Considering Going Fractional? This Ebook is for You

About six months ago, I wrote a 100-page ebook in a week about my experiences working fractionally. (You can read more about how I did that here.)

Since then, I've received a lot of continued interest from "fractionally curious" friends about what it's like to go off on your own, and how to get started.

So I decided to put this ebook on Gumroad today. You can buy it for $4.99.

[E-BOOK] Go Solo - How to Flourish as a Fractional Worker

The future is fractionalFractional work isn't just a job-it's a lifestyle that empowers you to design your career around your strengths, passions, and desired work-life balance. In this e-book, you'll learn how to tap into your core skills and apply yourself in multiple industries and projects to maximize your impact and your income.Flex Work to Fit Your LifeWork on your own time, from anywhere in the world.

https://bethanycrystal.gumroad.com

It includes:

How to Derisk a Move to Fractional Work

A new year always tends to increase the appetite and interest in career shifts, and I've been having an even larger number of conversations with "future fractionals" since January. But in many of these conversations, we get a little stuck on one thing:

“How do you get started?”

It’s scary to go out on your own. Trust me, I get it. And I am in no way immune to this fear. But since we're on the topic, I did want to share the three things that helped me de-risk my own fractional work journey before I set off on my own.

1. I tested the waters with my network.
   One of the best things that I did before going fractional was determine if I was sensing enough of a "pull" from all of the various aspects of my network in order for me to feel like I'd have a safe (enough) landing. To do this, I spoke with VCs, founders, and subject matter experts in domain fields like education to share my fractional interests. I listened for them to offer whether they immediately latched onto a project or idea where they might hire me to go fractional. Hearing enough of that "person-market-fit" validation gave me the confidence to know I had a diversified enough stream of interests to continually find work.

2. I talked about the financial implications with my partner.
   Since I'm married with two kids, I can't make any risky career moves in a silo. My husband and I spoke about the bare minimum amount of money that I needed to earn fractionally and how we would manage my own healthcare benefits, while also acknowledging the reality that I'd have a lot of uneven income, particularly at first. This is where having a regular cadence of "home operating system" meetings and financial checks really comes in handy. During these conversations, we do a lot of scenarios planning, and it's important to be brutally honest about what's working, what's not working, and what needs to change as a result.

3. I set a backup plan if it didn’t work out.
   It took a few months for my initial fractional work jump to convert into real revenue, which is expected. But we also spoke about how (and when) I'd need to "call it" as a fractional worker if I was continually not earning enough to cover my expenses. My backup plan was simple: Knowing a full-time job was always an option. I wanted to to make sure that if things went completely sideways I'd be able to stay employable enough to get another full-time job. It helps me to know what types of jobs I'm hireable for right now, so that if I ever needed to pull the ripcord I'd be able to jumpstart a full-time search.

Honestly, this is really all it takes to take a calculated risk to fractional work. I write about a lot of this (and more) in this ebook. So if you'd rather not look through my blog archives to dig up all my old fractional work content, this is probably an easier way for you to get access to the full brain dump.

So, whether you're just getting going in your own fractional work journey, or you're looking for a little inspiration on how to grow and scale your fractional pursuits, I hope you enjoy this ebook.