Welcome to That Solo Life: The Solo PR Pro Podcast!
Sept. 14, 2026

Is Now the Time to Consider Fractional PR?

Is Now the Time to Consider Fractional PR?
Is Now the Time to Consider Fractional PR?
That Solo Life: The Solo PR Pro Podcast
Is Now the Time to Consider Fractional PR?
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Episode Summary

Fractional roles seem to be growing in scope, including in Public Relations. Over the years, we have seen our fair share of creative titles, but does the Fractional title in Communication roles have longevity? In today’s episode, we take an honest look at the fractional title, extract what's actually useful, and give solo PR practitioners a real framework for deciding whether fractional positioning is a fit for them, or whether it's a fashionable label with a new set of obligations attached. The hosts discuss the rate data for fractional roles and adoption projections for midsize companies.

Episode Highlights

  • [00:18] Should I adopt the Fractional Title?: Michelle opens before the music: if she put fractional communications director on her website tomorrow, would she be sounding as senior as she actually is — or cosplaying a Silicon Valley CMO? Karen loves the question. It names exactly the tension the episode is built around: the fractional label is real and valuable in the right context, and it is also getting slapped on LinkedIn profiles by people who have changed nothing about how they actually work. Karen and Michelle are committed to examining both sides honestly.
  • [02:52] The Rate Data: What Go Fractional's 2026 Benchmarks Actually Show: Go Fractional, a marketplace that publishes its own rate benchmarks by role, shows the fractional director of public relations averaging $203 an hour in 2026, with typical engagements running around 32 hours a week. Karen and Michelle both flag what 32 hours means in solo practice terms: that is essentially all of your billable time for one client. There would be no room for additional work. For broader fractional CMO engagements, monthly retainers commonly run $8,000 to $22,000, with day rates in the $1,500 to $3,500 range and hourly rates around $200 to $350. Karen's bottom line: most solo PR pros are already undercharging. The gap between what solos currently charge and what the fractional rate range represents is a real income conversation, not just a semantic one.
  • [06:43] The Adoption Reality: Who Is Actually Buying This: Gartner projected that more than 30% of midsize enterprises will keep at least one fractional executive on retainer by 2027. Karen's honest read: 30% is a meaningful number, but it requires understanding which markets and industries you actually serve. She cautions against chasing the label without first asking whether your specific clients in your specific verticals are operating in the kinds of environments where fractional executive models are being adopted. She also notes an important structural difference: fractional engagements are typically time-bound, one to two years, sometimes as short as six months, while many solo PR practitioners maintain client relationships of five, ten, fifteen years or more. That shift in tenure expectations is not a footnote. It changes the business model.
  • [09:44] Objection 1: This Is Just a Trendy Label for Freelancer: Karen names the objection directly: fractional is real. There are fractional CEOs, fractional CFOs, fractional CMOs and it emerged from a genuine market need. Companies wanted senior executive function without a permanent hire, particularly high-growth startups scaling toward a defined goal. The problem is that the label has been diluted by people applying it to what they were already doing. Karen's line: it has to be more than a label. It has to be a real change in how you scope work, structure your time, and price your value. If it's just a rebrand of what you're already doing, it will not hold up to a client's scrutiny.
  • [11:08] Objection 2: I Don't Have C-Suite Adjacent Experience: Michelle raises the credibility question: what if you don't have 15-plus years or a director-level background? Can you credibly claim a fractional director title? Karen's answer is yes, with honesty about what you bring. She draws on the Dolly Parton example from a recent piece she'd read: when Barbara Walters made a condescending comment, Dolly didn't get defensive. She owned the narrative and redirected it. Karen's parallel for practitioners: if a client challenges your seniority, you don't deny the gap, you own what you do bring and redirect toward the specific value that makes you the right person for this engagement. Karen also flags what the Solo PR Pro community data shows, many solos left corporate America holding director-level titles. The experience is often already there; the confidence to claim it is the gap.
  • [13:28] Objection 3: Clients Will Expect Fixed Weekly Hours I Can't Sustain: This is the structural objection, and Karen says it's the most valid one. Fractional positioning is not a marketing decision; it's an organizational one. It assumes fewer clients getting more defined hours each, not the same scattered client load with a prettier name on top. That is a genuine shift in how you run your business. Karen's reframe: for practitioners who want built-in natural breaks, the project-based nature of fractional work is actually an opportunity. You do a high-value six-month engagement, step back, take time, then pick up the next one. But you have to be genuinely ready to operate that way, not just willing to say you will.
  • [16:00] Objection 4: What If a Client Asks What Makes Me Different: The quiet objection: if a prospective client pushes back and asks what actually distinguishes you from any other consultant and you don't have a real answer beyond the title, you have a problem. Karen and Michelle are both direct: if you're going to name it, you have to be ready to back it up. Fractional is not a word that does the positioning work for you. You still have to know what you specifically bring, who specifically you serve, and what result you specifically deliver. The label focuses the conversation. You still have to win it.
  • [17:09] The Three-Question Filter for Self-Assessment: Karen's three questions for any solo practitioner genuinely weighing this decision. One: can you honestly commit a defined chunk of weekly hours — ten, twenty, or even thirty-two — to a small number of clients rather than juggling many smaller ones? This is a capacity question, not an aspiration question. Two: have you operated at a senior strategic level where you own the outcomes rather than execute tasks someone else scoped? Be honest about what senior strategic responsibility has actually looked like in your experience. Three: does the pricing range work for the size of client you're actually targeting? The $8,000 to $22,000 monthly range requires clients with budgets to match. If you primarily serve small local businesses or early-stage startups on tighter budgets, fractional may be aspirational for a future client base rather than a realistic current pivot.
  • [19:10] The Live Drill: Six Years of Healthcare Comms, Eighteen Months Solo: Michelle walks a hypothetical: a practitioner with six years running healthcare comms in-house, now eighteen months into solo practice, currently juggling five smaller retained clients at different rates. Karen runs the filter. On capacity: consolidating from five scattered clients to two or three larger, more defined engagements is a real structural shift, and the right question is whether the listener can genuinely commit to that model. On experience: six years running healthcare comms in-house is exactly the kind of background that supports a director-level fractional claim credibly. On pricing: if even two or three of those five current clients are midsize or larger organizations, there may be a direct pathway to repricing existing relationships at fractional rates. If the current client base skews toward small local clients on tight budgets, the fractional pivot is a longer play toward a different client type.
  • [22:21] Why This Is a Positioning Decision, Not Just a Label Decision: Karen closes on the point the whole episode has been building toward: how you describe your own work shapes what you are allowed to charge for it. Most solo PR pros are already undercharging, not because the market won't bear higher rates, but out of habit and out of fear. The fractional conversation, done honestly, forces a real examination of capacity, value, and pricing that most solos avoid. Even for practitioners who ultimately decide the fractional model isn't the right fit, that conversation has value. Karen is transparent about herself: the corporateness of fractional work, the reporting structures, the Slack pings, the internal politics is not where she wants to be. That's also a real answer, and it's the kind of honest self-assessment the episode is asking every listener to do.

Resources & Additional Information

Note on sourcing: Karen and Michelle flag on air that some of the broader fractional adoption statistics are difficult to verify precisely — treat aggregate figures as directional rather than definitive.

Host & Show Info

That Solo Life is a podcast created for public relations, communication, and marketing professionals who work as independent and small practitioners. Hosted by Karen Swim, APR, President of Solo PR Pro, and Michelle Kane, Principal of Voice Matters, the show delivers expert insights, encouragement, and practical advice for solo PR pros navigating today's dynamic professional landscape.

Listen to all episodes and catch up on previous conversations at thatsololife.com.

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0:18 MICHELLE KANE: Okay, Karen, if I put fractional communications director on my website MICHELLE KANE: tomorrow, would I be sounding a senior finally sounding as senior as I am? MICHELLE KANE: Or would it seem like I'm cosplaying like some Silicon Valley CMO? KAREN SWIM, APR: Michelle, I actually love that question, I think. KAREN SWIM, APR: I do, and we're going to talk about that today. KAREN SWIM, APR: So we have a real answer to it. KAREN SWIM, APR: So welcome back, audience to that solo live, the podcast for independent PR and KAREN SWIM, APR: communication pros who are building a business, KAREN SWIM, APR: not just freelancing between contracts. KAREN SWIM, APR: I'm Karen Swim and I'm the president of solo PR Pro.

0:58 MICHELLE KANE: And I'm Michelle K and I am the principal of voice matters. MICHELLE KANE: And it's just the two of us today, which is awesome. MICHELLE KANE: I mean, we love having guests, but it's cool when it's just us. Hopefully MICHELLE KANE: your listeners are cool with that too. MICHELLE KANE: But anyway, this, this episode is, you know, MICHELLE KANE: what's a summer without a summer blockbuster? MICHELLE KANE: This is our sequel to our Specialization Economy episode. MICHELLE KANE: If you haven't listened to that, check it out. MICHELLE KANE: So if niching down is what you do in your business, MICHELLE KANE: this is about what you call it and what you charge for it. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. So I mean, the question that we're exploring today is, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, is it the right move today to price and position yourself as a fractional KAREN SWIM, APR: communications director, fractional, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: PR lead instead of as a consultant or an agency of one or a micro agency.

1:52 MICHELLE KANE: Right, right. And, you know, I'm sure some of you are out there rolling MICHELLE KANE: your eyes at another borrowed executive title. MICHELLE KANE: And yeah, I get it. So, you know, it's okay. MICHELLE KANE: We can own this one before we tell anyone else to use it. KAREN SWIM, APR: I yeah, I totally agree. KAREN SWIM, APR: And I think I think it's going to be an interesting discussion. There's, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, a lot out on the world wide Web about, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, fractional work. KAREN SWIM, APR: And, and many of us work with fractional CMOs. KAREN SWIM, APR: There are PR contact inside of companies. KAREN SWIM, APR: So this is not a new concept, but I, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: some of the stuff that's out there is, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: just kind of, you know, just tried stuff that's been around forever.

2:34 KAREN SWIM, APR: Some of it is new, but we're going to extract the useful stuff and have a real KAREN SWIM, APR: conversation about it today. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah, exactly. And of course, everything, everything we source is in our MICHELLE KANE: show notes as always. So yeah, yeah. MICHELLE KANE: So let's start with a number I really trust. MICHELLE KANE: What's the PR specific data on all of this? KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. So there's this marketplace called what's it called go fractional and it KAREN SWIM, APR: publishes its own rate benchmarks by role. KAREN SWIM, APR: So when you look at fractional director of public relations specifically the 2026 data KAREN SWIM, APR: shows an average asking rate of $203 an hour, KAREN SWIM, APR: with a typical engagement running around 32 hours a week.

3:20 MICHELLE KANE: 32 hours a week. So yeah, that's not a light touch. MICHELLE KANE: I mean, that's pretty much most of a workweek for one client, MICHELLE KANE: but I'm not sad about that rate. MICHELLE KANE: They don't live around here. KAREN SWIM, APR: I mean, honestly, in all fairness, 32 hours is probably more. MICHELLE KANE: Full time. KAREN SWIM, APR: Billable hours than yeah, then we can handle. KAREN SWIM, APR: So because we know that in our world, we don't do the 40 hour work week. KAREN SWIM, APR: There's things that you do that are non billable hours and then there's billable KAREN SWIM, APR: hours. So when you really think about that, that's really all of your billable time. KAREN SWIM, APR: You wouldn't have room to do anything else. MICHELLE KANE: So correct. KAREN SWIM, APR: I, I don't know, let's you know.

4:00 MICHELLE KANE: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, it's not like I do a bit of PR for MICHELLE KANE: a lot of people, right? MICHELLE KANE: It wouldn't allow for that. MICHELLE KANE: It's kind of like I'm effectively your part time head of communications and you get a MICHELLE KANE: defined slice of my week, which is actually kind of how I work with one MICHELLE KANE: client. You know, I'm not in-house, but I'm the de facto marketing rep. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. MICHELLE KANE: I'll change my fancy name and give them that number and they'll fall over. KAREN SWIM, APR: I mean, there's that, right. KAREN SWIM, APR: And. You know, but on the pricing side for the broader fractional CMO data, KAREN SWIM, APR: it shows that monthly retainers actually, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: commonly run 8 to $22,000.

4:44 KAREN SWIM, APR: So and growth stage engagements run around like, KAREN SWIM, APR: I don't know, 8 to 12,000. KAREN SWIM, APR: So day rates in the 1500 to 3500 range and hourly around two to 2 to 350. KAREN SWIM, APR: So that makes more sense because you're really looking at this almost like a a job. KAREN SWIM, APR: And you may have time, like I've known fractional CMOs that have had KAREN SWIM, APR: more than one engagement at a time. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah, sure. KAREN SWIM, APR: They've been fractional for two companies. KAREN SWIM, APR: You could be fractional and maybe take on a couple of, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, projects, maybe 1 or 2, not a lot. KAREN SWIM, APR: So I don't know.

5:25 MICHELLE KANE: Yeah. And you know, we're getting into the sphere, MICHELLE KANE: which is, you know, side note, it's, it is, as I alluded to before, MICHELLE KANE: it is a very different number to what most of us are able to charge, MICHELLE KANE: as, you know, generalist PR consultants. MICHELLE KANE: So, you know, is it a shift of mindset in some ways or. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah, I mean, I so I think, you know, and we learned this way back at a KAREN SWIM, APR: solo PR pro conference many years ago, I think, KAREN SWIM, APR: and our data has validated this over the years that most solo PR pros do. KAREN SWIM, APR: Undercharge. So let's be clear about that. KAREN SWIM, APR: So you're already not pricing yourself accurately for your expertise and your value KAREN SWIM, APR: that you bring to the marketplace. And so when some of the solos are thinking about, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, 200 $0 engagements as a fractional, KAREN SWIM, APR: it's probably going to make their head spin like, KAREN SWIM, APR: oh my God, you know, what do I, am I worthy of that number?

6:19 KAREN SWIM, APR: Yes you are. But I think that the gap between fractional and what most solo PR pros are KAREN SWIM, APR: charging is, is why this is such an important conversation to have. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. Because if if adding fractional as that label lets you charge inside that range, KAREN SWIM, APR: that's more than just, you know, semantics. KAREN SWIM, APR: That's real income. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah, yeah. But you know, taking that the next step, MICHELLE KANE: let's think about the adoption numbers, right? MICHELLE KANE: Is this really catching on with these clients or potential clients? MICHELLE KANE: Or is this just us talking to each other and thinking, MICHELLE KANE: yeah, let's get it. KAREN SWIM, APR: I mean, I think that that is such a good point.

7:00 KAREN SWIM, APR: And so we have to be careful, right? KAREN SWIM, APR: We don't want to just chase like the cute name or, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, this, this little pivot or, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: and again, I do as you called out right away. KAREN SWIM, APR: I do see this very much as a Silicon Valley thing. KAREN SWIM, APR: And everybody doesn't work in that space or want to. KAREN SWIM, APR: So we want to think about that. KAREN SWIM, APR: So I think it was Gartner projected that more than 30% of midsize enterprises will keep at KAREN SWIM, APR: least one fractional executive on retainer by 2027. KAREN SWIM, APR: So that's, you know, 30% is a decent number. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

7:41 MICHELLE KANE: And the rest. KAREN SWIM, APR: And the rest is 40% of firms, 35 rising to 48%, KAREN SWIM, APR: 72% of CEOs. And, you know, there's, it's hard to find some hard facts KAREN SWIM, APR: around this. So I think to me, I think the best way to research this is to KAREN SWIM, APR: look at the markets that you serve and the industries you serve and see, KAREN SWIM, APR: like how many people are really doing this and are people open to it? KAREN SWIM, APR: Like if you open a discussion like, hey, have you guys ever considered, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, bringing on a fractional PR person? KAREN SWIM, APR: Now, here's something that we haven't talked about yet either. KAREN SWIM, APR: I've worked with tons of fractional CMOs.

8:23 KAREN SWIM, APR: They are typically these are bound in time engagement. KAREN SWIM, APR: So they're not, you know, for solos, we often have engagements that can KAREN SWIM, APR: be five years, ten years, 15 years or longer. KAREN SWIM, APR: We keep our clients for a really long time. KAREN SWIM, APR: These are usually like 1 to 2 year engagements. KAREN SWIM, APR: When they're on the longer side, sometimes they're shorter than that because KAREN SWIM, APR: sometimes you're brought in for a very specific growth spurt. KAREN SWIM, APR: So it could be, you know, a six month engagement. KAREN SWIM, APR: So that has to be something that you're comfortable with. MICHELLE KANE: Right, right. And I do love that, you know, we're looking at this from all MICHELLE KANE: sides today. We're not just saying, oh, that sounds so impressive. MICHELLE KANE: Let's do it. You know, so we're keeping it real for everybody, MICHELLE KANE: including ourselves, right?

9:08 KAREN SWIM, APR: Absolutely, absolutely. KAREN SWIM, APR: And we want to cover, you know, the questions, KAREN SWIM, APR: the challenges, because we don't want to ignore things that are happening. KAREN SWIM, APR: It's good to examine it and. MICHELLE KANE: Right. KAREN SWIM, APR: You know, test it out and then see if maybe that is a fit for what you're doing. KAREN SWIM, APR: And I've seen some of our solos pivot to fractional. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah, yeah. And you know, and I love even how you said that to look at MICHELLE KANE: others doing fractional work and seeing if it's possible. I mean, isn't that what we all MICHELLE KANE: did before we decided to try going solo? MICHELLE KANE: So it's just again, we're just honing in on that. MICHELLE KANE: But let's talk about some of the pushback. MICHELLE KANE: Okay. What are some of the objections against doing this? KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah, I think one of the objections is that this is just a trendy label for freelancer or KAREN SWIM, APR: consultant. It's it's not a rebrand and it's not substance.

9:57 MICHELLE KANE: Right. And, you know, and that's fair because you know, a lot of MICHELLE KANE: people are just slapping this word on their LinkedIn headline without changing anything MICHELLE KANE: about how they actually work, because they think, MICHELLE KANE: oh, that's what I have to call myself in this moment in MICHELLE KANE: time. And it's like, oh. KAREN SWIM, APR: We've seen this before, right? We've been here with the cute titles. KAREN SWIM, APR: And I mean fractional. KAREN SWIM, APR: It's not a cute title. KAREN SWIM, APR: It is a real thing. You know, there's fractional CEOs, KAREN SWIM, APR: there's fractional CFOs. KAREN SWIM, APR: And you know, this all came about with companies wanting to hire, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, executives that they really needed that function in that role, KAREN SWIM, APR: but they didn't want to commit to a permanent engagement. KAREN SWIM, APR: So I've seen some companies run through fractional execs with lightning quick speed.

10:42 KAREN SWIM, APR: I've worked on engagements where we've gone through three fractional CMOs in a year. KAREN SWIM, APR: That's that's quite a bit. KAREN SWIM, APR: And the company decided to go fractional to sort of test as a pathway to permanent. KAREN SWIM, APR: But in most cases, I see this a lot with high growth startups that really are, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, looking to scale and they just, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: they don't want the permanent employee yet, but they want people to do KAREN SWIM, APR: very specific things. MICHELLE KANE: So yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. MICHELLE KANE: Let's look at another objection. MICHELLE KANE: You know, we might think to ourselves, well, gosh, I don't have, MICHELLE KANE: you know, 15 plus years or a C-suite adjacent background, MICHELLE KANE: right? So how can I credibly claim a director level fractional title?

11:28 KAREN SWIM, APR: Yes you can. I don't think that you're overselling yourself. KAREN SWIM, APR: And I think it's important to be honest. KAREN SWIM, APR: But again, here's where I think sometimes we get in our own way of diminishing the value KAREN SWIM, APR: of what we've done in our experience. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. I just read something and I will try to find the source, KAREN SWIM, APR: but it's a communications person who talked about Dolly Parton and the lessons learned KAREN SWIM, APR: from an interview where Barbara Walters said some rude things like, KAREN SWIM, APR: so are you a hillbilly? KAREN SWIM, APR: And rather than Dolly getting offended or defensive about it, KAREN SWIM, APR: she owned it. But she changed the trajectory of the comments.

12:08 KAREN SWIM, APR: So she owned that narrative, but leaned in and redirected it and made it KAREN SWIM, APR: her own story. And so this this person that wrote the book talked about how we all should KAREN SWIM, APR: be doing that, don't you know? KAREN SWIM, APR: So if somebody says but you've never been a CEO, KAREN SWIM, APR: you can absolutely lean into that narrative, but then you can counter back with, KAREN SWIM, APR: I've never been a CEO, which actually makes me a great candidate for KAREN SWIM, APR: this job because I'm coming from a fresh lens and from a different perspective. KAREN SWIM, APR: And here's what I do bring. KAREN SWIM, APR: So but you don't want to obviously take on something that you feel like you can't fail. KAREN SWIM, APR: But if you see what the job requires and the results that you know they want, KAREN SWIM, APR: then yes, you can absolutely credibly claim a director or higher level fractional title.

12:56 MICHELLE KANE: Yeah. I mean, the work is the work just because we're not wearing power suits here at MICHELLE KANE: our laptops and, you know, walking into specific types of rented, MICHELLE KANE: you know, office space doesn't mean we're not thinking doing the same kind of thought MICHELLE KANE: process, doing the same kind of work, you know? MICHELLE KANE: All right, let's go through another objection. The third one, MICHELLE KANE: if I position as a fractional, you know, won't clients expect a fixed weekly MICHELLE KANE: hour commitment that maybe I really can't sustain across multiple clients, MICHELLE KANE: which we alluded to before? KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. I mean, I think that this is, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: a great question. And, and it's, it's a very valid objection because KAREN SWIM, APR: this becomes more of it's not a marketing, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: thing, a decision. This is really, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: organizational structural about how your company is set up.

13:45 KAREN SWIM, APR: So when you do fractional work, the assumption and the way that many people KAREN SWIM, APR: work this out is that you're working for fewer clients. KAREN SWIM, APR: So you're not doing five, you know, different clients at a time. KAREN SWIM, APR: So that means that they are getting, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: more defined hours each than maybe in your other engagement. KAREN SWIM, APR: So it's, it's not the same scattered client load with just, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, this pretty name on top. KAREN SWIM, APR: It really is a, a shift in how you're doing business. KAREN SWIM, APR: I will say, though, that think about all that. KAREN SWIM, APR: This way of working means if you're somebody that likes to build in natural breaks, KAREN SWIM, APR: then this could be a way to take these, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: fractional CMO, you know, projects because they are projects, KAREN SWIM, APR: they're not forever. And you do those projects and you can space them out.

14:40 KAREN SWIM, APR: So maybe you're, you know, getting, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: paid great money for six months a year, but then you have the benefit of maybe taking KAREN SWIM, APR: three months off before your next engagement. KAREN SWIM, APR: Or maybe you dial it down and you take a project or two. KAREN SWIM, APR: So yeah, there are some benefits to, you KAREN SWIM, APR: know, doing this? MICHELLE KANE: Definitely, definitely. MICHELLE KANE: And I, you know, I think it's definitely worth, MICHELLE KANE: you know, worth looking into especially, you know, MICHELLE KANE: it reminds me of I always used to be a car buyer. MICHELLE KANE: I buy my cars. I do not lease, I own them. MICHELLE KANE: Well, truth be told, after a few owning I'd owned it for a month and then I'd want that MICHELLE KANE: nice big fat warranty back.

15:20 MICHELLE KANE: And the thing that's not going to give me a problem that isn't covered right. And I'll MICHELLE KANE: never forget the day the one salesman, you know, kindly called me on it. MICHELLE KANE: He goes, you don't own this one. MICHELLE KANE: I'm like, shut up. Don't, don't point out my buying thing. MICHELLE KANE: So you know all that to say. MICHELLE KANE: You you may already be operating this way and you just didn't sit back to go, MICHELLE KANE: oh Yeah, I do. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. So but when you market yourself that way, KAREN SWIM, APR: that means you're attracting a different buyer, KAREN SWIM, APR: right? Looking for. MICHELLE KANE: Exactly. KAREN SWIM, APR: That's looking for that model. MICHELLE KANE: Right, right. So, so yeah, you better be ready to deliver it if you're MICHELLE KANE: actually going to take that step and name it. MICHELLE KANE: Well, there's always a quiet one. MICHELLE KANE: There's always a quiet pushback.

16:00 KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. So I think it's what if a client asks what actually makes me different from any KAREN SWIM, APR: other consultant, and I don't have a real answer beyond the title? MICHELLE KANE: Oh. Well, that brings us back to if, if you're going to name it, MICHELLE KANE: you got to be ready to back it up. KAREN SWIM, APR: You nailed it. MICHELLE KANE: Can't just pretend. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. You can't say SPEAKER 3: That's what we're doing now. KAREN SWIM, APR: So it's like, I like the word. KAREN SWIM, APR: Got it will work for LinkedIn. MICHELLE KANE: It makes me sound official.

16:41 KAREN SWIM, APR: Right. It has to be more than a label. KAREN SWIM, APR: It really has to be. It has to be a real change in how you scope out work, KAREN SWIM, APR: what your structure is, how you price your time. KAREN SWIM, APR: It can't just be like this rebrand of what you're already doing. MICHELLE KANE: Right, right. So. We always love a little lens, MICHELLE KANE: a little filter. Let's walk everybody through a way to actually decide if this is right for MICHELLE KANE: them. Instead of saying, yeah, that word sounds good. MICHELLE KANE: Let's slap it on there. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. Yeah. So here's a couple things. KAREN SWIM, APR: Like one, one thing that you can do is ask yourself, KAREN SWIM, APR: can I honestly commit a defined chunk of weekly hours to so ten, KAREN SWIM, APR: 20, maybe even 32 hours to a small number of clients rather than juggling a lot of KAREN SWIM, APR: small ones?

17:33 MICHELLE KANE: Yeah. You know? Okay. Number two. KAREN SWIM, APR: I think you have to be honest and look at your, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, experience. Have you ever operated at a senior strategic level where you own the KAREN SWIM, APR: outcomes? This is important because as yeah, PR consultants, KAREN SWIM, APR: we own our outcomes. But this would be a little bit broader. KAREN SWIM, APR: So you're not just executing tasks so that somebody else is actually scoped for you. KAREN SWIM, APR: So you need to be honest about that. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah, definitely. Definitely. MICHELLE KANE: And then question three. KAREN SWIM, APR: I think this is really important. KAREN SWIM, APR: Does the pricing range work for you?

18:16 KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. So if you're looking at 8 to 20 000 a month territory or 200 plus an hour, KAREN SWIM, APR: does that make sense for the size of the client that you're targeting? KAREN SWIM, APR: So that's really useful information and you need to really factor that in. MICHELLE KANE: Definitely, definitely. MICHELLE KANE: Because, you know, again, since this is a Silicon Valley term, MICHELLE KANE: they have those Silicon Valley budgets and not every business is going to have that. MICHELLE KANE: But it doesn't mean if this is the way that you want to start working, MICHELLE KANE: that you can't make it happen with clients with smaller budgets, MICHELLE KANE: you know, and, and for many of us, maybe your ongoing relationships.

18:58 MICHELLE KANE: It makes sense to, you know, it doesn't have to be a huge pivot right MICHELLE KANE: away. Right? So let's run the drill. MICHELLE KANE: Let's say a listener has done in-house comms for a midsize healthcare MICHELLE KANE: company for six years. KAREN SWIM, APR: Okay. MICHELLE KANE: They went solo 18 months ago, and right now they're juggling about five MICHELLE KANE: smaller, smaller, retained clients at different rates. KAREN SWIM, APR: Okay. So spreading yourself across a bunch of clients is exhausting. KAREN SWIM, APR: It requires you to do that context switching a lot during the course of a day or the KAREN SWIM, APR: course of a week. And it requires just an incredible workflow to just really be able to KAREN SWIM, APR: manage everyone's objectives and be sure that you're, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, giving your clients the time that is due them per the scope of work in the KAREN SWIM, APR: budget. So I think that, you know, as you are looking at this, KAREN SWIM, APR: you would just say, okay, what's my weekly capacity for a small number KAREN SWIM, APR: of clients And if you restructured and you were going to consolidate down to like 2 or 3 KAREN SWIM, APR: bigger, more defined engagements.

20:07 KAREN SWIM, APR: So that's, you know, again, seeing, is this label going to fit the way KAREN SWIM, APR: that I realistically can work? MICHELLE KANE: Right, right. Okay. Now let's move this theoretical person through. MICHELLE KANE: Question two, their senior strategic experience. KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah. I mean, I would say that if you have, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: six years running healthcare comms in-house, that's exactly the kind of background that KAREN SWIM, APR: supports a director level claim credibly. KAREN SWIM, APR: And we know that many in our audience actually left corporate America with director KAREN SWIM, APR: and higher titles. So, you know, a lot of our audience qualifies. KAREN SWIM, APR: But for those who may have been, you know, mid-career or earlier stage career KAREN SWIM, APR: before they went solo, this is, you know, for you that this is not KAREN SWIM, APR: out of your reach either.

20:56 MICHELLE KANE: True. So true. And then, of course, does the pricing range fit, MICHELLE KANE: you know, your clients? KAREN SWIM, APR: I mean, so if you have five clients, if even 2 or 3 of them are midsize KAREN SWIM, APR: organizations, midsize or large organizations that could pay you the rate of a fractional, KAREN SWIM, APR: that is a real pathway. KAREN SWIM, APR: Because otherwise, now you're looking at, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: winding down with the clients that you have and reaching to, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, change your structure by finding new clients. KAREN SWIM, APR: Nothing wrong with that, but that's just a little bit of a longer KAREN SWIM, APR: pathway. And it needs to be very intentional and it needs to be very strategic.

21:40 KAREN SWIM, APR: So, but if if you're somebody who works with, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, small local clients that are on tighter budgets or maybe small start ups, KAREN SWIM, APR: and that's what you love to do, fractional is more aspirational than, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, for a future client base. KAREN SWIM, APR: It's, it's maybe not the current pathway that you should take right now. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah. So, you know, like with anything like with, MICHELLE KANE: you know, we experience this so often with our business development. MICHELLE KANE: Yeah. You know, it's not a straight line. MICHELLE KANE: It's a roadmap. And as we know, these things take time. MICHELLE KANE: So that gives you the time to work through it, MICHELLE KANE: you know, try, you know, creating new relationships and, MICHELLE KANE: and see where it goes.

22:21 KAREN SWIM, APR: You're 100%. I think it's, you know, I think it's more about, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, thinking through how you're positioning yourself, KAREN SWIM, APR: right? So this is a positioning decision, not yeah. MICHELLE KANE: Agree, agree. And, you know, as we know, even though what we do is very MICHELLE KANE: nuts and bolts, many people out there in other businesses still don't understand what MICHELLE KANE: it is. So sometimes this, this, you know, term does help them at least MICHELLE KANE: get it. So anyway, before we wrap, let's tie this back. MICHELLE KANE: Why? Why does this matter beyond just one line on our website? KAREN SWIM, APR: Yeah, I think it's because how we describe our own work, KAREN SWIM, APR: like as you just, you know, started to is it shapes what we're allowed to KAREN SWIM, APR: charge for it, right? Yeah.

23:11 MICHELLE KANE: True. KAREN SWIM, APR: And again, many solos, you know, out of habit, KAREN SWIM, APR: out of fear, really do underprice what what the market actually will bear. KAREN SWIM, APR: So, you know, when I tell people, like, why aren't you charging $300 an hour, KAREN SWIM, APR: even if you're not charging hourly prices, why isn't that not mapping back? KAREN SWIM, APR: That sometimes scares the life out of people, KAREN SWIM, APR: and it gives them a stomach cramp because they're afraid to KAREN SWIM, APR: do that. So I think. MICHELLE KANE: That's. KAREN SWIM, APR: True. This is a good way to, you know, if you use this label honestly, KAREN SWIM, APR: it does force you to have a real conversation about capacity and value. KAREN SWIM, APR: And, you know, a lot of avoid those conversations with ourselves.

23:52 KAREN SWIM, APR: We'd rather just kind of plug along. SPEAKER 4: Yeah. We would. Why are you looking at me? MICHELLE KANE: And and, you know, and another thought, honestly, MICHELLE KANE: we see this popping up in our world. MICHELLE KANE: You know, what we do is a profession. MICHELLE KANE: It's nuanced. It takes years of experience. MICHELLE KANE: And I'm not slamming new people. MICHELLE KANE: But you see people popping up with their laptop and a Canva account calling themselves MICHELLE KANE: communications pros. And anyway, I'm going to go do brain surgery because I MICHELLE KANE: once held a sharp knife. MICHELLE KANE: That's. But that's, that's my gripe for another day. MICHELLE KANE: But yeah, so we really do all that to say. MICHELLE KANE: We do need to own our skills and our seasoning and MICHELLE KANE: yeah, our profession.

24:35 KAREN SWIM, APR: I agree, and I, you know, we always say this, KAREN SWIM, APR: but, you know, just remember that none of this has to happen in like a little bubble, KAREN SWIM, APR: that it is really good, you know, within your networking groups, KAREN SWIM, APR: among your peers, you know, with colleagues to stress test some of this KAREN SWIM, APR: thinking, you know, talk it out with somebody else, KAREN SWIM, APR: talk to, you know, another PR pro who has made that, KAREN SWIM, APR: you know, shift to being fractional and get some real insight. KAREN SWIM, APR: I mean, I feel like networking with fractional CMOs is smart too, KAREN SWIM, APR: because they can give you a lens on it on, you know, KAREN SWIM, APR: how, what this really feels like from day to day. KAREN SWIM, APR: And I mean, I'm going to tell you honestly that I've seen a lot of fractional CMOs and KAREN SWIM, APR: CMO as opposed to PR, but, you know, adjacent because we work KAREN SWIM, APR: directly with them that have done this for a while and they're not immune to burnout and KAREN SWIM, APR: wanting to just make a whole different shift.

25:31 KAREN SWIM, APR: And there's a lot of business development involved, KAREN SWIM, APR: and there's a lot of corporateness to the whole thing. KAREN SWIM, APR: So really be realistic about that. KAREN SWIM, APR: And I say this, and I think everybody in this audience knows what that means. KAREN SWIM, APR: Now, if you're somebody, you know, like me, I could do with less of KAREN SWIM, APR: the corporateness. I don't want to do the politics. KAREN SWIM, APR: I don't want to Oversee a ton of people. KAREN SWIM, APR: I don't want to do charts and graphs and reports that report on the report that report KAREN SWIM, APR: on the report. I don't want to be in meetings all day, KAREN SWIM, APR: and I don't want to be pinged all day on Slack. KAREN SWIM, APR: Fractional is probably not the direction that I'm going.

26:13 MICHELLE KANE: All the rah rah emails. MICHELLE KANE: That was great. Yeah. Well, and you know, and of course, MICHELLE KANE: if you want to talk this through, there's always our group, MICHELLE KANE: our membership group at solo PR Pro, this is where we hash this stuff out, MICHELLE KANE: you know, and talk about it and have the honest conversations. MICHELLE KANE: And, you know, you can always email us directly at that solo.com. MICHELLE KANE: Hit us up. We're happy to chat things through with you too. MICHELLE KANE: That's, that's what we're all here for. We're here to help each other do well, MICHELLE KANE: earn a good living, and have success in our own MICHELLE KANE: way. Right? SPEAKER 5: That just gave me the biggest exhale.

26:54 SPEAKER 5: I love that, Michelle. MICHELLE KANE: Well, it's a it's it's a goal. MICHELLE KANE: Well that's it for this one. MICHELLE KANE: Of course, you know, show notes, our sourcing breakdown, MICHELLE KANE: all the stats. We were trusting they're going to be in there. MICHELLE KANE: Back to our suspension episode which we talked about at the top of this one is all MICHELLE KANE: going to be there for you with that solo life.com. MICHELLE KANE: Please do share this around if you got anything from it. MICHELLE KANE: And hey, hit us up with some reviews too so we can attract more fun solos to the party. SPEAKER 5: Absolutely. KAREN SWIM, APR: Thanks, Michelle. It's been great being with you today. KAREN SWIM, APR: Thank you. Audience. MICHELLE KANE: Yes, yes, definitely. Until next time. MICHELLE KANE: Thanks for listening to that solo life.