Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Fractional Employment: A Creative Career Direction for Successful Leaders to Create Work Life Balance
58 Plays21 days ago
Have you ever wished you could work less and spend more time with your kids, without walking away from the time you invested in climbing the corporate ladder? In this episode, Leanna is joined by Sue Mysko, founder of Hire A Fractional and author of Fractional Formula. They dive into how moms can gain freedom and flexibility through fractional work—leveraging their skills in high-impact executive roles without sacrificing family time. Sue shares her real-life success story, practical tips for getting started, and insights into balancing work and home life while continuing to earn significant income while gaining more time back. Whether you're a seasoned professional seeking more autonomy, aiming to apply your expertise in a more flexible way, or simply looking to create more space for what matters most, this episode will give you the information you need to be more empowered when considering your next step toward financial and lifestyle freedom.
Connect with Sue here. Join her Fractional Powerhouse group on Facebook to chat with others in fractional work and check out her eBook, Fractional Formula, on how to get started and succeed with fractional work!
Full transcript available here.
Connect with Leanna here.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Host
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to the Executive Coach for Moms podcast, where we support women who are attempting to find balance and joy while simultaneously leading people at work and at home. I'm your host, Leanne Alaski McGrath, former tech exec turned full-time mom, recovering perfectionist and workaholic and certified executive coach.
00:00:29
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the show. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Understanding Fractional Employment
00:00:34
Speaker
Today I have a guest who I'm so excited to share with you, and I'm so excited to talk about this topic. We are going to be talking about fractional employment today. And the reason why I really, really wanted to have this conversation is because I just love sharing for executive moms different options and opportunities because I think so often we kind of get to a point in our career where we feel like the only way to go is to continue going up and to stay on this path because we've come so far and we should consider other options if that's not feeling right for
Sue's Journey and Career Transition
00:01:10
Speaker
us. And so I have Sue Misko here today and she has created
00:01:16
Speaker
ah new opportunities for herself and is going to tell us all about how we can also create them for ourselves as well. So welcome, Sue. Thank you, Leanne. It's so great to be here today. So great to have you and I'm so excited to talk about this. I just think that the more opportunities that we have, the more power that we have and the more we can feel in alignment with the way that we want to live our lives. So can you start off by just kind of telling us a little bit about you and your story and your background and what led you to fractional work? Yes, I am a career marketer. So I did the traditional route, went to university, got my post degree in marketing and communications.
00:01:58
Speaker
and went to work. And I had a number of really amazing mentors as I went through starting, first of all, what during my work at Deloitte, I had the opportunity to move overseas. And for me personally, I was told right up front, I would never have kids. So my husband and I said, fine, this is the way it's going to be. So when we had the opportunity to move to Brussels, we took it. And then a year later, lo and behold, I got pregnant.
00:02:24
Speaker
Oh, my gosh, such a happy accident. We were so, so excited. It was something we had wanted and talked about. So all of a sudden I became a career mom. And so I had dedicated myself to my career and then now I'm a mom. And so, you know, fortunately, two years later, number two comes along and we have two fantastic boys. And so I started on my journey of career mom.
00:02:48
Speaker
back from Brussels when the kids were little. They were two and a half and just three months old because
Exploring Fractional Executive Roles
00:02:54
Speaker
family is important to us. We wanted to be close to our families, so we moved back to Canada to be close to them. And I just continued on. I continued working. My children went through daycare. As they got older, they were in aftercare. And then fortunately, around 2010, I took a job with KPMG, and they allowed me to work from home for three days a week.
00:03:16
Speaker
And that was absolutely game changer for me as a career mom. I was able to be there in the morning, see my kids off. If I needed to take an early call, I could take that early call, but I could get my kids breakfast. I could be there for them, get them off to school, work all day. And then same thing. I could be there in the afternoons. I could have dinner with them and then go back to work in the evening. So having that flexible arrangement became incredibly important for me. So when Accenture came to me in 2011 and said,
00:03:45
Speaker
Hey, we would really like you to come and work for us. I said, great, but I won't do it unless it's full-time at home. And that was one of my key negotiating factors. And in fact, it was truly my biggest non-negotiable. My biggest non-negotiable back in 2011 was, if I can't work full-time at home, I'm not interested because I've already got three days at home. And it was such a game changer for me as a mom. And again, I started traveling up the ranks and doing really well. This was i was at when I was at Accenture. And what ultimately happened was I got to a point where I was just like, it had been 11 years at Accenture and I went,
00:04:17
Speaker
There's got to be more. There has to be more to life than this. And I started to explore what more all of my options were. And I grew up in a family that was very entrepreneurial. My husband owned his own business. My father, my mom's a physio, so she had her own practice. And so I was surrounded by people who all own their own businesses.
00:04:36
Speaker
So they were saying to me all along, they're like, wow, you're the only one who took the corporate route. Why? And why didn't you start the business? And so I had a lot of support. And I had a really great support group for around me to say, yeah, you should take the leap. And so it was like, okay, so do I start a marketing agency? Like, what does that look like for me? And when I finally settled on fractional, it was because I recognized that as an executive, I was able to deliver three things. I was able to deliver strategy.
00:05:05
Speaker
I was able to deliver leadership and I was able to deliver results. So what does that look like? I said, OK, I can become a fractional leader. I can come into organizations who need marketing support, but they can't afford a full time price tag. And it gave me the flexibility to say, all right, I can work 10 hours a week for a single client.
00:05:24
Speaker
And the best part about that was it gave me the flexibility to be with the family. It gave me the flexibility to have all of the clients that I wanted to have, but deliver at that strategic level. So instead of having to take that step back, I was able to take a different step forward. But it was a step forward that was still strategic for me.
00:05:45
Speaker
So I started that, it was, I guess, about three years ago now, and I just haven't looked back. I love that. Well, I think so many things about your story resonate in terms of the remote work and then just the ability to have breakfast with your kids and and get them off the bus and kind of just see them at different points throughout their day. I think that that's so important. And I think it's something that a lot of working moms and executive moms are saying, like, hey, I still want to work. I still want to contribute.
00:06:15
Speaker
And also I want to make sure to not miss out on some key things in the day with my kids. And so I just love it whenever companies recognize
Overcoming Challenges in Fractional Work
00:06:23
Speaker
that that's a possibility and that, oh, we can still get so much from this person's contributions and still meet their needs. And like, we don't have to just you know create these blanket policies where everybody has to be in the office and missing out on what's happening at home.
00:06:43
Speaker
And the best part about being fractional is that you're able to, when you take on clients, you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you. And so you're able to find clients that fit your vibe, that fit what you're looking for. I mean, at the end of the day, your clients just want results and they truly don't care when those happen in terms of the time of the day.
00:07:06
Speaker
So if you're somebody who says, do you know what? I'm going to work 10 hours a week. I'm going to do two hours a day. Then you just talk to them and say, okay, so what does that look like for you? Would you rather me in the mornings around lunchtime in the early afternoon? So then you can plan the rest of your day around that. And so when you have that flexibility, you're able to still deliver as an executive, but you're able to do it on your own terms, but you're still able to get the results and get that sense of achievement that that all of us are really looking for. i I am a total workaholic in type A, and Lianna, your bio totally resonated with me because I am a workaholic and I am a type A, but being fractional allows me to balance that and really put that focused attention into a few clients over what I would like to have in terms of a limited number of hours a week.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, and I think what so often happens when we're full time is it's never 40 hours. It's always way more than that. Never 40 hours. Is it truly 10 hours? It is. One of the things that we need to learn as fractionals and it's one of the things that I think women and you know moms in particular really struggle with is setting boundaries.
00:08:18
Speaker
We need to set boundaries in our personal life. We need to set boundaries in our professional life. And so again, it's about creating the expectation that says, this is what I'm going to deliver. And this is approximately how long it's going to take. And so I don't really like to trade time for dollars because then it does put you on an hourly. I like to trade time for outcomes. This is the outcome that we are going to achieve. And if it takes me five hours this week and 15 hours next week,
00:08:46
Speaker
then so be it. But again, it's that flexibility because, when you know, again, when I talk about being fractional, it's about three things. It's about strategy, leadership and results. Yeah. And well, first of all, let's just back up because maybe someone has not heard this term. Can you just define fractional for us and help us understand it from like a very basic level? So a fractional executive is a senior level resource who comes into an organization for a fraction of the time for a fraction of the pay. So you're coming in for, it like I said, maybe it's one day a week. is Maybe that organization wants you there just one day a week. Maybe the organization wants you there five days a week, two hours a day. So again, that's the flexibility that you get to negotiate with the client and have work for you. But it's coming in at that senior level and providing the strategy, the leadership and results. And typically, we come into high-growth companies.
00:09:43
Speaker
So we like to work with companies who say, I'm not able to hire that full-time CFO, CTO, CMO, COO. It's across all of the C-suite functions. It's not just marketing, which is my specialty, but it's across all of the C-suite functions. And you come in and that's what you do. You deliver the strategy, the leadership and results. And some fractionals go on for years in an organization because it works really well and it's a great fit.
00:10:10
Speaker
Some fractionals maybe take a six-month or a 12-month contract because you're bridging the gap between where they are today and their ability to have that full-time CMO as an example. So again, you know, I have one client right now. I'm on a 12-month contract and right up front the agreement was in months 9 through 12, I'm helping hire enter and onboard their full-time CMO. okay So again, it's when you're looking for clients, it's understanding what you want and so that you can find that match.
Marketplace and Community Support for Fractionals
00:10:41
Speaker
I guess what I'm curious about, and you talked about setting boundaries a little bit, here's what I could see happening. A company is like, you know they're in high growth mode, and I've been in many high growth atmospheres where we kind of want the whole world for you know not very much money.
00:10:59
Speaker
And so do you find that? Do they come in in and expect you to do the work of a full-time CMO for a fraction of the price and whatever amount of hours it takes? Or like, how do you figure that out or kind of what expectations are they coming in with?
00:11:16
Speaker
So again, I think it's at the end of the day, it's no different than in your full-time role. Okay. If you're a full-time employee, your employer will continue to pile on and pile on and pile on until you say enough. And so being a fractional is no different. The same way we have to set boundaries in our corporate careers and we have to understand what it is we're prepared to do in order to get to that next step.
00:11:43
Speaker
It's no different in your fractional career. As a fractional, you come in and you have to set clear expectations right up front with your client. And you say, this is what I'm here to do. And again, these are the outcomes we are expecting to achieve. And this is the process we're going to go through. So one of the things that's really important as a fractional is that you want to build a proprietary method. You want to be able to say right up front to your client, here's my proprietary method. These are the steps we are going to go through in order to achieve these results.
00:12:11
Speaker
And then that helps them have a clear picture of the map of where you're going and obviously where you want to get to. And so that also helps by putting that structure in place. That really helps with the boundaries as well and making sure that you're not you know you're not being overextended. But that also means, as a fractional, you want to have those leadership conversations on a weekly basis.
00:12:33
Speaker
So the same way in you know in your corporate role, you have your regular leadership conversations on a weekly-by-weekly basis. As a fractional, it's no different. And so if you're starting to see scope creep, you stop it immediately, or you say, if you want this done, we have two choices. We either need to stop project A because you want us to take on project B,
00:12:53
Speaker
Or we need to look at hiring somebody and really take a look at that. But again, it's really about understanding where you're starting from, putting a clear structure in place to say this is how we're getting these outcomes. And again, putting those boundaries in place. so Yeah,
Financial Aspects and Mindset Shifts
00:13:08
Speaker
I love the idea that it's just the same as in our corporate roles when we are full time, because absolutely, we can easily work 60, 70, 80 hours a week And our employers would have no problem with that as long as they're getting everything done. So I think that makes sense to also think about it here. So how did you get started and how did you find clients? What did that look like for you? Yeah, it was rocky. I'm not going to lie.
00:13:36
Speaker
but And in fact, I've got an ebook and i'd I'd be happy to share it with your reader. And it's called From Corporate to Fractional because it can be really, really rough. And for me, it was really rough. And to be brutally honest, at points, it was a little embarrassing because here I was a corporate marketer, but yet I was struggling to market my own business. And part of it was you need to take the leap from corporate to entrepreneur.
00:14:05
Speaker
So I think that's the very first mindset shift that you need to make is that you need to stop thinking that I'm a corporate employee and that I'm an entrepreneur. Making that transition is really the first one. The second transition is you need to think about, in terms of mindset, you need to think about action. And you need to take action even if it's imperfect action.
00:14:30
Speaker
And what that looks like for you is you need to clearly understand who you're targeting and who your niche is. you know if i For me, I came out of professional services. like I worked for companies like Accenture and Deloitte. It was really important for me to say, okay, so who am I going to serve? Because I'm not going to be serving everyone. And having that clear understanding about who I serve and the problems I solve was probably the most important thing that you need to get right right up front, is say, who is it that I'm serving?
00:14:58
Speaker
yeah The second thing you need to figure out is what is your offer? What is it that you're offering to clients? You don't show up at McDonald's and say what they say, what would you like? And you say, I'd like something. They give you a menu. They say, this is what we have to offer. And so it's something very important as a fractional to say, what is your offer?
00:15:18
Speaker
And then the third thing I would say is that it's incredibly important that you need to figure out is what is your proprietary method? What is going to help you stand out from the crowd? And so I created the vision framework and that's a framework that I use that I take my clients through.
00:15:34
Speaker
And it does two things. One, like I said, it creates the framework that people need to see in order to have confidence that you're going to get the outcome. Yeah. So you show up and you need that level of credibility. And so what it what it really has done for us is that we have put a system together and we call it fractional in a box. And so it's a system that that we have put together over the last three years of me trial and error, figuring out what and what doesn't.
00:16:04
Speaker
Yeah, so like I said, it's been trial and error. And so as a corporate marketer, 25 years of corporate marketing experience distilled down over three years of fractional work to say, okay, so what works and what doesn't? Yeah. So am I to understand that you are like a two-time entrepreneur? So you are a fractional and then also now you have kind of figured out how to help other people become fractional employees. So I am in fact a three-time entrepreneur.
00:16:32
Speaker
but okay ah yeah But it's all in the fractional space. yeah So it actually started to your point with me becoming fractional and me serving my fractional clients. And then I recognized that there was a gap in the market. And so I had the opportunity to work with a coaching organization. And what I found was after talking to over 400 fractional employees, is that they really, really struggled.
00:16:59
Speaker
to find work. And that was probably the biggest challenge for them. And so that's when I started Hire a Fractional. And so this is a marketplace that connects fractional employees with startups who are looking for fractional talent. Hmm, I love that. So higher a fractional was born. So in addition to me doing all of my fractional work, yes, so I am a two time entrepreneur and I've got higher fractional now. But then in addition, as part of higher fractional, I said, people are looking for the roadmap. What is that roadmap? And so that's where we put fractional in a box together to build out that roadmap.
00:17:38
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's interesting that you're now a three time entrepreneur. And that was one of the things that I had noted in your story said that I'm the only one who took the corporate route. Why? I guess, number one, why did you choose the corporate route whenever that wasn't the norm in your family? I think in general,
00:17:58
Speaker
more people choose the corporate route just because that's all they've ever seen. And that's what people around them are encouraging them to do. But actually, you were a role breaker, you were a trendsetter in your family, and you went the corporate route. And so what made you choose to do that?
Trends and Benefits of Fractional Work
00:18:15
Speaker
So I think the corporate route found me. It really wasn't a conscious choice. It was, I came out of school. I had a fantastic co-op program as part of that. And then I took a job helping write phase four clinical trials.
00:18:32
Speaker
writing on the product monographs for these phase four clinical trials, and I enjoyed the work. And so for me, because I found it really stimulating, I continued on. And so what I really appreciated was when I got to Deloitte, I was only two plus years in my into my career, but I was working with really smart people.
00:18:53
Speaker
And that's ultimately what I loved about being in the consulting world. And that's why I stayed because every day at Deloitte or every day at Accenture was like two days somewhere else. It was so fast paced and you are working with really, really smart people.
00:19:11
Speaker
so that i I just really appreciated that. And so it wasn't until I really, you know, 11 years at Accenture, it was more that I found every day starting to be the same. I still very much appreciated working with all of the really smart people, but I felt the monotony starting to settle in. It was like, okay, well, we ran that program last year. We're going to run that program this year. How can we make that better? How can we make that different? How can we elevate it? And we were changing things by small percents.
00:19:40
Speaker
And it was at that point where I had people around me saying, you know you could make such an impact if you were to go and help some of these smaller businesses. And so that's really what it was for me. it was I felt like my corporate career at that point had run its course. I was doing the same old, same old. I didn't necessarily want to go up, but I still wanted to be intellectually really stimulated and I wanted to do new things.
00:20:07
Speaker
And so this is where I really saw this as an opportunity. And my husband of 27 years, God love him, has a much lower risk profile than I do. Mine too.
00:20:22
Speaker
But, you know, fully, fully supportive of him. You know, my family around me has been fully supportive of of me taking this leap. And I am glad I did. And, you know, I would never go back. Yeah. Well, that's what I was going to ask. You said in 2022, you were saying like, therell there's got to be more. So have you found more?
00:20:39
Speaker
I love it. Yeah, ah you know, again, I'm a workaholic, you know, our kids are now 23 and 21. We're empty napsters now. And so work is very much something that I am super passionate. I am so passionate about being a fractional, but also helping other fractionals see their
Advice and Encouragement for Aspiring Fractionals
00:20:58
Speaker
dream. You know, if you look at the stats by 2027,
00:21:02
Speaker
Fractional work is going to grow by over 70%. And if you know you look at the numbers, in 2023, 50 million Americans quit their jobs in the Great Resignation. They're looking for more. But on top of that, in 2023, there were also 5.4 million new startups. And those are the ones that were registered. That doesn't even include the ones that weren't registered. So the number of businesses is growing exponentially. The number of people becoming fractional is also growing exponentially. And so like I said, that's why we started Higher Fractional. Let's connect these two groups together and provide them with the resources they need to grow and thrive.
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that because I think especially for moms who are maybe saying, I don't want to work 60 plus hours a week anymore. I want to just spend my time a little bit differently. My priorities feel different at this season in my life, this stage in my life. And also I have so much to contribute and I don't want to take a step back in my career. I don't want to go part-time. I remember whenever i I chose to take a career pause and I told my CEO,
00:22:13
Speaker
I was leaving and he said, oh, let's work out something part time. And I was like, I know what that's going to mean. That's going to mean I'm going to get paid half and but like still have my job and things are going to, you know, scope creep, like you said, continue to to pile on. And maybe if I'd had the option, maybe if I could have imagined a world where I could work 10 hours a week and still contributed at that high level.
00:22:36
Speaker
can be intellectually stimulated in that way, then it would have made sense to continue in the corporate world in a different way. Well, and I know a number of fractionals who have transitioned from corporate to fractional, and they've done it in a couple of ways. One is, to your point, cold turkey. It's just, I've left my job, maybe they've been downsized, maybe they're hit retirement age, you know or maybe they've just said enough, and they've just taken a step back and they've stepped into fractional. So that's that's very much one group of folks who have come into it. I see another group of women who are on mat leave.
00:23:13
Speaker
And they say, to your point, you know especially in some countries, you know if you look at the European countries and you look at you know the Nordics, you look at Canada, they get a 12-month mat leaf, right? So it gives them a long runway to say, I'm going to become fractional. And so they start to build their fractional practice while on mat leaf. And they can spend that time. And then the third group says, financially, I'm unable to just step away.
00:23:40
Speaker
So I'm going to start this on the side. And the nice thing about it is that if you treat yourself like your first fractional client and you say, okay, I'm going to do two hours a day, or maybe it's one hour a day and a couple of extra hours on the weekend and you put those 10 hours a week into building your own business, very soon you will have that first client and then you will be able to look at, you know, at what point financially can you make that full-time transition to becoming fractional.
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah. And it sounds like you are helping people to do that as well. So that just to kind of make that a little bit easier, which I love because I think it can be scary. I mean, I am an entrepreneur with a higher risk tolerance, but also I 100% empathize with my husband and folks like like our husbands. It might not just be like, whatever, I'm going to jump ship and figure it out and it'll be fine. and I think, you know, it's helpful to have some guidance, even with a high-risk tolerance, having some guidance of, how do I do this? Because then you can do it a lot more quickly and, you know, get clients faster and move into the life that you want to live sooner, right? And having a supportive community is so important. So we also have a free Facebook group that
00:24:55
Speaker
people can come and join and be part of the community and listen to other people's challenges and get support from each other. And it's that safe space to come. And, you know, one of the big questions is that we get is, you know, how do we try to market ourselves when I still have a full time job and I've got to be very careful about my employer, right? I don't want to put my current role at risk. I know I want something else. And so, you know, it's these kinds of like,
00:25:25
Speaker
conversations that we've created this safe space where people can come into our fractional powerhouse Facebook group and just really find their tribe. i ah I mean, that's a big thing for me. And I talk a lot about being authentic. Being your authentic self is incredibly important. You need to figure out who that is. And by having conversations with other people, you're really able to do that and just start to find your tribe because it's not just your peer group, but you want to find your tribe in terms of your clients.
00:25:53
Speaker
You want to have clients who are a fit. You don't want to have a client who is a complete nightmare because then that again, that's just totally counterintuitive to what you're trying to build. Again, you know for me, it's it really is about that authenticity and and finding your tribe. Yeah.
00:26:10
Speaker
And what would you say, so if I'm considering going fractional from corporate, what has it given you in your life? It's given me freedom. I would say if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be freedom. Freedom to travel. Back in 2022, I said to my husband, I said, I don't want to work here anymore.
00:26:33
Speaker
And so he said, where do you want to work? I said, I'd like to work in Paris. So for my 50th birthday, we rented an Airbnb for a month in Paris. So I spent half of my day working, we would get up in the morning, you know, grab a coffee and we would work all morning. And then in the afternoon, we would go about our business and just whatever we needed to do there, but we would go sightsee, we would go to a restaurant. And so it gave us that flexibility to travel and take our business with us.
00:26:59
Speaker
That was huge to be able to still serve my clients. And I don't know about many of you, but I tend to a get a little anxious on vacation wondering what's going on. So the thought of two weeks of vacation to me is is actually terrifying as a workaholic. But the thought of saying, OK, I'm going to put in a few hours every morning, making making sure everything is on track and then I can go enjoy my day. And I found myself so relaxed in that that arena because I was able to live my life on my terms. I had the freedom to live on my terms.
00:27:29
Speaker
So it's given me that freedom. The second freedom it's given me is that we decided that we wanted to have clients all over the world. So we needed to set up a business. So I started to look at all right, so where if I was going to start a business anywhere in the world, where would I do it?
00:27:45
Speaker
I looked at Bahamas, I looked at Dubai, and I looked at the Cayman Islands. So now we are living primarily now in Grand Cayman because we can. And my clients, again, they don't care where I am. They just want the outcomes. They want the results. And so we've been able to have have that level of freedom. And then we also have income freedom. So you know working as a a fractional executive is financially lucrative.
00:28:11
Speaker
You can work a lot less hours for you know the same number, the same amount of pay. So it's up to you to decide, do you want you know four fractional clients at 10 hours a week and put in a 40 hour a week, but be making significantly more? Or do you say, you know what, I would be happy with my same salary, but it means I'm only working 10 to 20 hours a week. So you have that financial freedom in addition to the time freedom and the freedom of movement. And so for me, it is just giving me freedom. Yeah. I love the idea of spending part of the year in Paris and another part of the year and they're going to get came in and all over the world. I love that. And I guess I'm curious, maybe the market rates for a fractional, is it that if I'm working 10 hours a week, you know which is in theory a quarter of a full-time role, that it's a quarter of the salary or how does that work?
00:29:05
Speaker
Remember, being a fractional means that you're a senior level person. This isn't a part-time marketing manager as an example. This is someone who is a a senior level marketing leader. So you really shouldn't be looking at anything less than $250 an hour.
00:29:20
Speaker
Look at lawyers charging $7,800, $1,000 an hour. Rates will vary dramatically. Your rates will depend on the industry you serve, if you serve a nonprofit or if you serve tech, if you're serving a startup that's been funded, if you're serving companies in Silicon Valley versus the Midwest.
00:29:39
Speaker
So again, you need to look at this. But again, $250 an hour is pretty much right now for marketing the going rate for a fractional CMO. So that would be $40,000 a month. Yeah, that's helpful. I mean, I think that whenever we are thinking about making a big change like this, for example, it's helpful to just understand some of the financial implications.
00:30:05
Speaker
And I think some things like fractional employment, if we don't know someone who does it, we don't know much about it, it's kind of like, what does it mean? And what does it entail? And how can I even really make a decision without all of that data? Well, and that's what we aim to provide. And so we want to provide all of that information to people because, again, the biggest myth around fractional work is that you're becoming an entrepreneur. And so one of the challenges we see people face is that they really struggle with that mindset shift. Because when you look at a fractional, you're really good at your job. You could be the best CTO, CFO, COO. You're really good, and you're really good at serving clients. And you understand your craft, and you are you know the top person doing this.
00:30:55
Speaker
But all of a sudden you become fractional and you become an entrepreneur. It's no longer just about serving your clients with excellence. It's that you've got to promote yourself and you've got to build the awareness and you've got to build your brand and you've got to build your system and you've got to build the proprietary methodology that you're going to use. And you need to build all of these things. And that can really take a knock on confidence. You know, that can take a huge knock on confidence. And so this is why, again, we're building a community of folks who are doing this.
00:31:25
Speaker
so that we can all be there to support each other. Yeah, I love that. Well, how can people find you and find this community and learn more about becoming a fractional if that's something that they're interested in maybe exploring? Yeah, absolutely. So first thing I would say is join our Facebook group. So I have coined the term fractional powerhouse. and so My goal is to support men and women to become a fractional powerhouse. And so that is all about leveraging their own expertise. And like we say, all of the things they already have and supporting them on that entrepreneurial side to help them build their brand, build the system, build the proprietary method. So I would love for everyone to join our Facebook group at Fractional Powerhouse.
00:32:14
Speaker
And I would also love to share with you our ebook from Corporate to Fractional, and I will provide that to everyone here who's listening to the podcast. Yeah, and we'll link that in the show notes for sure. You've shared so many amazing tidbits of information and advice, and I think, you know, giving us lots to think about if this is a route that maybe we're considering. Is there anything else that maybe, you know, if someone's kind of in that situation where they're like, you know, it's just something's not feeling right. Maybe I'm just working too much and it's unbalanced and I'd rather, you know, spend more time with my family or whatever it may be that would compel them to make a change. Anything that you would suggest that they may consider or ask themselves as they're thinking through that.
00:33:01
Speaker
So the biggest question that I continued to ask myself throughout my career was, what are my non-negotiables? There were certain things for me that as I went through my career, there were non-negotiables. And so I think the first thing that I would say to everyone out there, I would say really understand what that is for you and that will help guide and shape what you need to do. I would say the second thing that has also been a huge guiding factor for me is find your community, find your tribe, find your mentors.
00:33:36
Speaker
find people to bounce these ideas off of. And many people talk about having a personal board of directors. That's really important to have those mentors in your life that you can talk to and really say, hey, I'm thinking about this. Can you help me explore? And so again, by by coming into you know our Facebook group, you've found a tribe of people who understand what you want to do. And you can start asking the questions to determine if it's the right fit for you or not.
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you so much, Sue, for all of your insights and sharing your experience, because I think that as we hear about different options available to us that other women have taken, that you know we start to see that, oh, maybe I could do that. Maybe that would make sense for me. And obviously, Fractional isn't for everybody, but you know I think it's helpful to know that it's out there and that it is you know growing so quickly, like you said, and that the opportunities are only going to continue to expand. The future is fractional. And so if you're interested in finding out more about it, please join us in our Facebook group and we'd love to have the discussion with you to determine if this is the right step for you.
00:34:51
Speaker
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Sue. And thank you so much to everyone for tuning in today. I hope that this has given you lots to think about and maybe consider if you are thinking about different options for your career. Thank you so much for tuning in and we will see you all next week. ah Bye bye.
00:35:13
Speaker
Thanks so much for tuning in to the Executive Coach for Moms podcast. Please like, subscribe, or follow the show so you'll be notified when the next episode is available. I hope you'll join me again next time. Take care.