. A specific commitment: twice a day, within four hours, by end of day. Whatever is true and sustainable for you. Write it down somewhere they’ll see it — an onboarding email, a signature line, a direct conversation — and then hold to it.

This is the part that gets skipped, so it’s worth saying plainly: schedule the actual conversation this week. Not “sometime.” A specific slot, in your calendar, the same way you’d block time for a client deliverable. Have the conversation, or send the message, and then notice what changes. Even a one-line note to yourself afterwards — did the back-and-forth quiet down? Did anyone push back? — is enough to tell you whether it worked.

If this is showing up most in the early weeks of a new client relationship — before expectations have had a chance to settle either way — my Client Onboarding Hub is built to set response-time expectations from the very first message, so you’re not having this conversation on the back foot three months in.

Your turn: what’s the honest response time you’d actually commit to, and who’s the one person you need to say it to out loud this week?