That means judgement before anything else. You can tell within a few lines whether an enquiry is worth your week or twenty minutes, and you spend your time accordingly. You don't just answer the brief — you work out what the client is actually trying to fix, and you say it, even when it isn't what they asked for.
It also means nerve. You read people well enough that they tell you more than they planned to, and you're still willing to tell them they're wrong. When something goes badly — and it does, most weeks — you handle it, then come back different.
If that sounds like you, skip the traditional cover letter. Complete this challenge instead.
The Brief
Context
F.Learning Studio makes animated learning and explainer videos. Enquiries arrive constantly and they are not equal. Some are worth a week. Some are worth twenty minutes. Some look enormous and are worth nothing, and some look small and open a door that stays open for years. Telling them apart, fast, is most of this job. So that’s the test.
The situation
Four enquiries landed in the same week. These are real messages we received, lightly anonymised. Nothing has been added and nothing has been cleaned up.
Lead A — via the contact form
“Hello, I’m producing a full-length 3D animated musical feature, approximately 2 hours. I’ve seen your work and would like to understand your cost structure. Could you send pricing? Thanks.”
Lead B — inbound email
“Hi, I’m a nurse educator at a hospital system in the US. We’re trying to standardise what patients are shown before discharge and I’m looking at two short videos to start with — one on systolic heart failure, one on diastolic. Right now every unit does this differently. Is this something you do? What would it cost?”
Lead C — reply on an old thread
“Thanks for the e-learning proposal. Honestly the budget isn’t there for that. Could we just do a PowerPoint version instead? Something simple. What would that run?”
Lead D — email from a past contact
“Hi again — we worked together two years ago on the clinic explainer. I’ve got a client who needs a 2-minute patient-facing animation about keratoconus. Same sort of thing as last time. Can you quote it?”
The Task
You have one week of your own working time. That’s the only resource you get.
1. Split that week across the four leads. Tell us roughly how many hours each one gets - and why. Some may get almost none. That’s allowed.
2. For each lead, in one or two sentences: what do you think is actually going on here, and what’s your first move?
3. Take the lead you’d put the most effort into. Write exactly what you’d send back - the real reply, not a description of it.
4. Take the lead you’d put the least effort into. Write that reply too.
What you need to submit
Your submission will be evaluated based on:
- Your allocation of the week, with reasoning
- Your read on each of the four leads
- A write-up, max one page: what you assumed and why · what you’d need to know before quoting anything · which lead you’re least sure about · what you’d do differently with a week more
The Rules
Submit Your Challenge
Based in Vietnam.
Collaborating worldwide.
We like people who can stay sharp under pressure, handle revision, and move the work forward without chaos.
