You agreed to two days a week. Now you're working four.
The client keeps pulling you into "quick" calls. Urgent decisions need your input. Strategic pivots require your expertise. Before you know it, you're practically full-time but getting paid fractional rates.
Sound familiar?
If you're feeling ripped off, you're thinking about this all wrong. And more importantly, you're penalising both yourself and your client by clinging to an outdated hourly mindset.
The Time Trap
Most fractional leaders fall into the same mental trap: equating time with value. We inherit this thinking from our corporate days, where face time equals commitment and 40 hours equals a week's work.
But fractional leadership isn't corporate employment with fewer hours. It's entrepreneurship disguised as consulting.
Think about it: when an agency quotes $50,000 for a rebrand, they don't itemise every hour. They price the outcome. If the project takes longer than expected, they absorb the cost and learn for next time. If they solve it faster than anticipated, they've delivered exceptional value.
The same principle should apply to your fractional work.
Charging for Time Penalises Everyone
Here’s what I realised over the years: when you charge purely by the hour, you're incentivising inefficiency.
Solve a critical problem in four hours? You earn less than if you'd taken eight hours to reach the same solution. Spot a fatal flaw in the business strategy during week one? You've just cost yourself months of potential billable hours.
This backwards logic doesn't just hurt you – it hurts your clients too. They're paying for your decades of experience, your ability to see around corners, your knack for cutting through complexity. These skills are most valuable when they save time, not when they consume it.
So it’s about time we think differently about how we value time.
The Agency Mindset Shift
Successful agencies understand this instinctively. They quote fixed fees based on scope and value, not time sheets. When scope creeps (and it always does), they either:
- Absorb the additional work as a cost of doing business
- Proactively manage expectations and renegotiate scope
- Build buffer into future quotes based on lessons learned
As a fractional leader, you need the same mindset shift. Start low and increase your fees as you gain experience delivering your blueprint like a well oiled machine.
Redefining Your Value Proposition
Instead of selling time, start selling outcomes. Ask yourself:
What problems do I solve? Don't just say "I provide sales leadership." Get specific: "I build scalable sales processes that triple conversion rates within 90 days."
What's the cost of inaction? If your client doesn't solve this problem, what happens? Missed revenue targets? Failed product launches? Lost market share? That's your value baseline.
What's your unique edge? You've made these mistakes before, so your clients don't have to. You know which levers to pull for maximum impact. You can compress months of learning into days of execution.
The Experience Premium
Speed matters in startup land, but not speed for speed's sake. What matters is experienced judgment – the ability to quickly identify the right problem and implement the right solution.
A fractional leader who can cut through complexity, avoid costly detours, and implement a well-considered solution in weeks (not months) delivers exponential value. You're not just moving fast; you're moving fast in the right direction.
So, stop apologising for making complex decisions look easy. Start charging a premium for it.
When you solve a problem faster than expected because you've seen it before, you haven't shortchanged anyone – you've delivered an experience premium. The client gets their solution sooner AND avoids the mistakes you've already learned from.
Starting Your Value-Based Journey
If you're just starting out as a fractional leader, begin with your old salary as a baseline. Reverse-engineer it into a day rate and use that as your foundation. Start somewhere and gain experience. Every engagement is your opportunity to learn and refine your process.
Just know the goal isn't to stay at that rate forever. It's to prove your value, build confidence, and start documenting the outcomes you deliver. Once you understand the problems you solve and the value you create, you can start pricing accordingly.
The Professional Evolution
The transition from hourly thinking to value-based thinking isn't just about pricing – it's about professional evolution. You're no longer just a part-time employee filling out a timesheet. You're a specialised problem-solver who happens to work fractionally.
Agencies figured this out decades ago. Consultants live by this principle. It's time fractional leaders caught up.
Your decades of experience, your ability to see patterns others miss, your talent for cutting through complexity – these aren't hourly services. They're transformational capabilities.
So, price them accordingly.
Next week, I want to share my thoughts on the evolution of fractional pricing – how to move from that salary baseline to commanding premium rates for the value you deliver.
Ready to evolve your fractional practice? At Shepherd, we help fractional leaders build sustainable, value-driven careers. Our network understands that the best leaders aren't measured in hours – they're measured in impact.
If you're ready to grow beyond hourly thinking, we're ready to help.
