“I’m a consultant.”
Cool. But what do you actually do?
The word “consultant” is broken. It covers too much. It explains too little. It might mean you’re advising a CEO on strategic M&A - or that you’re working tickets in someone else’s system, under someone else’s name.
And that’s just the beginning.
This piece is an attempt to map the chaos. Because if you’re trying to work in - or around - the consulting industry, you’d better understand what you’re actually offering, how clients hear your label, and what those words signal.
This is the $700B umbrella. Includes Accenture. Includes boutique agencies. Includes two-person firms doing Salesforce implementations. Also includes you, maybe, if you tell people you’re “doing consulting now.”
It’s too broad to mean anything. It’s like saying you “work in tech.”
This is the literal meaning: to be consulted.
You’re brought in for your expertise, asked for your opinion, and paid for your judgment. You’re not doing the work - you’re helping others figure out what needs to be done.
This is what most people think “consultant” should mean.
But in practice, most people called “consultants” are doing something else.
You’re on someone else’s payroll. Big firm, small shop, whatever. Maybe a staff aug shop.
You’re staffed to a project under their brand. You’re not selling the work. You’re not defining the engagement. You’re just doing the thing.
You’re not an employee — but you’re still on someone else’s roster. Usually 1099 or corp-to-corp. You’re billed out by the hour or project. You might be working through a firm. You might be a direct placement. You don’t own the relationship. You’re filling a slot.
The most formal-sounding, least informative label of the bunch.
“Consultancy” usually means a firm - not a person - but the size, scope, and substance vary wildly.
Used when someone wants to sound more established than “freelancer,” but not quite “agency.”
Common in the UK, but still heard in the US - usually from employees and contractors.
It sounds firm-adjacent, and that’s probably the point.
But unless you define what you actually do, it’s just another vague umbrella.
Tightly scoped. Tightly controlled.
You’re given tasks. You deliver. You may have input on how, but rarely on what or why. You’re not hired for strategy. You’re hired for output.
Like a freelancer, but longer-term. Usually embedded.
You might be staffed to a team, handed an email address, expected to join standups.
You’re in the system - but not of it.
You offer perspective. You’re a sounding board.
You might be on a call once a month, or in a boardroom once a quarter.
Equity, retainer, or goodwill-based.
This is close to consulting-the-verb.
You’re there to help them get better. Usually 1:1 or small group.
There’s a starting point and a goal - and you don’t solve the problem for them.
You help them solve it themselves.
Less structured. Sometimes paid, sometimes unpaid. Often peer-to-peer.
You’re full-time, for now. You’re holding a real role, temporarily.
Unlike fractional, interim implies total ownership of a position - not just a slice.
This is often confused with fractional, especially by clients.
Often overlaps with advisor, but with more structure.
You’re expected to develop a plan, not just offer thoughts.
This one shows up in marketing, product, and org work.
Brought in for credibility, not execution.
You’re there to weigh in, review, validate. Often used in RFPs and compliance-driven work.
Rarely client-facing.
Sometimes overlaps with consultant. Often deliverable-heavy. Rarely owns decisions.
Mostly found in enterprise or policy orgs, but solo analysts exist.
They’re often delivering a curriculum, not solving a business problem.
They’re selling learning, not outcomes.
Yep — it is a bit duplicated and knotted. You’re already making the point that “fractional” is both marketing and structure, then repeating the structure again. Here’s a tightened version that keeps all your intent, trims redundancy, and keeps your flow:
“Fractional” does two jobs:
It’s marketing. It tells clients: You can get senior help without hiring full-time. Not a freelancer. Not a contractor. Not full-time. Not interim. It sounds safer. Shows up well in SEO. Makes you easier to hire.
It might also describe how you work. You’re doing part of a role, part of the time. You carry context. You make decisions. You’re part of the team — just not all the time.
But here’s the thing: you can brand as fractional without working that way.
You can sell access. You can do lightweight advisory. You can stay out of day-to-day decisions. Clients usually won’t know the difference unless you tell them.
Fractional doesn’t define the work. You do. Use the label on purpose — and explain what it means in your case.
What matters is:
Sometimes “fractional” means embedded and responsible. Sometimes it means four hours a month and a Notion doc. Both are valid — just don’t pretend one is the other.
These are branding.
They exist to make buyers feel safe - especially in early-stage startups where hiring a full-time exec sounds scary or expensive.
None of them define what you actually do.
They just give someone permission to bring you in without having to explain it to their investors.
A chunk of the “consulting industry” is actually implementation partners who get paid via platform kickbacks (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce, AWS). Not bad - just a different business model. Often disguised under the same label.
This is common in platform ecosystems - AWS, Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.
Not all partners are bad. Some do good work and pass savings back to the client. But many don’t. Their incentives are aligned with the vendor, not with you - and that’s rarely visible.
Because the label you use changes how people see you. It decides whether you’re treated like a peer or a vendor. Whether you get brought into the conversation - or handed a task list.
This isn’t about titles. It’s positioning. It’s marketing. It’s what makes someone decide to call you - or not.
Whatever gets the right people to ask the right questions.
Just don’t assume they know what “consultant” means.
Because they don’t.
Not really.
Been thinking about making the move to fractional leadership, or already there but looking to refine your approach? Let’s talk.
Book a discovery call - no pitch, just a real conversation.
I’m David Raistrick. I coach fractional professionals building real, sustainable consulting practices.
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