Fractional Resources

You’re on a lead call.
They’re nodding. Asking good questions.
And then:

“So how many hours is this?”
“How often would we talk?”
“What would that look like?”

And maybe you feel like you’re supposed to just…
have an answer.

A scope. A plan. A structure. A price.
Especially if you’re used to quoting on the fly or billing hourly.

But here’s the thing - you don’t need to decide any of that live.
You can just say:

“Let me think through what makes sense. I’ll send something over.”

Give it a day or two. Set a date if you need to. You’re busy, right? You want to be seen as in demand? Act like it.

And don’t say “tonight” unless it’s already written. It’s not.

Now you’ve got time.

You can go back through your notes - or the recording (you did hit record right?) - and ask:

• What’s the actual outcome they want?
• What shape of support makes that possible?
• What structure do you want to work in?

You don’t have to quote hours.
You don’t have to invent a schedule.
You definitely don’t have to package yourself into a corner.

They asked what the work might look like.
That’s fair.
But you get to answer after you’ve thought about it.

If you answer too fast, you teach them to expect reactive execution. That’s not what they’re hiring you for.

You’re not being hired to fill hours.
You’re being brought in for your judgment.
That starts with showing you know when to wait.

You might offer a retainer.
You might offer a team integration.
You might offer nothing at all.
You might need to get on another call - maybe you realized this wasn’t the real decision maker, or you missed some questions.

But now you’ve got a chance to build something that fits.
Not something you blurted out because you felt like you had to.

And if they ask:

“So… what’s your hourly rate?”

You can say:

“I don’t have one.”

Let the silence sit.