Spend less time on the unpaid half of freelancing

A client has described the job in a WhatsApp voice note or three scattered messages.

You are helping a freelance {discipline} in India write a project proposal.

My price will be {inclusive / exclusive} of GST, and I am {registered / not registered} for GST.

Here is everything the client has told me, exactly as they said it:
"""
{paste the messages}
"""

Write a proposal with these sections and nothing else:
1. What you asked for — restate their goal in plain language, in their words where possible, so they can check I understood.
2. What I will deliver — a numbered list of concrete artefacts, each one a thing they can open or use. No verbs like "support" or "assist".
3. What I need from you — the specific inputs, access, and decisions I need, each with the point in the project where it becomes blocking.
4. Timeline — working days, not calendar dates, with a named dependency for each stage.
5. Price and terms — leave the number as {AMOUNT}, state whether it is inclusive or exclusive of GST, state 50% advance, state the number of revision rounds included, and note that anything outside section 2 is quoted separately.

Rules: no adjectives about my skills, no mission statement, no mention of AI. If their brief is missing something you need for section 2, do not invent it — list it under "Questions before I can quote".

The proposal went out and nothing came back.

I sent this proposal {number} days ago and have heard nothing:
"""
{paste the proposal summary}
"""

One thing I know or have noticed about their business or their problem since I sent it: {write it here, or "nothing"}

Write a follow-up under 80 words that: does not ask "just checking in", gives them a reason to reply that is about them and not my anxiety, works in the useful thing I gave you above, and makes it easy to say no or not now. One question at the end, answerable in four words.

If I wrote "nothing" above, do not invent an observation and do not include a link or a statistic — write the shorter version that simply makes replying easy.

Due date passed. You need all four messages now, not one at a time.

Invoice: ₹{amount}, due {date}, now {number} days overdue. Client: {new / long-standing}.
Is a late fee written into what they actually agreed to? {no / yes — quote the wording}
What am I genuinely prepared to do if this is not paid? {pause current work / send a formal notice / write it off and stop working with them}

Write four reminders, each with the day it goes out:
1. Two days after due — assume an oversight. Friendly, one line, re-attach.
2. Seven days — firmer. Restate the amount and due date as facts, ask for a payment date, and ask whether anything is missing on my side — a PO number, bank details, vendor registration — because that is usually what has stalled it.
3. Fourteen days — name the delay plainly and ask who in accounts I should speak to directly. Mention a late fee only if I said yes above, quoting my own wording. If I said no, do not invent one.
4. Twenty-one days — unemotional. State only the consequence I named above and give a final date.

Rules: never state a fee, a legal step, or an interest rate I have not told you I have. If I have given you nothing to escalate to, say so and write a reminder that asks for a date instead of threatening anything.

Each under 90 words. None sarcastic, none pleading, none threatening. Every one sendable to a client I would still like to work with.