Bringing an existing client to Tailore
How to create a project for a client you already work with, what a private internal project can and cannot do, and how the one-time invitation link turns it into a shared Tailore project.
Create the project
Use New Project in your projects workspace. A chooser offers two starting points - and neither requires the client to have a Tailore account, or even a listing to exist:
| Option | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Create from existing listing | "Start from one of your published listings and prefill the offering type, title and timeline for an existing client." Fastest when the work matches something you already sell. |
| Create custom project | "Log an offline, referral or standalone engagement that is not tied to a listing yet." For walk-ins, referrals, and one-off commissions. |
It starts as your private record
A project created this way is your internal record - the client sees nothing. That is useful on its own: you can track a walk-in engagement alongside your Tailore work without involving the client at all.
What an internal project cannot do
Internal projects have no reviews and no Tailore payments, and measurements stay in your own notes. Those features exist only on shared projects, because they all need the client on the other side.
Invite the client
To make it a real two-sided project, tick Invite this client to Tailore when creating it: "Turns this into a shared project once they accept - messages, proposals, payments and reviews. You'll get a link to send them yourself..." Ticking it makes the client's email address required.
The project then shows an Invite your client card - "Bring this client onto Tailore for messages, proposals, payments and reviews." - which issues an invitation link. The link is shown once: copy it and send it to the client yourself, through whatever channel you already use with them. Sending it yourself is the reliable delivery path.
Screenshot needed: the Invite your client card with the one-time invitation link visible
Links are one-time and short-lived
If you lose the link, send a new invitation. You can also Revoke an invitation at any time - "The link stops working immediately..." - and invitations expire on their own after 14 days.
After the client accepts
When the client accepts the invitation, they join Tailore and the project becomes shared - and it resets to the Inquiry stage, awaiting a proposal. Accepting the invitation does not pre-accept the work: the client has agreed to be on the platform with you, not to your terms.
From there it runs like any other project: you send a proposal, the client approves it, and payments run through Tailore. The full lifecycle is mapped in How projects work on Tailore.
Common questions
Treat the copyable link as the delivery path: it is shown once, and sending it yourself is the reliable way to get it to your client. If the link is lost or expires, send a new invitation from the project.
No. Tailore payments, reviews, and shared measurements all require a shared project - which means the client has accepted an invitation. Until then the project is your private record.
So the client formally approves the scope and price before any money moves. Whatever you agreed offline, the on-platform terms start from a proposal the client approves.
The link stops working immediately. The project stays as your internal record, and you can send a fresh invitation whenever you like.
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