peterbamuhigire/playbook-white-label-partnerships

White-Label & Sub-Contracting Partnerships Playbook

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Use when

• Guides a consultant through setting up and managing white-label and sub-contracting partnerships with agencies — covering evaluation, pricing, agreement structure, quality management, confidentiality, and exit. Invoke when a consultant is approached by an agency to provide white-label services, when sub-contracting work that cannot be delivered in-house, or when formalising a recurring partnership arrangement with another firm.
• Use this skill when it is the closest match to the requested deliverable or workflow.

Do not use when

• Do not use this skill for graphic design, video production, software development, or legal advice beyond the repository's stated scope.
• Do not use it when another skill in this repository is clearly more specific to the requested deliverable.

Workflow

1. Collect the required inputs or source material before drafting, unless this skill explicitly generates the intake itself.
2. Follow the section order and decision rules in this SKILL.md; do not skip mandatory steps or required fields.
3. Review the draft against the quality criteria, then deliver the final output in markdown unless the skill specifies another format.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not invent client facts, performance data, budgets, or approvals that were not provided or clearly inferred from evidence.
• Do not skip required inputs, mandatory sections, or quality checks just to make the output shorter.
• Do not drift into out-of-scope work such as code implementation, design production, or unsupported legal conclusions.

Outputs

• A structured markdown document, plan, playbook, or strategy ready for client-facing or internal use.

References

• Use the inline instructions in this skill now. If a references/ directory is added later, treat its files as the deeper source material and keep this SKILL.md execution-focused.

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Definitions

• White-label: The agency sells the consultant's work under the agency's own brand. The end client never knows the consultant exists.
• Sub-contracting: The agency or client engages the consultant directly, with the agency acting as account manager. The consultant may or may not be introduced to the end client.
• Referral partnership: A looser arrangement where both parties refer clients to each other. This is out of scope for this skill — see biz-dev-practitioner-positioning.

This skill covers white-label and sub-contracting only.

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Required Input

Ask the user for the following before generating any deliverable:

1. Consultant name and primary service offering — what services are being white-labelled?
2. Agency name and type — digital agency / PR agency / creative agency / marketing consultancy?
3. Services to be provided white-label — list every deliverable in scope.
4. Proposed monthly volume — estimated number of deliverables or clients per month.
5. Existing agreement or starting from scratch — does an NDA or contract already exist?

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Section 1: Evaluating a White-Label Partnership

Before agreeing to work with any agency, answer all six questions below. A weak answer to any one of them is a reason to negotiate harder or walk away.

1. Reputation — Is the agency well-regarded in the EA market? Ask peers, check their LinkedIn profile, and search for online reviews or testimonials.
2. Client quality — What type of clients do they serve? Are those clients aligned with your niche and capabilities?
3. Payment terms — When do they pay? Net 30 is acceptable; Net 60 is a cash flow risk for a solo consultant and should be rejected.
4. Volume commitment — How much work will they send per month? A vague "as needed" arrangement is usually unprofitable — insist on a minimum monthly commitment.
5. Brief quality — Do they provide detailed client briefs, or will you be working from nothing? Poor briefs produce poor work and fuel disputes.
6. IP and confidentiality — Do they have a standard NDA? Is there a clear policy on who owns the content produced after payment?

Red Flags — Do Not Proceed

• Requests for free sample work with no commitment to pay
• Payment terms beyond Net 45
• No written agreement — "let's just start and formalise later"
• Agencies who badmouth their current suppliers (they will badmouth you too)
• Agencies whose own social media is poor quality — they cannot provide good briefs if they do not understand the craft

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Section 2: Pricing White-Label Services

White-label pricing must account for the margin the agency takes and the administrative overhead of working through a layered relationship.

Pricing principle: Set your white-label rate at 30–50% below your direct client rate. The agency typically marks up 50–100% when billing the end client.

EA White-Label Rate Reference

| Service | Direct Client Rate | White-Label Rate (Agency) | |---|---|---| | 20 Instagram posts/month | UGX 1,500,000 | UGX 900,000–1,050,000 | | Monthly social media strategy | UGX 800,000 | UGX 500,000–560,000 | | Content calendar (monthly) | UGX 400,000 | UGX 240,000–280,000 | | Community management | UGX 600,000/month | UGX 360,000–420,000/month | | Training session (half-day) | UGX 1,200,000 | UGX 720,000–840,000 |

Adjust all rates to the client's specific industry and scope. All currency in UGX unless the agency invoices in USD.

Volume Discounts

Offer a 10% volume discount for commitments of 3+ clients per month or a signed 12-month minimum term.

Payment Terms Progression

• New agency relationship: 50% upfront before work begins.
• After 3 months of on-time payment: Move to Net 15 or Net 30.
• Hard rule: Never extend Net 45 or longer to any agency partner.
• Accepted payment methods: MTN Mobile Money (MoMo), Airtel Money, or direct bank transfer. Confirm method in the written agreement.

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Section 3: Structuring the Agreement

Always have a written agreement. A WhatsApp conversation is not a contract.

Minimum Agreement Components

Include all nine elements below in every white-label or sub-contracting agreement:

1. Parties — full legal names and/or registered business names of both parties.
2. Services — exact deliverables, quantities, formats, and turnaround times.
3. Pricing — fee per deliverable or monthly retainer amount; state the currency (UGX).
4. Payment terms — due date, accepted payment method, and late payment penalty (e.g., 1.5% per week on overdue amounts).
5. Confidentiality (NDA) — the consultant will not contact the end client directly or disclose that the work is outsourced. See NDA note below.
6. Intellectual property — all content produced becomes the property of the agency upon receipt of full payment; the consultant retains no rights to publish or reuse it.
7. Revisions — number of revision rounds included in the fee; rate for additional revisions beyond that.
8. Termination — 30-day written notice required by either party; procedure for handling in-progress work on termination.
9. Dispute resolution — first step: direct discussion (WhatsApp or in person); second step: mediation; no litigation for amounts under UGX 5,000,000.

NDA Note

If the agency does not supply an NDA, propose your own. Keep it simple:

"Neither party will disclose to any third party the existence or terms of this arrangement without the prior written consent of the other party."

Both parties sign and date. A WhatsApp message confirming agreement to this text is acceptable as a minimum; a signed PDF is preferable.

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Section 4: Managing Quality and Deadlines

White-label work carries one additional quality risk: you are briefed by the agency, not the end client, so information is lost in translation. Compensate with a rigorous briefing standard.

Brief Requirements — Insist on These Before Starting Work

Refuse to begin without all eight fields:

1. Client business name and industry
2. Brand voice description — minimum three tone-of-voice words
3. Vocabulary avoid list — words, phrases, or topics that are off-brand or legally sensitive
4. Content pillars — the approved themes the content must address
5. Reference examples of previously approved content
6. Platforms in scope and any platform-specific requirements
7. Target audience description — demographics, psychographics, pain points
8. Campaign goals and any current promotional offers or key dates

If the agency cannot provide a brief to this standard, charge a briefing fee for the discovery work required before content production begins.

Quality Control in White-Label Work

• Apply the same quality control process as for direct clients: use ai-content-humaniser for any AI-assisted output, apply a brand voice check, and verify all factual claims.
• Deliver work 48 hours before the agency's deadline with the end client — this allows time for the agency review round before submission.
• Keep a version log of all deliverables. Never overwrite a previous version; save each revision with a date stamp.
• Confirm every delivery via WhatsApp with a brief delivery note:

  "Delivered: [X] posts for [client category] — [date]. Please confirm receipt."

Deadline Discipline

• Quote realistic turnaround times. Under-promise and over-deliver.
• If a deadline is at risk, notify the agency at least 48 hours in advance — not on the day.
• Never miss a deadline without advance notice. White-label relationships are built entirely on reliability; one missed deadline without warning can end the partnership.

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Section 5: Protecting Client Confidentiality

When working white-label, the end client belongs to the agency. Violating this boundary is a serious professional breach that can destroy both the partnership and your reputation.

Confidentiality Rules — What You Must Not Do

• Do not contact the end client directly without the agency's explicit written permission.
• Do not reveal to the end client, or to anyone else, that the work is outsourced.
• Do not use the end client's brand name, results, or content in your own portfolio without the agency's written consent.
• Delete all end client assets — briefs, files, login credentials, and brand materials — when the engagement ends.
• Do not discuss end client details with peers, colleagues, or on social media.

What You Can Do

• Use anonymous, category-level descriptions in your portfolio:

  "A financial services brand in Kampala — grew Instagram engagement by 45% in 90 days."

• With the agency's written consent, reference the agency by name:

  "I have delivered content services for [Agency Name]."

• Count white-label work towards your experience when discussing credentials in general terms, without naming the end client.

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Section 6: Knowing When to Exit a Partnership

Not every agency relationship is worth sustaining. Exit when any of the following apply:

• Payment is consistently late by more than 14 days after the due date.
• Brief quality has not improved after two formal written requests.
• The agency modifies your work without informing you and the end client complains about the quality.
• The volume commitment is not being met and the relationship is generating net losses after time spent.
• The agency is using your work in a way that conflicts with your professional values or ethical standards.

Exit Process

1. Give 30 days written notice — WhatsApp message with a screenshot, or email.
2. Complete all in-progress work to the agreed standard during the notice period.
3. Hand over all files, assets, and access credentials within 5 working days of the final delivery.
4. Do not publicly criticise the agency — your reputation in the EA market depends on being known as a professional even when partnerships end.

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Quality Criteria

Good output from this skill must meet all of the following standards:

• The 6-question evaluation framework is applied explicitly before recommending whether to proceed with the partnership.
• The pricing table includes at least 5 service types with UGX rates showing both direct client and white-label rates side by side.
• The agreement components list covers at least 9 named elements, with the NDA clause written out in full.
• The brief requirements list names at least 8 specific fields — no vague categories.
• Confidentiality rules include both the prohibited actions and the permitted portfolio uses ("what you can do").
• The exit section names the 30-day notice requirement and the 5-working-day handover deadline explicitly.
• EA-specific payment terms are present: MTN MoMo as a payment method, the Net 15/30 progression after 3 months, and the Net 45 hard limit.
• All language is in British English with imperative framing throughout.

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Cross-References

• biz-dev-practitioner-positioning — referral partnerships and personal positioning
• playbook-agency-operations — internal agency workflow and account management
• playbook-client-retainer-management — managing ongoing retainer relationships once the partnership is established