HOW TO ACTUALLY START A FRACTIONAL PRACTICE (WITHOUT DOING ALL THE THINGS)
When stepping out of the 9-to-5 and into self-employment, it can feel like you're standing at the base of Everest with a to-do list that never ends: Website. Logo. CRM. LinkedIn strategy. Cold email templates. Pricing models. Legal structure. Accounting software. Portfolio. Case studies. Email sequences. Lead magnets.
And that's before you've even landed your first client.
No wonder so many talented leaders get stuck in analysis paralysis, decision fatigue, and ultimately—not getting shit done. Which is definitely not what we want.
Here's the thing nobody tells you: you don't need to do all the things all at once. In fact, trying to do everything before you start is the fastest way to delay launch, drain your savings, and convince yourself that maybe you're not cut out for this after all.
In my house we have a saying: "start at the start." That's all that matters. Find a point of entry, and just start. Not when you're ready. Not when you have all the answers. Not when the stars align. Just start.
What do you actually need to start a fractional practice?
It comes down to these five things:
What you offer (your service)
Who you offer it to (your ideal client)
How much you charge and how (your pricing structure)
The outcomes (the impact you create)
How you find clients (your pipeline)
That's it. Everything else? It can wait. Let me walk you through each one—and show you exactly how to get clear on these five essentials so you can land your first fractional client without wasting months on things that don't matter yet.
Essential #1 : What You Offer (Your Service)
The question you're answering: What do I actually do for clients? This is where most people get stuck. You've done a lot. You can do a lot. You're a generalist. You've built systems, managed teams, designed processes, created strategies, fixed operations chaos, coached leaders, run projects, built brands. Cool. But when someone asks, "What do you do?"—you need one clear answer. Not seven.
Here's what I mean.
During a hot seat in my last Future Fractional cohort, one participant said: "I help teams and team leads who are struggling with the people side of leadership."
Broad, right? So we pushed: What kind of teams? What kind of leaders? What specific problems?
After some digging, it became clear: "If you've got somebody on your team who is avoiding a difficult conversation, who doesn't quite know where to start, who's just maybe a little bit scared, a little bit confused, has no idea how to have that difficult conversation—what I help you do is create clear, diplomatic, and effective communication."
Now we're getting somewhere.
Your offer should answer:
What problem do I solve?
What's the container? (A monthly retainer? A one-time audit? A 90-day transformation? Is it execution or strategy or a mix of both?)
What's the scope? (Am I the fractional COO handling everything ops? Or am I the systems specialist who builds SOPs? What am I NOT doing?)
Common mistakes:
Saying "I do a bit of everything"
Offering too many services at once (it confuses people and forces them to figure out where you fit instead of you telling them where you fit)
Leading with tactics instead of outcomes ("I build systems and processes" vs. "I help you stop micromanaging so you can actually lead")
What to do instead:
Pick ONE thing you're going to offer first. You can always add more services later, but right now you need one clear service that solves a clear problem for a specific type of client.
Examples:
Fractional COO retainer: "I step in as your part-time COO for 15-20 hours/month to run operations so you can get out of the weeds, silent your Slack pings and focus on growth.”
Operational audit: "A 2-week deep dive into your business to identify what's broken, what's bleeding money, and what to fix first."
Team alignment sprint: "A 30-day engagement to get your team clear on roles, responsibilities, and how work actually gets done."
One offer. One clear promise. That's where you start.
Essential #2: Who You Offer It To (Your Ideal Client)
The question you're answering: Who is this for?
"Small business owners" is not an answer. Neither is "anyone who needs operations help."
During Future Fractional, I asked one participant: "What kind of companies would be interested in this?"
Her answer: "Anybody who's run into any sort of roadblock that's the result of poor communication."
Okay. But "anybody" doesn't write you a check. A specific founder of a specific type of company writes you a check.
So we kept going: "What size? What stage? What industry?"
She landed on: "HR leaders at mid-sized organizations (100-500 employees) who are dealing with toxic team dynamics and don't have the internal capacity to fix it."
Now THAT'S a client.
Your ideal client should be specific enough that you can:
Name 10 companies that fit this profile
Describe where they hang out online and/or in real life
Understand what keeps them up at night
Speak their language (not corporate jargon)
Questions to ask yourself:
What size businesses do I want to work with? (Revenue? Team size?)
What stage? (Early startup? Scaling? Established?)
What industry/ industries?
What's the founder/CEO personality type I work best with? (Visionary? Data-driven? Collaborative?)
Remote, hybrid, or in-person teams?
B2B or B2C?
And if you're afraid to niche down, let me tell you, you're allowed to be picky. In fact, you should be picky. Because the wrong clients will drain you, underpay you, and make you question why you ever went fractional in the first place.
But the right clients? They'll pay you well, respect your boundaries, trust your expertise, and tell everyone they know about you. When you connect with those right-fit clients, it's an instant hell yes, not a lukewarm maybe. And THAT is the energy you want in your fractional practice.
Essential #3: How Much You Charge (And How)
The question you're answering: What's my pricing model?
This is where people freeze. Because pricing feels vulnerable. It feels like you're putting a number on your worth. And what if you're wrong? What if you price too high and no one hires you? What if you price too low and you can't pay your bills?
Let me save you some pain: your first pricing structure doesn't have to be your forever pricing structure. It just has to be clear enough to close your first deal.
And here's what nobody wants to admit: most people underprice out of fear, not strategy. They're so terrified of hearing "no" that they price themselves into poverty before they even start.
Don't do that. Three common pricing models for fractional work:
Monthly retainer: You charge a fixed monthly fee for a set number of hours or deliverables. Example: $6,000/month for 20 hours of fractional COO work
Pros: Predictable income. Easier to plan your time. Clients love the consistency.
Cons: Scope creep. Have to get good at enforcing boundaries. Can be treated like an employee. Starting out it may be difficult to assess how much impact you can be responsible for within a limited number of hours.
Project-based: You charge a fixed fee for a specific deliverable with a defined timeline. Example: $8,000 for a 30-day operational audit
Pros: Clear scope. Defined end date. Easier to say no to scope creep.
Cons: Less predictable income. You have to constantly be closing new projects.
Hourly: You charge by the hour for your time. Example: $200/hour for operations consulting
Pros: Simple. Flexible. Easy to track.
Cons: Clients nickel-and-dime your time. You're trading hours for dollars (hard to scale). Clients resent seeing hours add up.
What I recommend: Start with project-based or retainer pricing. Even if you don't bill hourly, you still need an hourly anchor rate. You must know the math—what you need to live, pay taxes, save for slow months, and reinvest in your business. Once you know that number, pricing gets calmer.
Essential #4: The Outcomes (Why It Matters)
The question you're answering: What's the impact I create?
Instead of talking about what you do (tactics), talk about what changes (impact).
Examples:
Instead of saying "I help you build SOPs and clarify roles" say "I help you stop being the bottleneck in your own business—so your team can execute without constantly asking you what to do, and you can finally focus on growth instead of firefighting."
Instead of saying "I create systems and processes” say "I turn operational chaos into calm, profitable workflows—so you can work less, make more, and actually enjoy the business you built."
Instead of saying "I help with team communication” say "I stop small communication issues from spiraling into expensive retention problems—so you keep your best people and stop bleeding money on turnover."
The formula: I help [specific client] solve [specific problem] so they can [specific outcome that matters].
What the client is buying from you is something that’s important to THEM. They’re not buying your specific process. They’re buying your results.
Essential 5: How You Find Clients (Your Pipeline)
The question you're answering: How do I actually get clients?
This is the part most people avoid because it feels uncomfortable. Salesy. Self-promotional. Icky.
But here's the truth: visibility is not optional. And waiting for people to "discover" you is not a business strategy—it's wishful thinking with a LinkedIn profile.
If no one knows you exist, no one can hire you. Period. There are two main paths to finding clients.
Inbound (The Long Game)
This is when clients come to you. They find you on LinkedIn, read your newsletter, see you speak, get referred by someone who knows you.
Inbound tactics include:
Posting consistently on LinkedIn or other social platforms (insider tip: pick the social platform where your ideal client is hanging out, and go hard there! You don’t need to be everywhere all at once).
Writing a newsletter
Speaking at events or on podcasts
Publishing case studies or thought leadership
Building a referral network
Why inbound works: Once it's humming, inbound feels effortless. Clients show up pre-sold on working with you. That podcast I did a year ago? Still delivering leads.
Why inbound is hard: It's slow. VERY slow. The results of inbound simply need time to compound. And it can be difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint exactly when/where people discovered you which can be really frustrating. You might not see results from your inbound efforts for 12 months. Hell, you might NEVER see results. And without that positive reinforcement (i.e., actually getting an inbound lead), you're unlikely to stick with it.
My take? Make content, do the podcast interview, write the newsletter simply because it feels good to share what you know and you like helping people—NOT because you're sitting around waiting for it to deliver a client to you. That's a recipe for resentment and burnout.
Outbound (The Short Game).
This is when you go to clients. You identify who you want to work with, research them, and reach out directly.
Outbound tactics include:
Cold emails (my personal favorite). And I don't mean signing up for some mass email tool (no shade, you just don't need it) and firing off 1,000 generic emails. This is a low-volume business you're running here. You don't need to send that many emails. But you do need to send a handful of really thoughtful, well-researched emails to the right people.
Warm intros through your network. Ask people you've worked with in the past to introduce you to a connection that looks like a lead. Or ask if they have anyone they'd recommend you speak to given your new fractional positioning.
Direct messages on LinkedIn. Again, specificity is key. Not some random-ass message that says "hey, what's your biggest pain point right now?" The quickest way to get marked as spam is sending a DM like that. Instead, reach out with something genuine: "Hey, I loved your recent post about XYZ."
Commenting on posts from ideal clients. Make these comments GOOD. Thoughtful. Substantive. Build your network by being helpful, not salesy.
Applying for fractional opportunities. Spend minimal time here. Only apply to those roles where you're a dead ringer. Competition is fierce.
Why outbound works: It's fast. You can land a client in 48 hours if you do it right. Case in point. One of my current fractional COO clients came from a cold email, within 24 hours we had a meeting booked and a signed contract within a week. Alignment baby.
Why outbound is hard: It requires consistent effort. You have to get comfortable with rejection. And most people do it badly (generic, spammy, AI generated, all about them instead of the client). It's not about volume. It's about research, relevance, and showing up like a human—not a desperate robot blasting the same template to 500 people.
What I recommend: Do both inbound and outbound. Build your inbound engine while firing off a few cold emails and DMs each week. Inbound keeps your pipeline warm long-term. Outbound fills gaps and gets you clients fast. Your pipeline is the MVP of your business. Knowing you can send a few thoughtful emails or DMs and make a deal happen is real freedom.
What You Still Don't Need (Seriously, Stop Overthinking This)
Before you spiral into "but what about...?"—here's what you can skip for now:
A logo
A fancy website. You can get away with a beefed up LinkedIn profile or simple one page Squarespace site.
A brand name (your name is fine)
A methodology for HOW you work
A brand strategist
Complex CRM software (just keep track of people in a google sheet).
A LinkedIn ghostwriter
Business cards
A podcast
A large email list
Certifications (unless required for your industry)
A rebrand every six months
As your practice matures, you can definitley tackle the above list, but please wait until you’ve a) got some real fractional experience under your belt and b) have money from your fractional practice to reinvest in your business.
What you need instead:
A clear offer
A specific ideal client
A pricing structure you can say out loud
The ability to articulate outcomes
A simple pipeline (warm outreach + cold email + LinkedIn)
That's it. Everything else is a distraction.
Ready to Build Your Fractional Practice the Right Way?
If you're a mid- to senior-level professional (10+ years experience) who's tired of cobbling together gigs and ready to run a real fractional practice—Future Fractional is for you.
This 11-week group coaching program will help you:
Nail your positioning so the right clients say "hell yes"
Build a pricing structure that reflects your value (not your fear)
Create a pipeline that generates opportunities consistently
Set boundaries that keep you well-paid and sane
Turn your fractional work into a real business—not a side hustle
Our next cohort starts March 23, 2026.
No fluff. No generic advice. No "just manifest it" bullshit. Just clear strategy, real action, and a group of smart, driven fractionals building alongside you.
