Empowered Entrepreneurs: Fractional Forces

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:03:17 00:00:03:17 - 00:00:10:16 Stephanie Crain Why are businesses turning to fractional resources to become more competitive? 00:00:10:16 - 00:00:22:01 Stephanie Crain the rise of the gig economy and a new desire for versatility and flexibility? Fractional resources are the new solution. 00:00:22:03 - 00:00:53:11 Shaniqua Brown Well, our guest Ann Humes and Chris Keody, they're here to break down what fractional work really is and why is becoming essential for small businesses and large companies alike. And with that, welcome back to the From Illumination To Innovation podcast. I am your co-host, Shaniqua Brown, the president and founder of Elevated TA, a premier hiring partner for the public sector. 00:00:53:13 - 00:01:22:08 Stephanie Crain And I am your co-host, Stephanie Crain also Corporate Mystic, and I am the owner of Tapas Innovation. And today we are extremely excited to be talking about a really. I think it's both something that's on the rise, but also something that's been sort of like a hidden secret for some time, for how small businesses can really accelerate their growth. 00:01:22:10 - 00:01:55:03 Shaniqua Brown And it's, it's forgive me because it's kind of like the, gig economy has expanded into corporate, you know, this is creating newer opportunities for corporate like those in corporate. Yeah, in the workforce. White collar. There we go. I was going to figure it out, but like I'm curious if like what you thought or your thoughts across like is it possible to, get more like experience work out of fractional work? 00:01:55:03 - 00:02:05:11 Shaniqua Brown Is it because employers don't want to take on the, the burden? Full time employee? Like, what are your take was or take you know. 00:02:05:11 - 00:02:36:11 Stephanie Crain For me personally, I actually became a fractional chief marketing officer when I left the corporate world about 12 years ago. That's what I did. For the first seven years of independent business, I was an independent consultant, and my impetus for wanting to do it. I had been in the corporate world for about 25 years. I had lots of experience in all different types of industries, and I really just wanted to help people that needed my level of expertise. 00:02:36:13 - 00:02:51:09 Stephanie Crain But I knew would not be able to afford it, you know, period. And I really also enjoyed for myself I enjoyed diversity, so I really like, enjoyed working with different organizations and different projects and people and industries. All those things were exciting for me. 00:02:51:09 - 00:03:19:00 Shaniqua Brown So I'm glad you said that, because that was similarly like similarly, that was my reason for wanting to transition into more of a fractional capacity. I was looking for the diversity of, of work and like, different, like problems to solve or challenges that you ran into across various industries or even companies. So I think it is like it sounds like it could be a win win for both the company and the individual. 00:03:19:02 - 00:03:24:06 Stephanie Crain I'm very curious to see what our guess what I have to say about this topic. 00:03:24:07 - 00:03:42:21 Shaniqua Brown Well, today we're going to glean the benefits of fractional. I'll work with an Hume's and Chris Keery, who are transforming business partnerships by offering a full range of fractional services that deliver results. So we're going to take a quick break and bring them back on. 00:03:42:21 - 00:03:43:21 00:03:43:21 - 00:04:03:09 Shaniqua Brown And we're back with our guests and Haynes and Chris Cody. And is so awesome to have you back. Thank you so much for joining us again. Would you be willing to give us an update of what's been happening with the inflection point business and how you and Chris cross paths? 00:04:03:11 - 00:04:31:00 Ann Humes Yeah, I'd be happy to. And thank you again for, having me back. I love doing this. I love talking about the things that I'm working on because I'm pretty excited about it. Let's see. So what has been going on with Inflection Point business? Clearly been working with clients and helping them really to turn their business around, and helping them navigate through what, what that looks like. 00:04:31:00 - 00:05:00:17 Ann Humes And it's kind of two sided. There's the, you know, there's the business side, there's kind of the components of the business. And, you know, all of them, all of the machinery that goes into that. But then there's also the intangible side and that's that's some of the emotional work and some of the belief work. And so to be able to work on both sides of that with a client, I think is just, you know, I think I get as much out of it as they do. 00:05:00:17 - 00:05:27:04 Ann Humes Maybe, because you see that growth, you see that, you know, you see that willingness to change and, and become something new, become the possibility that you didn't realize was even there. So that's, that's kind of what I'm working on. And, Chris and I met in a networking group. We both joined, networking group together and sat down. 00:05:27:04 - 00:05:47:14 Ann Humes Chris invited me for coffee, and we sat down and started talking and and it was just I think it was we realized that we just had a lot of commonality, a lot of synergies, a lot of similar experiences. And from there, we just kind of kept like, well, what do you think about this? And what do you think about this? 00:05:47:14 - 00:06:14:12 Ann Humes And just kind of edged into this idea, that I don't want to take all of the, all of the, the kind of the excitement away. I want Chris to talk about it a little bit, too. But, you know, it's into this idea of a partnership where we can leverage each other's, strengths and capabilities in a way that I think will make our impact for business owners even even greater. 00:06:14:14 - 00:06:17:16 Shaniqua Brown So it sounds a lot like Stephanie. And I think. 00:06:17:17 - 00:06:17:21 Ann Humes You're. 00:06:18:00 - 00:06:33:09 Stephanie Crain I, I'm thinking, like, notion equal. And I don't relate to that at all. So, Chris, I'm curious, tell us a little bit about yourself in general, just to kind of introduce yourself to our audience and, and then maybe segway into where we're and was headed with that discussion term. 00:06:33:11 - 00:06:59:14 Chris Keody Long story short, I'm Chris Keody I started my career in the restaurant industry. I got put in charge of expanding a chain of Japanese sushi restaurants. And so that was kind of where I cut my teeth, in business and, very intense, very grueling work. We opened ten locations in two and a half years. 00:06:59:16 - 00:07:20:15 Chris Keody I was in charge of opening seven myself. I'm doing everything from start to finish, from filing for the permits, working with the architects, contractors, building out the restaurant, hiring and training the employees, and then running the restaurant. And so every three months I was doing that brand new restaurant opening. So after two years, I was kind of burnt out. 00:07:20:17 - 00:07:21:18 Shaniqua Brown Sounds like it. 00:07:21:20 - 00:07:30:01 Chris Keody As you might expect. So I thought, you know what? I'm going to go start my own thing. I think I have enough of a masters in business now to go do that literal. 00:07:30:01 - 00:07:32:03 Stephanie Crain Training by fire. 00:07:32:05 - 00:07:32:10 Shaniqua Brown Like. 00:07:32:15 - 00:07:53:14 Chris Keody Oh, yeah. And so I put together with, college buddy of mine, and we were exploring a business in the cannabis space, and this was ten years ago. So at the time, the cannabis industry, as, sort of, highly regarded business was, was very nascent, right? Most people didn't really think of it that way. 00:07:53:16 - 00:08:25:15 Chris Keody So we sought to elevate the experience of the consumer. While also disrupting how the industry, engaged in this kind of business and also how they did the transactions. Right. Because before that, it was sort of like hush hush, you know, kind of very discreet. And one of the things we did was, we so we started a cannabis delivery service in Los Angeles, and, for us, it was all about, elevating the experience. 00:08:25:15 - 00:08:55:22 Chris Keody So our drivers would dress in suits, they would deliver in a nice gift bag and, passers by would be none the wiser. Right. So discretion was was a priority and the least talked about thing, which I have to say that at the time was, you know, going into a cannabis shop was challenging for women because in Los Angeles it'd be down the stairs in in the back corner in a dungeon someplace, and, you know, you're going by yourself. 00:08:56:00 - 00:09:16:11 Chris Keody Hopefully not. And it's just really uncomfortable. And then you have these men who work in the shop who are six feet tall and you don't really know, and they're kind of flirting with you, and it's a really comfortable, uncomfortable experience. So, one of the things we thought to kind of overturn was just that, right? Just that whole uncomfortableness. 00:09:16:13 - 00:09:41:20 Chris Keody And it doesn't matter if you're male or female, that experience can be uncomfortable to begin with. So for us, that was a huge priority, making sure that our customers felt comfortable, engaging in that kind of transaction. Fast forward, we ran the company for about four years. I'm not a consumer, so for me, I wasn't really excited about the regulatory changes going on in California at the time. 00:09:41:22 - 00:10:01:02 Chris Keody And my partner had some personal situations where he had to step away from the business. So we thought, you know, I think this is times the writing's on the wall. Let's get out of this thing. So he sold the company, and the cautionary tale I like to give, which is kind of related to what we're talking about today, is we didn't really do it the right way. 00:10:01:04 - 00:10:25:07 Chris Keody We didn't hire anybody to help us. Half jokingly, I like to say that we we felt like we watched enough Shark Tank to know how to do it ourselves. And, it just wasn't it wasn't done. Right. So going forward, I just thought, you know, if I ever get into the situation where I have to sell a business, I have to be sure to bring somebody in who knows what they're doing. 00:10:25:08 - 00:10:47:13 Chris Keody So after that, I kind of bounced around a little bit. Got involved in a few different industries. Hospitality. I ran a creative agency for a couple of years. I ran a hotel for a couple of years. And finally about, during Covid, I thought, you know what? Let me go help other business owners, because that's the thing that that I feel like I can contribute. 00:10:47:13 - 00:11:13:12 Chris Keody That's the value I want to contribute. So kind of like you, Stephanie. I started independent consulting. Right. And, funny enough, at that time, I didn't view myself as a fractional person. Right. I just thought, you know, I have this experience in business operations, business development. Let me just go help other business owners and share with them what I, what I know and what I can do. 00:11:13:14 - 00:11:34:01 Chris Keody And funny enough, I had a client who said, you know, we need an ops director, but we don't need a full time. And I said, yeah, that's me. So I'll come in. And it's a great opportunity because I don't want to be full time. I like the variety. Everything you said, it was like, you know, we're we were connected there and, that's kind of just how I got into it. 00:11:34:03 - 00:11:54:07 Chris Keody So I ended up landing a client who funny thing was, they said, I need an ops director to come in to help me restructure the business so that I can exit. And I was like, okay, sure. You know, I'll help. Right? And I didn't really think twice about it. But about a year into that engagement, bells are ringing. 00:11:54:09 - 00:11:57:18 Chris Keody I was like, wait, exit fractional. 00:11:57:20 - 00:11:58:11 Shaniqua Brown Right? 00:11:58:13 - 00:12:05:19 Chris Keody And so I decided to pivot my practice completely and focus specifically on business owners that were looking to exit. 00:12:06:17 - 00:12:25:03 Chris Keody And so that's what I've been doing for the past year and a half. And when I met and, you know, we were both kind of, we were both traveling down different trajectory, but eventually our paths were going to cross. And so finally when we met, we kind of had this discussion about, well, what's been your experience? 00:12:25:03 - 00:12:39:10 Chris Keody Well, here at blah, blah, blah, right. We got got to know each other a little bit. And then we started talking more because we started commiserating about the things that clients were struggling with. And for us, the thing that we saw that was common was 00:12:39:10 - 00:12:48:01 Chris Keody clients hire experts to come in. But for some reason, they don't think that the experts should talk to each other. 00:12:48:03 - 00:12:48:11 Chris Keody Right. 00:12:48:11 - 00:12:50:22 Stephanie Crain That's not smart. They are so on point with that. 00:12:51:02 - 00:12:56:15 Shaniqua Brown Well, let's hold that thought because we have some questions to dig deeper about that. Yeah. 00:12:56:17 - 00:13:15:04 Chris Keody So yeah. So that was the main thing. And then the other thing was, you know, wouldn't it be great if we could just get everybody in a room, and then just hash this out and then really add value to, to a client's business. And so and perspective of kind of helping clients with turnaround. And then my perspective was helping them with exit. 00:13:15:05 - 00:13:26:16 Chris Keody It was sort of like a no brainer because either you're going to turn the business around and you're going to continue growing it or you're going to look at the way that sort of like the next chapter, right? What do I get out of this thing now that it's turned around? 00:13:27:08 - 00:13:28:23 Chris Keody Anyway, that's kind of where we are now. 00:13:29:05 - 00:13:49:21 Shaniqua Brown All right. Well, and I have a follow up question to that because so, because right now like what your what you said crazy like at the time fractional wasn't like the the term to to use at that point. So I'm curious and like since fractional professionals have been on the rise in like businesses see them as like game changers. 00:13:50:03 - 00:14:04:00 Shaniqua Brown I think there's like 65% of companies that plan on increasing their reliance on contingent workers in the next few years. Like, what do you think is driving this trend of fractional work? 00:14:04:02 - 00:14:34:08 Ann Humes You know, it's a really good question. I think there's a couple of things that come to mind. For me, one is I think that there's a, large community of people who have like a wide breadth of experience. Right? They they aren't, you know, just H.R., you know, business partners or simply marketer. Right? They've they've got this amazing skill set that's really broader than what a company needs. 00:14:34:08 - 00:14:53:21 Ann Humes They just kind of need to pull something off the shelf. And they can they can leverage that. And I think that that community of people, you know, and I think of, I think they're similar to me and kind of, you know, I think about, like, you know, generation or age bracket, they're looking for they're not necessarily looking to climb a ladder. 00:14:53:21 - 00:15:18:20 Ann Humes They're looking to offer value back. And, you know, so this idea that, you know, I just remember hearing this years ago, you know, hire the attitude, rent the experience is something that I think, you know, corporations have kind of, you know, that's been around for a little while. But they, they did it in the model of the FTE employee as a full time equivalent employee. 00:15:18:20 - 00:15:43:07 Ann Humes Right. They they just model that. They just said, okay, well, let's just bring in a consultant and we'll just place them for 40 hours a week or, you know, whatever the standard is. And just have them to do some work. And, and so that's a time based model. And that's kind of goes back to the industrial age. But I think if you flip it and you look at it from the from a value based model, it's like, what is the value that this person can offer? 00:15:43:07 - 00:16:04:03 Ann Humes And maybe they can offer that value and three, three hours a week or maybe it does take, you know, the 40 hour workweek, but, you know, really looking at what is the value that it can offer. Not necessarily like can we put them in a seat for and just, you know, have a slightly different tax structure with regard to how we pay them? 00:16:04:05 - 00:16:23:10 Ann Humes So I think that that's those are some of the things that are driving it. Right. So there's this, there's, there's a lot of people out there with, with the skills. There are a lot of businesses that I think need these skills. And I think one of the things that Chris and I are working on is trying to help businesses realize that they need it. 00:16:23:12 - 00:16:40:05 Ann Humes I think sometimes businesses kind of, you know, operate in an echo chamber. They don't really they're not really thinking broadly because there's so that business owners are so stuck in their day to day that they don't, you know, they just don't pull back and go, wait, you know what? I could solve this in an easier way. So that's one of that. 00:16:40:05 - 00:16:59:01 Ann Humes That's one of the things that Chris and I are really working on is trying to help businesses and business owners realize that there's there could be a better way, and there could be you know, things could be could have a lot less friction. You know, in their day. 00:16:59:02 - 00:17:18:22 Stephanie Crain One of the things like when you ask what you know, is driving out of the shift and for me, I came, I came out of the technology industry. I worked a lot in the technology spaces. And I think in the technology industry for a long time, not just recent, but for a long time. There are a lot more comfortable with, you know, they hire contractors. 00:17:18:22 - 00:17:45:08 Stephanie Crain They I think a lot of organizations, even small companies, probably had like fractional tech people before. Fractional was really a thing because you couldn't really afford a full time networking guy or you couldn't really afford to. So I feel like that's sort of where it was born, was in that tech space, because you had more fluidity and all of that, and then it grew into these other professional roles, you know, where you know, at these higher levels of the organization. 00:17:45:08 - 00:18:06:10 Stephanie Crain We're talking about operations or marketing or, you know, overall business valuation or whatever it is. But that's just one thing that, like, struck me last year while I was talking about that, it was like, you know, back in technology, we always had fractional like we always like, you know, part contractors and part. And there was a comfortability with it that I don't think exists in normal corporate spaces. 00:18:06:11 - 00:18:11:22 Stephanie Crain You know, corporate likes everything to be in the box and structured and, you know, some. 00:18:12:00 - 00:18:12:19 Chris Keody And I had a thought. 00:18:12:20 - 00:18:14:16 Stephanie Crain Yeah, absolutely. 00:18:14:18 - 00:18:36:08 Chris Keody Yeah. You're spot on Stephanie. But it's kind of this fractional thing starting in tech space. And I think what ended up happening is after a while you have these startups where it's founder led, it's a team of four technical founders. They're really good at the engineering, the software, the programing. None of them have any business experience. So if I'm a VC coming in, I'm like, I don't know if I want to invest in you guys. 00:18:36:08 - 00:18:52:07 Chris Keody If you don't have a businessperson, you don't have an operations person. How are you going to get this thing off the ground? Right. And so then you kind of go out and you're like, oh, well, let's go find somebody. Maybe we can rent somebody. Right. Yeah. For ten hours a week to come help us do that. And so you know it just snowballed. 00:18:52:07 - 00:19:03:01 Chris Keody And then more VCs are like oh wow. We need to really get these fractional folks in. And then, then this ecosystem just kind of takes on a life of its own. Right. Yeah. 00:19:03:03 - 00:19:39:06 Shaniqua Brown That'd be great. That makes so much sense. Chris, like, while while we have you, because you're the. I saw your LinkedIn, the exit CEO. And so you've seen how, like, flexibility impacts a company's growth with 80% of companies already utilizing a various type of temporary workers. How do fractional professionals, like, fit into it? Maybe you could continue elaborating on this, but like a sustainable business model for, you know, that growing company? 00:19:39:08 - 00:19:59:16 Chris Keody Yeah, I think the inclination is to think, oh, let me just hire this person temporarily. But they don't have to be temporary, right. Because like, and said, it's it's about how much value they're adding, not the work that they're doing. Ideally you're hiring this person to come in and add more value to the organization, not to just perform, duty. 00:19:59:20 - 00:20:29:02 Chris Keody Right. And so, from a more sustainable perspective, as the company continues to grow, as you scale, as you do extra revenue or two extra operations, having a fractional person that can scale along with you, maybe it's their time commitment, maybe it's the type of value that they can add, right? It can be more beneficial for the organization because now you're not having to go out and try to find somebody full time to fulfill that person, which costs a ton of money. 00:20:29:02 - 00:20:55:15 Chris Keody It takes time. You got to train them. Instead, you have this fractional person that you've been working with for X amount of time. You can use to continue working with them. Right. And when you're companies that I'm just going to use for sake of ease, one x and then you to X the company. Right. There's going to be things that are unlocked in that, in that scale, in that multiplier that the fractional person couldn't do at one x. 00:20:55:17 - 00:21:06:12 Chris Keody Right. And so now you're at two x. You're like, okay, great, let me loose because now I can do go do those things that I had in my head this whole time. But we weren't ready for as an organization. 00:21:06:14 - 00:21:23:07 Shaniqua Brown I have a question for you both before we take a quick break. How would you define the difference between, like, a contractor versus fractional for for us, for the audience? Like, especially with your business. Like how would you define the differences between the two? 00:21:23:07 - 00:21:25:16 Chris Keody You want to take that one? 00:21:25:18 - 00:21:54:16 Ann Humes Sure. I mean, I, I think that there maybe isn't a lot of difference necessarily. I think the difference really comes more in the intense that you have with the relationship. And it is more about like I you know, like I said before, it's like I need somebody to come in and and create value and I need them to hit the ground running or even, you know, I don't have 30, 60, 90 days for them to come up to speed. 00:21:54:16 - 00:22:33:16 Ann Humes I need them to be showing value at, you know, an hour three the you know, so I think it's, it's more along the lines of that, and, and they aren't necessarily invest they're invested in the organization and, and then the, and the results and the outcomes, but they don't necessarily have ownership. So there's kind of a, there's a little bit of like a fine line or kind of threading a needle there where it's like, you know, I'm really just here to contribute, to offer value, to get you guys where you need to be. 00:22:33:18 - 00:22:40:22 Ann Humes But I'm not going to I'm not going to sit at the table like I like. I have a stake in the business necessarily. 00:22:41:00 - 00:22:43:03 Shaniqua Brown Fascinating. Thank you for. 00:22:43:03 - 00:23:00:20 Chris Keody Such. Yeah, I would add a little bit to that. Yeah. I think that I think it ends right. There's not really much of a difference. There's a difference in the business owner or the leadership team's mind. Right. Because when you say contractor, immediately I jump to subordinate. 00:23:01:16 - 00:23:04:14 Chris Keody Right. When I say fractional, my mind jumps to executive. 00:23:05:11 - 00:23:37:23 Chris Keody Right. And maybe that's a PR thing that the industry has to kind of overcome, right. You know, hopeful hopefully that that changes. But most of the time when people hire a contractor, they're hiring that person to come fulfill a role that's already predefined with metrics, with KPIs, with blah, blah, blah that they have to perform to, whereas a fractional, the relationship can be a little bit more dynamic, a little bit more fluid, where they're they're bringing this person to come in and achieve a result. 00:23:38:01 - 00:23:54:13 Chris Keody Maybe those KPIs have to be bit be determined by that fractional person, right? They have to come in and maybe they're building out a division, for example. Right. And so how do we measure success in building this division. Well, let me go figure that out. And then I'll come back to you and let you know. Right. 00:23:54:14 - 00:23:55:01 Shaniqua Brown Yeah. 00:23:55:01 - 00:24:02:05 Chris Keody Whereas a as a contractor the expectations different. Like, hey you need to achieve this. 00:24:02:07 - 00:24:28:04 Stephanie Crain But I'm also just going to throw I come from branding and PR space and you know, consulting became kind of a dirty word. And and it also became very nebulous in a particular way. And with what I've found with fractional, it's like, fractional, what a fractional, you know, like you're you're really defining how you know, what you are and how you show up. 00:24:28:04 - 00:24:49:09 Stephanie Crain And it's not so nebulous and sort of random of like consulting. And I think because I you could ask the same question, what's the difference? You know, fractional or consulting different or the same. No, I mean, it is the same. You're consulting then you're asking is consulting and contracting different? Is it. You know, I mean, it is all very subtle and nuanced, but I do think that it's relevant. 00:24:49:09 - 00:24:53:17 Stephanie Crain Like we're using this language to try to elevate, 00:24:53:18 - 00:24:59:17 Shaniqua Brown I'd say from a HR perspective, it comes down to the contract that you're signing. Because contract. 00:24:59:19 - 00:25:00:18 Stephanie Crain I love to be. 00:25:00:18 - 00:25:17:23 Shaniqua Brown Able to be a contractor and have a W-2 through another organization automatically. Or has it started out and it's maybe more hourly, the consulting could start to get into the value base. Yeah. And then fractional I just that you're driving that conversation. 00:25:18:01 - 00:25:23:07 Stephanie Crain You know I think that's an interesting thing that we should maybe pick up on in our next segment. 00:25:23:09 - 00:25:24:10 Shaniqua Brown We'll be right back. Yeah. 00:25:24:10 - 00:25:26:01 00:25:26:01 - 00:25:48:15 Speaker 1 Curious how illumination sparks innovation. Join us on the FITI podcast where we dive into leadership, culture and more. Tune in biweekly on Thursdays on every major platform and find our channel on YouTube and subscribe for more illuminating content. Vibrating. Higher. 00:25:48:15 - 00:25:50:05 00:25:50:05 - 00:26:05:01 Stephanie Crain All right, everybody, and we are back with Chris. and Ann and we are talking about fractional forces and how much they can help your business accelerate its success. 00:26:05:03 - 00:26:47:06 Shaniqua Brown And we have the lovely Ann Hume's and Chris Keody here with us. And we cannot wait to dive in more about their partnership. And to Stephanie's point, how they can help businesses like yours. So is it. Ann you and Chris, you're partnering, offering fractional services. Considering that fractional, the term fractional has become more popular. Like how does fractional how does your work differ from, you know, other fractional companies offering similar services out there? 00:26:47:08 - 00:27:19:23 Ann Humes I, you know, and I think kind of Chris alluded to this before, I think that what kind of what's out there right now are an awful lot of lone wolves trying to figure this out and trying to trying to find a path, on their own. And I think what Chris and I are offering is a way to think more holistically across the foundations of the business to say, you know, here's, you know, we've done, you know, we've done an analysis of your business, we've looked at it. 00:27:19:23 - 00:27:46:14 Ann Humes Here's a strategy to go forward. Yes, you need marketing. And we'll place a marketing. You know, fractional in your organization, knowing that that's not going to necessarily be enough because you can have a great marketer come in, they can generate thousands of leads, but if you don't have somebody to hand those leads to and close those deals, right, you that's just money that you've spent that was wasted. 00:27:46:14 - 00:28:23:04 Ann Humes So, you know, this idea that we think about the business from a, you know, the foundational aspects of what that business is and place professionals as needed in places where there are gaps. So, you know, kind of looking across it from that perspective and also, you know, providing, you know, sourcing really strong fractional, leaders and executives and resources that have gone through a foundational, training course so they know, you know, so they have a methodology that they can bring to the company. 00:28:23:06 - 00:28:30:15 Ann Humes And it's not meant to be cookie cutter. Yeah, but it's a way to give them a framework to snap into so they can hit the ground running. 00:28:30:15 - 00:28:43:09 Shaniqua Brown And if I'm not mistaken, and I recall that you have an and background learning and development background, can you like add a little bit more about about that. I mean, I'm sure or you know. 00:28:43:11 - 00:29:08:08 Ann Humes Just put the big under construction, across across screen. But we are working on that. But yeah, I have been in corporate, training and development for the better part of the last 15 years. So I really, you know, I have the background to really create this, you know, fractional academy to get the, you know, again, it's to, to get them. 00:29:08:08 - 00:29:33:00 Ann Humes I'm not going to teach, you know, somebody who's has a background as a chief financial officer how to be a chief financial officer. I'm going to assume they know how to do that, but I am going to teach them some foundational, some foundations that they can bring in as, like I said, as a framework that they can then, you know, snap to when they get to that client and they can hit the ground running. 00:29:33:02 - 00:29:40:21 Ann Humes Because, you know, we've thrown around this idea, you know, we're not consultants. We're resultant because we want to get those results. 00:29:40:23 - 00:29:47:21 Stephanie Crain That's a great I love that. And that's a great segue way back from the consultant discussion earlier I love it. Beautiful. 00:29:47:23 - 00:29:49:14 Ann Humes I, I'm no. 00:29:49:16 - 00:30:23:01 Stephanie Crain In what you're saying, I'm really curious, like, as you're describing the sort of both what you're creating organizationally for yourselves, but also what you're able to create for other businesses to tap into what when I guess when we're thinking about, like, fractional, the businesses that are most going to most benefit from these types of services, like do you all have like sort of a sweet spot business or is it, you know, any organization can work with fractional resources or there's some that you really recommend to kind of start with? 00:30:23:01 - 00:30:25:10 Stephanie Crain I'm just curious, like the positioning for you. 00:30:25:10 - 00:30:53:09 Chris Keody Yeah. Honestly, we're trying to actually bring fractional to be a little bit more, accessible to smaller businesses. I think the inclination right now is, you know, you have to be, funded or you have to have deep pockets to hire a fractional person. I think that that, that that model is just not sustainable because there's so many people getting into this, this fractional space. 00:30:53:15 - 00:31:18:11 Chris Keody Right? As operators, not as as, clients. And so for us, the ideal, size, couple of owners, right? 1 or 2 owners. What I like to say is simple cap table. Right. We're not looking to work with businesses that have 15 investors and, you know, shareholders, and there's board of directors and blah, blah, blah. 00:31:18:13 - 00:31:47:04 Chris Keody We want to be able to make an impact quickly by interacting and engaging with the decision makers directly. And then as far as, size, you know, it could be anywhere from five employees, ten employees, maybe 20 or 50. But I think beyond 50, you're getting to a point where, you know, the companies getting bigger and bigger and, it's a little bit more challenging to work with owners now. 00:31:47:05 - 00:32:19:19 Stephanie Crain Anything that makes sense, I mean, and that's and my and when I was doing a lot more fractional work, I was really targeting companies that were like 50 employees or less. And I agree with the owners, like wanting to just really work directly with the decision makers because they're really and plus I, you know, we had mentioned earlier about, how you can grow and expand with the company, and there were times that I, the company might like Allegra, I would help hire a marketing team or help transform that into something more direct over a period of time. 00:32:19:19 - 00:32:30:14 Stephanie Crain And so it does create a lot of opportunity. You have that insight and then stay on as like an advisor ongoing, you know, from a higher level. And so and yeah. 00:32:30:16 - 00:32:58:12 Shaniqua Brown I will also add like from a, I guess a benefit for the individual fractional, professional, I find the independence is something like the independence. You did like decide what you like, the work you would like to take on, the challenges that you'd like to, dive into and learn from. You know, I feel like that's like another added value to the individual, but. 00:32:58:12 - 00:33:25:15 Stephanie Crain Your, your point of view of the disparity in terms of like because I remember back and, and kind of trying to have this conversation maybe before that because this is like almost a decade ago and being a fractional marketing person and knowing like, I've got to be able to coordinate with technology and I've got to be able to coordinate with, like with sales and to be fully successful at a high level strategic level, I have to be able to collaborate with, like these other sources. 00:33:25:15 - 00:33:44:16 Stephanie Crain And companies really weren't very open to that, you know, because of the kind of the consultant model really of, you know, I hire you, we work together. It's like a secret and it's in private. And, you know, it's basically like, you're my lawyer and we're not going to tell any. And I think the that what you all are doing is literally you're really next leveling truly. 00:33:44:16 - 00:34:08:05 Stephanie Crain Because it could be lonely. Like even though you have the independence that independence the shadow of that is the loneliness of like I want partners and collaborators. So I want to be able to like, bring in the resources. And so I love y'all's vision of like, let's not just, you know, show up as like one individual, but let's truly like, identify what are the fractional needs of the organization. 00:34:08:05 - 00:34:20:14 Stephanie Crain I think that's a really brilliant way to look at it. And then also bring that continuity to the resources by adding the training and the kind of, I don't know, the quality, I guess, development of that. 00:34:20:14 - 00:34:44:03 Ann Humes So, yeah. And the one other thing that, that we'll be offering is actually coaching for those, those leaders or owners or decision makers. So really helping them kind of refine their thinking about how their business is operating. And I think that that's another that's another place that I think sets us apart. As well, because that's so important. 00:34:44:03 - 00:34:55:13 Ann Humes Right? You can't, you know, you just can't have a business grow and explode if the owner's mindset isn't isn't coming along with that. So I'm pretty excited. 00:34:55:13 - 00:34:57:12 Stephanie Crain Definitely creates challenges. 00:34:57:14 - 00:35:15:18 Shaniqua Brown Well, I mean, with your exciting fractional business model, what are your predictions about fractional work like? Well, could it potentially replace or compete with the employee employer norm? 00:35:15:19 - 00:35:38:00 Ann Humes That's a really good question. My my inclination is no, that I think that you it's a both and kind of solution here. And it's a matter of just right sizing it as the business shifts and moves right. Those it's, you know, the one thing that I think everybody wants is stability and no change. And we all know that everything is changing all the time. 00:35:38:00 - 00:35:52:11 Ann Humes So, so it's just a matter of, just kind of what's what's the configuration for things right now that makes sense. And we'll address and reevaluate, you know, going forward. 00:35:52:13 - 00:36:21:03 Stephanie Crain I'm curious if it's just for people out there who haven't really explored fractional resources. What are some maybe things, if they're out there kind of doing their own research and googling in their area or whatever, what are some, some maybe important questions they should be asking or kind of attributes they should be looking for when they're thinking about bringing on a fractional resource to help them next level their own business. 00:36:21:03 - 00:36:23:08 Stephanie Crain What would you recommend? 00:36:23:09 - 00:36:44:08 Chris Keody I would tell them, if they're bringing somebody in to solve a specific problem. The first question I would ask is, have you done this before? As an owner who is kind of stuck in, you're you're up against this challenge where you pulled your hair out because you can't figure it out. Finally, bring this person in to come help you. 00:36:44:10 - 00:37:11:16 Chris Keody The inclination is, that's my saving grace. That's the person that's going to help fix everything. Right? And what ends up happening is they get so, they get so excited about the prospect of their, their pain or their challenge being resolved, that they don't think to evaluate whether that person is the right fit or not. So if I'm a business owner, the first question I'm going to ask is, have you solved this problem before? 00:37:11:18 - 00:37:40:01 Chris Keody And if you haven't, it's okay if you haven't. But tell me about the types of problems you've solved. That's the first question I would ask. And then from there, some criteria that I would use to evaluate if a fractional person is a good fit for your organization is how do they view the business, the industry, just the overall landscape of where you want your company to head? 00:37:40:03 - 00:38:07:23 Chris Keody Right? Are you in alignment? Because one degree of alignment today can result in many degrees of alignment in the future. And so if that person doesn't align with how you think about business, where do you see the industry heading? Then it's going to be doomed for failure. Not to be pessimistic, but you know, I've seen that happen before, and I've experienced personally myself, just not evaluating clients well enough. 00:38:08:00 - 00:38:28:18 Chris Keody Right. And then you go down this, this path, you know, on the opposite side for fractals, if you're trying to evaluate clients, for make sure you know that that you are aligned in business first. And then there's also the personal element. Do you like working with this person? Do they just rub you the wrong way from time to time? 00:38:28:20 - 00:38:43:00 Chris Keody You know, those are all things that they, they they're not a big deal right now. But in six months, when you're, you know, neck deep in the engagement, those can become challenges for both you and the client. 00:38:43:02 - 00:38:53:14 Stephanie Crain I think those are all great insights, especially the alignment that resonates with me deeply. It's what I'm always trying to help people to find that alignment. So that's great. 00:38:53:16 - 00:38:59:00 Shaniqua Brown It's really important to take the time out to evaluate on both ends whether or not it's going to be a great fit. 00:38:59:00 - 00:39:00:07 Stephanie Crain I like that it's important. 00:39:00:07 - 00:39:30:19 Shaniqua Brown Yeah, well, we're going to transition to the myths misconception or a matter of fact. So just to remind you both of the question here and with myth, misconception or matter of fact, I'm going to ask a question. And we are we're all going to share our opinion whether we think it's a myth, it's completely false misconception. There's some truth to it or matter of fact, it's definite. 00:39:30:21 - 00:39:34:17 Stephanie Crain So and we might all disagree. 00:39:34:19 - 00:39:58:11 Shaniqua Brown And let's like let's see like maybe like one, two three sentences like rationale explaining like why we think so. Okay. Myth misconception or matter of fact is hiring a fractional professional just a temporary fix for businesses that cannot afford full time work? 00:39:58:13 - 00:40:02:00 Stephanie Crain Who wants to go first? Come work for us. 00:40:02:02 - 00:40:03:16 Shaniqua Brown But just the. 00:40:03:18 - 00:40:04:17 Chris Keody Myth. Absolutely. 00:40:04:17 - 00:40:08:02 Shaniqua Brown Myth is good. 00:40:08:04 - 00:40:43:18 Chris Keody I you're hiring or you're hiring a fractional to come in and solve a problem, make an impact. But that doesn't mean that you can't afford to hire a full time employee. In that role, it just means that, actually, I I'm on a client engagement right now. That the point where, client, is hired, a fractional person to come in specifically to manage a joint venture, and then that person is going to be back selling their, their that role with a full time employee. 00:40:43:20 - 00:40:49:00 Chris Keody Right? So actually this is a good example of okay. 00:40:49:21 - 00:40:52:09 Stephanie Crain What about you? 00:40:52:11 - 00:41:16:22 Ann Humes Yeah. Gosh, I have such a hard time with, like, like, it's definitely this, I would say sometimes it is a temporary fix, but I think most of the time it is a right sizing for where the business is in order to get the business to either the next stage of growth or the stage of, of exiting. 00:41:17:00 - 00:41:39:19 Ann Humes Right. So it it I don't think it always has to do with the affordability of hiring somebody. It has more to do with, like what is the right what is the right size for this right now? And you know, hiring somebody with with. Yeah. It's just so I don't know what does that make that a misconception? Maybe it's just I think it's a gray area. 00:41:39:19 - 00:41:46:05 Ann Humes Maybe it's something that we can, work on illuminating. 00:41:46:07 - 00:41:52:18 Shaniqua Brown Well, so far, we have one myth. One misconception. Stephanie, where are you? 00:41:52:20 - 00:42:19:03 Stephanie Crain I think it's a misconception. I think, there that that how like an answer. There are some people that make that choice based on affordability, but I think that there's so many different reasons why you might want to bring in a fractional resource. The it to just assume it's because of one thing or another is sort of it's just limiting, I guess. 00:42:19:05 - 00:42:26:19 Stephanie Crain So I just think that there's a lot more to explore there. And that's why I think it's a misconception. But I do think that there's some truth to it, too. 00:42:27:00 - 00:42:55:14 Shaniqua Brown And so while I do believe it's misconception, so I think there's some companies that are fiscally responsible and, you know, maybe at the time that's all they could, you know, they could afford it. Maybe it's the best value, to bring forth a fractional employee. And, and there's some companies that like maybe there's people issues or challenges or people are unpredictable. 00:42:55:14 - 00:43:21:15 Shaniqua Brown So maybe you need someone to step in for, for interim. So I think there's a myriad of reasons why fractional work could be the best idea, not just, because they're unable to afford actual full time talent. Yeah. Thank you so much for participating. So it sounds like 75% of us believe it's a misconception. 25% is a strong myth. 00:43:21:17 - 00:43:25:11 Shaniqua Brown Thanks, Chris. Yeah. 00:43:25:13 - 00:43:28:10 Ann Humes He was the one with the actual example, though, so I know he had. 00:43:28:10 - 00:43:31:13 Stephanie Crain Like a really good time. He literally had a real time that you're right about that. 00:43:31:15 - 00:43:41:07 Shaniqua Brown So maybe Chris is right, but we're all we'll be right. We'll illuminate, what her perspective. Her perspective. Chris, at the heart. 00:43:41:08 - 00:43:50:03 Stephanie Crain I don't I don't like to judge things is right and wrong to sort of does it work or is. And for me, this worked beautifully. 00:43:50:04 - 00:44:16:04 Shaniqua Brown So as we're wrapping up today, thank you both again for sharing your professional insights and more about the work that you're doing in, in the fractional world. And we're we're both looking forward to seeing how things, move forward with your venture. Is there anything that you'd like to, Ron, do you take. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're going to take aways. 00:44:16:06 - 00:44:21:22 Shaniqua Brown Is there anything you'd like to leave with our audience? Maybe starting with with an, 00:44:22:00 - 00:44:55:23 Ann Humes I think, you know, I think the thing is, is, is for business owners to be thinking about how can they increase their freedom from their business and as a fractional, resource, the way to do that. Right. And that freedom can be financial freedom, freedom of their time, their purpose, and also in their relationships. So, you know, I want to see more business owners kind of shifting their mind to like, what will give me that freedom? 00:44:55:23 - 00:45:14:00 Ann Humes That doesn't mean necessarily that they'll be working less, but the it might be working on higher, higher level order type things. So and that's what that's really where I think a fractional can come in and just really accelerate that process for them. So that's that's what I want to leave. 00:45:14:00 - 00:45:17:18 Stephanie Crain But what about you Chris. What's your takeaway. 00:45:17:18 - 00:45:43:12 Chris Keody Yeah, I actually, what I have to say is supplement to and for business owners and for professionals for, for the business owner. As you consider what you need to achieve freedom, consider that in your company, in your business, the best way to do that is to begin down this path of transferring authority. 00:45:43:14 - 00:45:45:02 Shaniqua Brown So. 00:45:45:04 - 00:46:11:03 Chris Keody Right. And I say transfer authority it's different than delegation. Absolutely. I hear the do you say delegate delegate. You have a thing. You know, you have all these things to do. Just delegate those. And I think that that's wrong. I do think it's wrong going back to right or wrong. I, it's not telling an owner to delegate doesn't absolve them of the accountability of it. 00:46:11:05 - 00:46:12:09 Chris Keody Right. What is happening. 00:46:12:09 - 00:46:12:19 Shaniqua Brown Is. 00:46:12:21 - 00:46:21:01 Chris Keody You have this list of things to do that you're handing off to somebody. They go do them. And when they come back, you're still in charge of that list. 00:46:21:03 - 00:46:21:20 Shaniqua Brown Right? Yeah. 00:46:21:21 - 00:46:27:23 Chris Keody But when you transfer authority, you're not giving that person the list. You're telling that person to go make the list themselves. 00:46:29:03 - 00:46:54:09 Chris Keody So if I'm a business owner and I'm thinking about how can I have more freedom for my business, that's the number one mindset shift that needs to be made is, how can I transfer the authority of X to that person of Y to this person? And then that way that will free them up and, from, from the day to day and allow them to think more kind of bigger picture a high level of the business. 00:46:54:11 - 00:47:12:20 Chris Keody Conversely, in the fractional side, if you are coming in helping a client, be sure that your engagement with the client has some transfer of authority. If you can't come in and operate as a leader in that business, then the level of impact that you can make will be severely diminished. 00:47:13:12 - 00:47:43:07 Chris Keody Right. And by the end of that engagement, whatever you've come in to do, you will have felt a little bit stifled, maybe a little bit held back. Maybe the client will blame you. Oh, you didn't achieve X result, right. And in my experience, looking back at some of the engagements that I didn't go so well for me, that was the one point of failure, was that I didn't feel like I had the authority, nor did I assume the authority on behalf of the client. 00:47:43:09 - 00:47:46:08 Shaniqua Brown That was illuminating. Yes it was. Oh my gosh. 00:47:46:10 - 00:47:48:14 Stephanie Crain On both points. Yeah. Really powerful. 00:47:48:19 - 00:48:12:19 Shaniqua Brown Let me say this. My takeaway. Value. Thank you both like looking at it from like, not what you're doing but the value that you're adding. And then Chris I'm just going to add in the, transfer of authority. My mind is blown because when you explain that, the difference between delegation and transfer authority, I got chills. 00:48:12:19 - 00:48:15:22 Shaniqua Brown So I that was my takeaway. So thank you. 00:48:16:00 - 00:48:39:22 Stephanie Crain Yeah. I'm actually I'm, I'm right on that. I love things that are just so intentionally stated to mean what you want them to mean. And I like the way that you describe the distinction between delegation. I don't I actually think that there's a space for delegation that makes sense, but you to know that you're delegating versus actually transferring that authority is very critical. 00:48:39:22 - 00:48:45:10 Stephanie Crain I love the way that you said that. And then and then also resultant I'm just gonna result in C. 00:48:45:11 - 00:48:52:14 Shaniqua Brown Yes result. But like I, I you would like it. You're the branding your marketing know. 00:48:52:15 - 00:48:58:20 Stephanie Crain It to be. I'm like oh I love or I like making upwards okay. So this is fabulous y'all is like. 00:48:58:22 - 00:49:07:13 Shaniqua Brown Thank you both so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it and feel that we've learned so much from you. Thank you again. 00:49:07:13 - 00:49:15:09 Stephanie Crain Absolutely. And thanks everybody for watching. We really appreciate y'all to like subscribe share love. 00:49:15:11 - 00:49:19:05 Shaniqua Brown And if you're interested in learning more feel free to find in in Chris. 00:49:19:07 - 00:49:27:16 Stephanie Crain That's right. We will have all other, ways to access them in the show notes. So I'll see everybody soon.