I almost didn’t show up.
It was on my calendar all day, but I hadn’t promoted it. No RSVPs — not that I asked for any. I figured I’d just skip it and go work in the shop instead. But I made a deal with myself: if I was going to put this thing on the website, I had to actually show up — every single time.
So I did.
And I ended up in a really solid conversation with Brian — a former Meta director looking to move into fractional work.
Brian’s path — from thinking he’d be doing desktop publishing at a Kinko’s to teaching himself to code, becoming a Meta partner engineer, and running what felt like his own business unit — wasn’t conventional, and that’s part of what makes him effective.
Most of us in fractional roles didn’t take a straight road here. That range of experience? That is the job. Clients don’t need someone who’s followed the rules — they need someone who’s seen how the pieces fit across different systems, teams, and problems.
That’s how Brian put it, and it stuck. Full-time roles often ask you to go deep on one slice of a problem. Fractional work flips that: you bring the context, the connective tissue, the pattern recognition across a whole mess of problems. It’s not about committing to one org forever — it’s about creating clarity where it’s missing.
“If I can spend an hour with somebody and change the trajectory, even if it’s incremental in a positive way — that’s a way better use of my time than showing up every day and working 12 hours.”
Exactly. This isn’t about being embedded. It’s about being catalytic.
Brian’s already reaching out to mentors, former colleagues, even VCs — and that’s the right move early on. But as I told him: don’t coast on your old network. You need a way to keep growing it before it dries up.
I shared one of my favorite early-stage moves: the listening tour. Book time with people in your target market and ask questions — no pitch, no slides, just a conversation. You’ll spot patterns, figure out how people describe their pain, and start to see where (and if) you fit.
It’s not a new concept — Rochelle Moulton has written and spoken about it extensively, and her podcast version is worth a listen too.
We touched briefly on pricing, and I’ll repeat what I told Brian: Your motivation matters. Mine? I’m here to run a business. Which means the numbers have to work. Pricing isn’t about fairness. It’s about creating a structure that lets you keep doing the work.
Brian’s been close to founders, and he gets it: fractional life is a lot like running a startup. You’re constantly bouncing between building, selling, delivering, refining. And there’s no playbook. Just what works for you.
One thing Brian said really stuck:
“I think the pie is big enough — and we can probably make it bigger, together.”
That’s why I’m doing this. Not to pitch. Not to build a funnel. Just to talk with people doing the work — or thinking about it — and share what I’ve seen from coaching others on the same path. Some will land clients. Some won’t. Some will realize they don’t even want to go fractional. But every one of these conversations sharpens the work — for them, and for me.
I’ll keep showing up. If you’re doing this kind of work, come join one. And if you want more focused help — that’s what the coaching’s for.
Thinking about going fractional? Let’s talk.
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