There is a new trend emerging.
It’s one that takes advantage of the 20, 30, and even 40 years of experience.
It’s the idea and concept of a fractional employee.
Millennial’s will be hiring fractional’s
I suspect a lot of millennial’s will be hiring more and more fractional’s in the coming years. It’s not a new concept. It’s just becoming more commonly accepted and I think it will become even more common in the next few years. The smart millennials will stand out in their careers by identifying a few “fractionals” that can help their business grow … and hiring them.
What exactly is a fractional?
A fractional is someone who is willing to spend some of their time to help you grow your business. The key factor is “some” of their time. The point is that they are not looking to put in 40 hours with you. They are also not interested in working full time with you or your business. It’s not because they don’t like you. Rather they are finding that they can commit “fractions” of their time to help multiple businesses. They can put their years of experience to use in a consultative role by jobbing out their time in a fractional manner.
There are fractional CIOs, CMO’s, even CEOs. And, pretty much anything else you can imagine and think of. One way to think of a fractional is someone that has many years of industry expertise. It could be based on a particular process, a particular industry, a particular region, or even a particular product.
But, the key factor is that fractionals will have many years of experience in a specific industry, process, or business.
Why hire a fractional?
It’s simple. They bring expertise to the table. They bring their knowledge to bear on a particular problem or situation in a very timely manner that can sometimes make or break a business.
What’s the difference between a fractional and a mentor?
The main difference is in the case of a mentor typically they’re not paid. They are providing their time, expertise, and perspective at no charge. Whereas a fractional is a business person and they do expect to be paid for their time and expertise.
Story of a Fractional:
There’s an old story of a engineer that was asked to come fix a classic old train that was used for a Polar Express theme ride. The engineer boarded the train spent about two minutes looking at the problem situation and then made a correction.
He submitted his bill for $500.
Note: The amount doesn’t matter it could be $500 or $5000.
The owners of the train balked at his $500 charge.
The owners of the train asked for an Itemized invoice.
The consultant said: Sure, no problem. And submitted the following itemized invoice.
- $5 Labor: adjust one screw.
- $495 – Expertise: after 20+ years and knowing which screw to turn.
This is the gist if what a fractional is and does. They know the industry, process and/or products so well that they can quickly assess, diagnose and prescribe solutions.
Fractional’s Bring Expertise
For people that have worked in various industries for many years, but have never been formally known as a consultant the idea of being a fractional is both appealing from a giving back, sharing expertise, and from a financial perspective.
Fractional’s may have functioned in the role of a consultant for years, but generally they have worked for one business (at a time). The good news is they have honed their expertise. In a sense they served their time. Now millennials can take advantage of all their hard years of work and bring fractionals into the business. Because they are becoming available for hire and can help millennials accelerate the growth of their businesses. In effect millennials get to hire an expert … part time. But, with the full power and expertise that they have honed for many years.
My recommendation is for millennials to seek out and hire a few fractionals to fill gaps in the business. If millennials are having a challenge identifying gaps … they should ask their mentors.
When in doubt … hire a fractional.
