An initial call I will do for free, to find out what the client wants, how I can help them, etc. If we agree to move forward, I'll bring up payments with them,

An initial call I will do for free, to find out what the client wants, how I can help them, etc. If we agree to move forward, I'll bring up payments with them, part of which is agreeing on a rate. After that, any significant time is billed, and labeled so they can see where the time (money) is going.