The right questions protect enthusiasm from becoming an expensive misunderstanding.

Excitement is a poor reader of detail. When something appeals to you, the mind quietly fills in the parts that were never stated: what is included, who does what, when it is due, what happens if it does not work. Those assumptions feel like facts until money or time proves otherwise. Questions are not doubt, they are the way enthusiasm survives contact with the arrangement.

Before you agree to the next appealing thing, write down three things you believe are true about it and check each with the other person. Ask what is not included. A ten-minute conversation now is the cheapest part of the project.