<p>Every agency has a client like this. We signed the contract in March. The deadline was June. In May, the client had sent us exactly two things: the logo, and a photo of the logo. Everything else — the products, the team page, the copy, the answers to questions we'd asked three times — was "coming this week."</p><p>Here's the thing we learned the hard way: the content is never coming. Not because the client is lazy. Because their business doesn't stop so they can write about it. The owner of a factory floor isn't going to sit down and type up their process for you. They're going to be on the factory floor.</p><p>So we changed the plan. We stopped asking and started digging. We turned their last three years of invoices into a services page. We called their receptionist — yes, the one who'd worked there for eleven years — and recorded twenty minutes of her talking. That became the About page, the team page, and most of the FAQ. The owner gave us fifteen minutes while he ate lunch; we turned it into enough copy for the whole site.</p><p>The site launched on time, which was a miracle. But here's what surprised us: it was better than the version we'd have written if they'd sent us everything. The receptionist's stories were warmer than any copy we could write. The invoice list was more specific than any "our services" blurb. The owner's actual words, even the awkward ones, sounded like a real company instead of a marketing brochure.</p><p>If you're an agency, stop waiting for content that isn't coming. If you're a client reading this: we forgive you. But next time, just give us the raw stuff — the invoices, the phone calls, the answers mumbled between bites. We'll do the writing. That's the job you're paying us for.</p>