#54 - Over the last few weeks, a lot of people in my network have been laid off. And almost every one of them has told me the same thing: "I'm open to fractional or full-time."I wince a little every time. Building a fractional practice that lasts takes commitment and focus, and if you back into it as the safety net, it tends to be a hard road.I've been fractional for about two and a half years, and I fell into it. My first year I said yes to everything, because I couldn't imagine turning down revenue. Eight clients. Forty billable hours a week. And I was more drained than I'd ever been working full-time. I had built myself a second job, and I came close to going back in-house.Then I made four changes. A year and a half later I had the practice I actually wanted: no Fridays, one or two marquee clients on retainer, project work I choose, and a practice that scaled past $40,000 a month in recurring revenue.In this episode I walk through the four moves I'd make if I had to rebuild it from scratch tomorrow:

  1. Set the vision for how you want the work to feel, then do the financial modeling behind it
  2. Pick one market and go deep, because deep expertise is what lets you charge more
  3. Turn your expertise into repeatable systems, with AI as the engine
  4. Diversify where the work comes from, before you need it

Plus the rule of thumb I use for setting rates, why I don't work Fridays, and the $50,000 chalk mark story.If you're thinking about going fractional, or you're a year in and it isn't going how you pictured, this one's for you. Come find me on LinkedIn if you want to talk through your version.

Thanks for hanging out with us today!

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