The Retainer blog
Agreements, terms, and renewals. The how-to for the monthly number is a separate note.
A consulting retainer is a relationship with a monthly shape: committed hours or a fixed fee, a term, and an exit. Most of the pain is not the work. It's the clauses nobody wrote down, the renewal that arrives with two weeks' notice, or the client who is still on hourly because nobody asked.
These notes are the topic itself: the agreement, the term, and the conversations that keep a consulting retainer from quietly dying. Pricing the monthly number is its own how-to, linked below. Watching the term, the hours, and the last conversation, after it's signed, is what the product is for.
The monthly number is a separate how-to: How to Price a Consulting Retainer. Get the hourly floor from the consulting rate calculator, then put the fee and term in the retainer agreement. Once it's signed, engagements hold the retainer and the Today queue flags the renewal window when the term is inside 60 days.
The six sections a consulting retainer agreement needs, each with an example clause you can adapt directly.
Read the guide →Aug 5, 2026A checklist to audit your own retainer agreement against, organized by clause category, not a single sample document.
Read the guide →Aug 4, 2026The clauses most consultants skip in a retainer agreement — and the specific disputes each one prevents.
Read the guide →Aug 6, 20261-month, 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month — each retainer term trades flexibility for stability differently. Here's how to pick.
Read the guide →Aug 27, 2026The best retainer clients start as project clients. How to spot the signals and make the pitch right after a win, not months later.
Read the guide →Aug 21, 2026A ready-to-send template for reaching out before a retainer renews — recapping value, confirming terms, and giving clients time to say yes.
Read the guide →Aug 31, 2026A renewal pushback is really three separate asks — rate, hours, and term. Which to hold firm on, which to flex, and how to stop starting from scratch every cycle.
Read the guide →Aug 7, 2026Notice period is just one line. The full cancellation clause covers wind-down work, final invoicing, and whether unused hours are refunded or forfeited.
Read the guide →