Short answer: the status on a request tells you whose turn it is. This page lists every status you can see, what it means, and what usually comes next — so you can scan your list and know where to spend your attention.
The normal path #
A deal that goes well moves through these in order. Each one means the ball has moved to the other side.
- Pending — the request has arrived but has not been picked up yet. Your turn.
- Active — you are working on it, before a proposal exists. Your turn.
- Proposal sent — the client has it and has not answered. Their turn.
- Proposal approved — they accepted. Your turn: prepare the contract.
- Contract ready — the contract exists and is waiting on signatures.
- Partially signed — one side has signed. Check which; often it is waiting on you.
- Contract signed — both parties have signed. Your turn: invoice.
- Invoiced — the invoice is with the client. Their turn.
- Paid — payment received. Your turn: do the work.
- Delivery submitted — you have sent the deliverables. Their turn to confirm.
- Completed — finished and closed.
When it stops #
These are not errors. They are the deal telling you something.
- On hold — the client parked the proposal rather than answering. They are still interested but not ready; a follow-up is appropriate, pressure is not.
- Proposal rejected — they declined. Where they gave a reason it is on the proposal, and it is worth reading before you send the next one to anybody.
- Contract rejected — they accepted the proposal but not the contract. That gap is almost always terms rather than price, and it is worth a conversation rather than a redraft.
- Cancelled — closed without completing. Yours to set when a deal is dead, so it stops appearing as live work.
Proposal statuses #
A proposal has its own state, visible on the proposal itself:
- Draft — not sent; only you can see it.
- Sent — with the client, awaiting an answer.
- On hold — parked by the client.
- Approved — accepted.
- Signed — accepted with a signature, where you required one.
- Rejected — declined.
- Expired — the validity date passed before they answered. It cannot be accepted; send a new one.
- Archived — put away, out of your working view.
Invoice statuses #
- Draft — not sent.
- Sent — with the client, not yet paid.
- Overdue — past its due date. Reminders escalate automatically unless you switched them off.
- Paid — settled.
- Failed — a payment attempt did not go through. The client can try again; this is usually their card or bank rather than anything on your side.
- Refunded — money returned.
- Archived — put away.
How to read your list #
The useful question is not “what stage is this at” but “whose turn is it”. Statuses ending in sent, invoiced or submitted are waiting on the client — those want patience and, eventually, a follow-up. Everything else is waiting on you.
A request sitting in Proposal approved or Contract signed for days is the expensive kind of stall: the client has already said yes and is waiting.
Frequently asked questions #
Does the client see the same status I do? #
They see the state of their own documents — whether a proposal is awaiting their answer, whether an invoice is unpaid. They do not see your internal working view.
Can I set a status manually? #
Any of them can be set by hand from the request, though most move by themselves as the deal progresses. Cancelled is the one you will actually reach for, to take a dead deal out of your live list.
What is the difference between Approved and Signed on a proposal? #
Approved means the client accepted it. Signed means they accepted it with a signature, which applies where you required one.
An invoice says Failed. Did I do something wrong? #
Almost certainly not. A failed payment is normally the client’s card or bank declining, and they can try again.
Need help? #
If this page did not answer your question, send it to us. Tell us what you were trying to do and what happened instead — that is usually enough for us to spot the problem straight away.
Prefer email? hi@reqme.co
