Four conversations. Open one. You always know who is in the room, how long you have, and what the hour is for.
You get a page and a brief. You say what you would build first, and what you would leave out.
You look at a live site together and name the one thing you would change before launch.
A small piece of the real work. Paid. Scoped before you arrive, so the hour has an end.
What the role is, what it is not, and the day you would hear yes or no.