IDG Contributor Network: How to handle repeating project false starts

Have you ever had projects that seemed to take forever to start and maybe never started? As an independent consultant, I've had many clients seem like they were ready to go yesterday on projects...only to find myself six months later still discussing how we might get started. It's frustrating, it takes time away from other projects we are managing or involved in and caters to clients who may really only be fishing for information from experts with little to no intent of ever starting a project o