The most important thing she and her husband did, Walter said, was “get on the same page about money.” Accepting that self-employment income is variable “in that you have to eat what you kill.” She did not set out to replace or make more than her corporate salary with her fractional earnings. She and her husband met with their financial planner to determine their priorities.
“My goal was to keep the house that we’re in and retire on time,” according to the date she previously had set with her husband, she said.
Her husband’s job at the University of St. Thomas has provided the family with health insurance, while he is also the “college savings fund because of tuition reimbursement.”
Be clear up front, Walter said, about your pay but also what the client needs and what you can do to support that.
“For a pleaser like me, that has been really important,” Walter said. “If you don’t lean into that scope of work, and you say, ‘I just want to make them happy, no matter what,’ you’re not going to be successful as a solo-preneur. You’re going to be just as burned out as you were in corporate.”
The fractional market is feeling growing pains typical of a maturing industry, according to this year’s fractional survey. Business development was the primary challenge for 69% of respondents, a 9% increase. Fractionals depend heavily on referrals, with more than three-quarters of respondents planning to grow through networking.