March 4, 2026
Author: Jason Faber
I just hit the $1 million all-time revenue mark.
A threshold that seemed unimaginable when I launched my fractional consulting business in August 2023—literally the same week my son was born, hours after being laid off from my Director of Growth role at a startup.
This isn't a victory lap or a "look how great I am" post. It's a reflection on how I got here, what I learned along the way, and what I wish I'd known when I started.
If you're thinking about going fractional, already doing it, or wondering whether it's actually viable, this is for you.
I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My parents ran their own businesses for as long as I can remember. My brother ran a premium car wash business in high school and is now an extremely successful serial entrepreneur. When I was 10, I built a website for my elementary school on GeoCities (it was 1998, the OGs will remember) and won the Nortel Networks Young Entrepreneurs top prize.
I always thought I'd run my own business someday. I just didn't think it would happen like this, or this fast.
Fast-forward to 2022. After an incredible four-year stint leading growth teams at Shopify, I fell victim to their first large mass layoff. It was actually a relief. Things had gotten challenging and I needed a change of scenery.
I took the summer off to mentally reset—running, golfing, and figuring out what I wanted next. The tech job market was still hot and I was heavily pursued by several startups looking to hire growth leaders.
I ended up taking a role as Director of Growth & Product Marketing at a Series A startup. It was the perfect role. I doubled my salary. I finally secured a leadership title, was able to drive strategy, manage a team, but could also roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty.
Shortly after starting in my new role, my wife Katie and I got pregnant after a long and arduous fertility journey. Things were finally looking up.
By the spring of 2023, things at work shifted. What was once a fun, exciting, positive environment became something else. Budgets were cut across the board. Corners were being cut. Culture was suffering. Red flags were everywhere.
I knew things weren't trending well.
August 2nd, 2023: My son's due date.
Katie and I were preparing to head to the hospital for her induction. I got back from my morning run and saw an invite in my calendar:
Meeting with the Founders.
This can't be good.
It was exactly what I thought—another layoff. They cut almost half the company, including all of marketing and chunks of product and engineering.
Things will be okay. Right?
As we drove to the hospital, we were terrified. Katie was on maternity leave. I was out of work. And we were about to bring a kid into this world as first-time parents with absolutely no idea what we were doing.
I was burned out by corporate tech. I couldn't fathom another eight-round interview cycle or keeping up with the politics and toxicity that had become standard.
I told Katie: "Everything will be okay. I'll just start consulting. So many people I know are doing it and it seems great."
I tired to sound confident and optimistic. Truth is, I was scared. But she believed in me. She always does.
Fast-forward to today. I've now hit this unfathomable milestone. As I reflect on where I started, how I figured things out, when things started to click, and where I am now—I'm filled with pride and gratitude.
Here are some of the lessons I learned along the way.
Some people need everything perfectly planned before they take the leap: money in the bank, three clients secured, a flawless website, a polished service offering.
That's fine. But for most people, there is no perfect timing.
I fell into fractional unexpectedly. I was laid off on my son's due date. I launched my fractional business that week with a LinkedIn post and an atrocious one-page website.
My services were a jumbled mess. My positioning was all over the place. I had no idea how to price things.
But I just jumped in with both feet.
If I'd waited for everything to be perfect, I'd still be waiting. Don't let perfectionism stand in your way.
"Failure is the successful pursuit of something that didn't work."
The faster you learn what doesn't work, the faster you can improve.
It takes guts to try something new where falling on your face is a likely outcome. But it's also the fastest way to figure things out.
I tried service packages that went nowhere. I pitched positioning that didn't land. I sent proposals that got ghosted. I had discovery calls where the fit was terrible and I should have known better.
But each failure taught me something. And each lesson compounded into better judgment, clearer positioning, and stronger client relationships.
Don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid of not trying.
Ask more than you tell.
When you're early on, you'll probably feel like you have no idea what you're doing. That's normal.
Ask questions. Ask for help. Ask for feedback.
You may find yourself with a bit of extra "free time" early on when you're not jam-packed with clients. Don't let this free time scare you, embrace it. This is your time to learn and grow.
Consume articles. Watch webinars. Sign up for newsletters. Join communities. Talk to other fractionals who are ahead of you and behind you.
I learned more in my first six months of fractional work than I did in years of corporate roles, because I had to. There was no playbook, no manager to escalate to, no team to lean on, no regular salary hitting my bank account every two weeks.
Being a sponge is how you accelerate past the learning curve.
Done is better than perfect.
There are some things you might need right away—for me, it was figuring out how to accept USD payments without paying crazy fees. But there are other things that can wait.
I used Google Docs for proposals and contracts during my first year. I operated off my personal Gmail address for two years before getting a custom branded email. I just started using QuickBooks recently after outgrowing my accounting spreadsheets.
Early on, you're in test-and-learn mode. Investing time and money into tools and systems probably doesn't make sense until you've proven out a working model.
Don't spend weeks building the perfect CRM or designing elaborate workflows when you have zero clients. Get clients first. Build systems when you actually need them.
This has been the #1 most impactful thing in building and scaling my fractional business: building and nurturing my network.
This is where I get the vast majority of my work.
Not cold outreach. Not paid ads. Not job marketplaces. It's my network.
Referrals from former colleagues. Introductions from other fractionals. Warm leads from people who've followed my journey on LinkedIn.
I wrote about this in detail here: How I Actually Get Client Leads as a Fractional Consultant.
Your network isn't just about who you know. It's about who knows you, what you do, and whether they trust you enough to recommend you when the moment comes.
Invest in relationships. Stay visible. Show up authentically. The work will follow.
Some folks I know are hyper-niched: Benjamin Watkins does positioning for B2B healthcare. Others are a bit more loosely defined: Evelyn Cools helps early-stage B2B startups take marketing from zero to one.
Bottom line: know what you do and who you do it for, and promote this consistently.
My LinkedIn strategy is about posting about two things consistently:
This helps define my brand and keeps me top of mind with my network. They know Jason is consulting. Jason does SEO.
When someone in their network asks, "Do you know a good SEO consultant?" or when they're looking for support themselves, I'm top of mind.
They hear "SEO consultant," they think "Jason Faber."
That doesn't happen by accident. It happens through consistent, clear positioning.
This is true with clients, leads, other fractionals—everyone.
Think of it as fractional karma.
There's so much pitching, sliding into DMs, greedy asks, snake-oil sales, and other bullshit out there. Be the opposite. Give more than you take.
I recently told a client not to hire me for SEO. Instead, I told him he needed to invest in product activation and gave him a recommendation for someone who could help.
I put his goals and needs ahead of mine. That built trust. He hired me later—for SEO.
I wrote about it here: Why I Told a Client Not to Invest in SEO (And Why He Hired Me Later).
This is also true with other fractionals. I give time to folks who are behind me in their journey. I always carve out time to give advice because I want to see us all succeed.
Am I doing it to get referrals? No. I genuinely care about others and want this lifestyle for anybody who is willing to go after it.
Generosity compounds. The more you give, the more comes back—often in unexpected ways.
You are not a freelancer completing tasks. You are a fractional leader who brings experience, expertise, and value-based outcomes.
Hourly is a losing game:
Retainers are the way to go. They reward value-based outcomes and help you achieve sustainable, predictable revenue.
When you charge hourly, you're incentivized to work slower. When you charge for outcomes, you're incentivized to work smarter and drive impact.
Retainers also give clients clarity and predictability, which makes renewals easier.
I recently wrote about this: Why Your Clients Should Feel Like Your Only Client.
Keeping clients is the best growth strategy.
It not only helps you avoid the "rollercoaster" of unpredictable revenue, but it also leads to referrals, renewals, and the kind of trust that unlocks bigger, more strategic work.
Be responsive. Be proactive. Be present.
Your clients should never wonder where you are, whether you're prioritizing someone else, or if they need to chase you for updates.
Be trusted. Be impactful. Be really good at what you do.
One of the beautiful things about fractional work is that you can pick and choose who you work with.
When you're in-house, you might be excited to sign up to work for Manager X at Company Y. But things change. Re-orgs happen. Culture shifts. You're locked in.
With fractional work, once you've gotten good momentum, you can start saying "no" to the types of work that don't excite you or clients where the vibe just feels off.
Find the work and clients that will motivate you, challenge you, excite you, and help you 10x in your craft.
In doing so, I have never been so mentally or emotionally fulfilled in my entire career.
I could have hit $1 million sooner. No doubt.
There were projects I turned away due to poor fit or lack of capacity. But I could have done them.
But you know what's more important to me than revenue?
Being there for daycare drop-off and pickup every day. Spending time in the park with my family. Getting my daily run, bike, or swim in. Making sure my family has healthy, delicious meals to eat.
I never want my son to hear the word "Daddy can't play right now, he has to work."
Rather than working 50-60 hours a week like I was in my past startup life, I'm working 30 hours a week—making better money, working on more fulfilling projects, and prioritizing my family and health over revenue.
Revenue is important. But it's not everything.
If fractional work doesn't give you the life you want, what's the point?
My son is currently obsessed with Finding Nemo. We probably watch it at least once a week.
You're probably familiar with Dory—the friendly, optimistic, forgetful sidekick of Nemo's dad, Marlin. She has a mantra: "Just keep swimming."
That reminds me a lot about fractional work.
Fractional work takes perseverance and resilience. Don't let the lost projects, ghosted proposals, or quiet weeks get you down.
Just. Keep. Swimming.
Note the signals—positive and negative. How can you build on the positives? What can you learn from the negatives? How can you get incrementally better every day?
Progress isn't linear. There will be ups and downs. But if you keep swimming, you'll get there.
I could never have done this alone.
I am so grateful to the mentors and leaders I had early in my career. To the amazing teammates who I got to collaborate, learn and grow with. To the fractional folks who inspired me and gave me their time and advice when I was just getting started. To my community of other fractionals who are out there building and crushing it, giving me an ear to talk to and inspiring me along the way. To anyone who has referred me. Truly, thank you. To my clients who trust and invest in me – none of this is possible without you.
Finally, to my loving wife and business partner, Katie. Thank you for always beleiving in me. For supporting me no matter what. For listening to me vent. For reviewing my proposals and helping me develop strategy. This is as much your milestone as it is mine.
I'm no expert. This is by no means everything. But these are the lessons I've learned over the last 2.5 years.
From launching my business the same week my son was born—terrified, uncertain, with no idea what I was doing—to hitting $1 million in revenue while working fewer hours than I ever have, on work that fulfills me more than anything I've done before.
If you're thinking about going fractional, here's what I'll tell you:
There's no perfect time. You'll figure it out as you go. Your network matters more than your website. Give more than you take. Charge for value, not hours. Make clients feel prioritized. Find work that makes you tick. And just keep swimming.
It won't be easy. But it'll be worth it.
