[AwesomeFaic]

I always start with a casual phone call to gauge their style and personality, and to gauge how well they understand the challenge. If it goes well and there's a spark, I reach out with a custom statement of work based on notes I took during the initial call, and we formalize terms, budgets, etc. to fill in the blanks. That almost always ends with a digital handshake by the end of the call and I start on the work immediately.

In a meeting and a half I understand the problem, their understanding of the problem, their personality and work style, and specific terms.