Deep Dive Series: Fractional Hacks

Living the Dream of Flexible, Gainful Employment

Last year I was interviewed about my work as a Fractional Executive. The interviewer posed questions that poked a bit at the Fractional designation: Is fractional work code for “aged out” of the full-time workforce, or “too expensive?”

(Creative paraphrasing of the interviewer’s questions is entirely my own.)

I defended the practice as a win-win for experienced professionals, who could still contribute to a company at a high level but on their own terms, and for organizations – particularly startups – that could now access talent that might not have been available or affordable otherwise. 

What surprised me were the reactions to the piece; some were in my professional network and confided they’d had similar reckonings with full-time work; some were executives who had departed large companies and wanted more details on how to chart a fractional career; and some had worked for themselves for years and wanted to continue doing so, but more effectively.

They all wanted to know: How do you form, manage, and sustain a Fractional career?

While I’ve publicly extolled the virtues of fractional work, I must be clear: It’s not a panacea for overwork, ageist employers, or the biases one encounters by not being part of the W2 workforce. Anyone interested in this path should understand all of its facets, good and bad. 

Fractional work can be as stressful, frustrating, and exploitative as any other opportunity entered into without understanding the benefits and tradeoffs. Knowing your end game and accepting these tradeoffs is the key to sustaining and improving your fractional practice.

This Deep Dive series is not about how to manage your QuickBooks account and expeditiously get paid – these are subjects specific to all non-W2 workers, not just Fractionals. Nor am I going to open a debate on the definition of a Fractional worker. For this series, I’m deferring to this definition from Fractionals United.

And my final caveat: Know that I am sharing this advice, not as an accomplished expert, but as a work in progress who has learned mostly through hard knocks. I still grapple with all of this stuff. And I hope that by sharing my own hacks you will share yours and make us all collectively better. 

Because that’s the point: By getting collectively better at the fractional practice, we improve our own lot AND provide employers with a roadmap to a better working relationship with us. Win-win.

Here are Areas I’ll cover:

• Managing Productivity

• Managing Uncertainty

• Managing Expectations: 

So let’s dig in, shall we?