Winning Idea Pty Ltd · Unit 4 · behind the carpet warehouse
We take your idea. We look at it. Then we stop. This is a consultancy in the same way a moth is a board member.
Filed August 19, 2025 · correspondence
How I billed a client 4.5 hours for remembering they existed, and why that is the most honest line item I have ever written.
Hi Gareth, finance asked me to clarify a few entries before we can process Invoice 118:
— 1.25 hrs “Standing near the idea”
— 2.00 hrs “Remembering you existed”
— 0.75 hrs “Deciding not to reply yet”
— 0.50 hrs “Reply”
Can you provide a brief description of deliverables for each?
Brenda,
Standing near the idea: I printed your brief and put it on the other chair. I sat in my chair. For 1.25 hours the two chairs had a relationship. That is consulting.
Remembering you existed: I was in the shower. Your company name arrived in my head without being asked. I did not drop the soap. This is worth two hours because forgetting you would have been free.
Deciding not to reply yet: this is a skilled service. Many people reply immediately and ruin things.
Reply: this email. You are reading the deliverable.
Please process Invoice 118. I have already spent the money in my mind, which is a kind of escrow.
Gareth Winning
Winning Idea
Finance will approve the 0.50 hours for the reply. They have denied the rest. They asked me to tell you, and I am quoting, “we are not a church.”
Please add 0.25 hours for reading the word church. I will invoice the denial as a separate line so it feels official.
Gareth