February 2, 2026
Author: Jason Faber
One of the first decisions you'll face as a fractional consultant is deceptively simple: Should you build your business under a company brand name, or use your personal name?
This choice isn't just about logos and business cards. It's a foundational decision that shapes how clients perceive you, how you grow your business, and ultimately, how you position yourself in the market. Unlike traditional agencies or larger consultancies, fractional consultants operate in a unique space where personal expertise and professional services intersect.
In this Fractional Brief, I'll explore both paths, provide some real-world examples, and help you understand why this decision matters more than you might think.
Before diving into pros and cons, it's worth acknowledging that neither approach is inherently better. Successful fractional consultants have built thriving practices using both models. What matters is alignment: Does your choice match your business model, your values, and your growth trajectory?
The brand name approach means operating under a branded company name rather than your personal name—think "Big Wave Consulting" instead of "Sarah Jones." This creates a separate business entity with its own identity, distinct from you as an individual. While you're still the person doing the work, clients contract with your company brand, and all marketing, positioning, and client relationships flow through that corporate identity.
Scalability and Team Building
A company brand creates mental space for growth beyond just you. If you aspire to build a small studio, scale into an agency, or even eventually sell the business, a brand name provides the architecture for that expansion. Clients contracting with "Big Wave Consulting" can more easily imagine working with different team members than they might with "Sarah Jones".
Professional Distance
Some consultants prefer the psychological boundary a company name provides. It can make pricing conversations easier, create separation between personal and professional identity, and allow you to show up differently in client relationships. There's a formality that comes with a business entity that some clients expect and appreciate.
Market Positioning
A well-chosen brand name can immediately communicate your niche, expertise, or approach. 'Revenue Architects' tells a story about what you do. 'Catalyst Advisors' signals transformation. A strategic name can do marketing work before you even start talking.
Flexibility and Evolution
Business priorities shift. A brand name gives you room to pivot your offerings, change your focus area, or evolve your methodology without being locked into your personal reputation in one specific domain. If you started in marketing but want to expand into broader business strategy, a company brand can accommodate that evolution more smoothly.
Trust and Authenticity Hurdles
Let's be honest: some company names sound like they're trying too hard. Or worse, they create confusion. Is this a solo consultant or a 20-person agency? Clients hiring fractional help often do so specifically because they want direct access to senior expertise, not a polished brand with junior executors.
Diluted Personal Brand
Your reputation, LinkedIn presence, thought leadership and referral flywheel are likely all build equity in your personal name. Operating under a separate brand means building two brands simultaneously, which divides your attention and dilutes your recognition in the market.
Additional Complexity
Brand names require more infrastructure: domain names, social media accounts, visual identity, messaging frameworks. For solo practitioners, this overhead can be a distraction from actually serving clients and generating revenue.
Referral Friction
When someone wants to recommend you, they're more likely to say '"You should talk to Sarah Jones, she's fantastic" than "You should check out Big Wave Consulting." Personal connections drive fractional work, and personal names stick in memory better than company names.
The personal name approach means operating under your own name—"Jason Faber" rather than "Search Fuel Studios." Your business and your personal identity are one and the same. Clients hire you directly, your marketing builds your personal reputation, and there's complete transparency that you're the person doing the work. This approach treats your expertise and reputation as the brand itself, without the layer of a separate company identity.
Clarity and Transparency
There's no ambiguity about who's doing the work. When a client hires Jason Faber, they know Jason Faber will be the one executing. This transparency builds trust immediately and eliminates the awkward moment when a client realizes the impressive consultant they met with won't actually be handling their account.
Simplified Marketing and Networking
Every article you write, podcast you appear on, conference where you speak builds the same brand. Your LinkedIn posts, guest contributions, and industry presence all compound into a single, coherent reputation. You're not splitting your attention between building 'you the person' and 'your company brand.'
Referral-Friendly
Most of my fractional work comes through referrals and networks. When people recommend you by name, there's a personal endorsement embedded in that referral. 'Go hire Jason Faber' carries more weight and warmth than 'Check out Search Fuel Studios.'
Authentic Connection
Using your personal name signals accessibility and approachability. It says 'I'm a real person you can talk to,' not 'I'm a corporate entity with layers of complexity.' This human element resonates particularly well in the fractional space, where relationship and fit matter enormously.
Lower Barriers to Entry
You can start immediately. No logo design, no brand naming sessions, no domain registration debates. Your focus stays on delivering value to clients rather than building brand infrastructure.
Scaling Limitations
If you do want to build a team or create a sellable asset, operating under your personal name creates challenges. Clients hired you specifically, and transferring that relationship to others or selling the business becomes more complicated when the business is synonymous with you as an individual.
Professional Boundaries
Some consultants find it harder to separate their personal identity from their work when the two share the same name. Client issues can feel more personal, and it's trickier to create healthy distance when you need it.
Perceived Lack of Structure
Occasionally, clients with more traditional corporate backgrounds may perceive a solo practitioner under their own name as less established or professional than a 'proper company.' This is rare in the fractional space, but it can happen.
Limited Positioning Flexibility
If you become known as 'the SEO expert' under your personal brand, pivoting to a different specialty later means rebuilding your reputation in a new domain. A company brand can more easily evolve its positioning without the same identity tension.
Let's look at some real world examples of fractional consultants who have chosen one path or another - and even a hybrid approach!
Evelyn Cools a Fractional Head of Marketing & Growth Advisor for early-stage B2B tech startup with a focus on helping founders take marketing from zero to one. Like me, Evelyn decided to operate under her personal name as it felt most aligned with what she's offering.
"When I decided to launch my fractional marketing business, I knew I wanted to be very intentional about the name I would operate under. I saw a lot of freelancers using cool company names, but to me that felt more agency-like than how I wanted to position myself. I ended up incorporating as Evelyn Cools Inc. for two main reasons: 1) when founders sign on to work with me, they work with ME, and 2) my name already has brand recognition within the space I’m going after."
Benjamin Watkins runs This is Copy, a positioning consultancy that helps B2B healthcare startups scale. While he's built an incredible personal brand on LinkedIn, Ben chose a brand name to solidify and extend his positioning.
"So I branded myself as This Is Copy because I wanted to be seen as more than a freelancer. And I wanted to build out the idea of what copywriting is – hence This Is Copy. The idea was actually inspired by Seth Godin and his book, This Is Marketing. I wanted to share more about copywriting and I thought I could angle it in a way as a one-person agency, a consultancy, or an extension of my personal brand. As I've grown as more than a copywriter (and more into positioning), the name still works because it's part of marketing and what I do."
Flavio Rodrigues operates a boutique performance marketing agency, with a specific focus on travel, healthcare and B2C brands. While he's a one-man consultancy, he's branded himself as Digital Sardine.
"For me, the brand name mattered less than the quality of work and positioning, but I wanted something that could scale beyond just me. There are also many Flavio Rodrigues' out there, and a Portuguese name isn’t always easy to remember, pronounce, or type as a URL in North America, so I chose Digital Sardine as a distinctive, memorable brand that reflects my identity, heritage, and long-term vision."
Fractional Head of Growth, Andy Jeong, went with a brand name when launching his fractional practice.
"I went with 'Seed Growth Consulting' instead of my name for future optionality: bringing on partners or scaling beyond myself through productized services.'Seed' also evokes the foundational work I do helping brands build measurement frameworks and acquisition systems, but I still lead with my personal brand since clients hire me, not the entity."
Ben Lau is a fractional product design partner for startups. Like many others, he went the personal branding route.
"I just use my name! Clients are hiring me specifically for how I think, my skill set and experience as a designer. They find comfort in working directly with me, embedded into their team and workflow."
Rhys is the founder of Formentor Labs, where he works with founders of midsize consumer brands to run growth experiments using science and empathy. Rhys went the brand name route, as he explains here:
"So I'm a fun case because I happen to have a name that a) no one else has and makes me unique, and b) new people struggle to remember it enough to search for it properly. I use a business name Formentor Labs to give people something memorable but I do all my thought leadership under my personal name. As I think about my career long-term I want my content to remain mine and relevant for every chapter of my work."
Gev Marotz operates as a fractional head of design for founders. He thinks about this a bit differently and has taken a slight hybrid appraoch.
"It’s not really about name versus brand. It’s about trust and growth. In fractional work, people are hiring your judgment. Using your name makes that simple. They know who they’re working with and who’s responsible. But using only your name can limit you later. It can make it harder to expand what you offer, bring in help, or grow beyond your own time. That’s why I chose a hybrid. My name builds trust. The descriptor explains what I do and gives the work room to grow. “Gev Design” says you’re hiring me, but not just a one-person operation."
Taylor Crane is the founder of Fractional Jobs, the ultimate resource for fractionals looking to connect with brands hiring senior-level talent. As someone who has played matchmaker for hundreds of fractional engagements, Taylor has seen both sides and offers up his personal point of view:
"I've helped 100+ companies hire fractional execs, and basically look at pitches and profiles of fractionals all day long. The single biggest mistake I see fractionals make is hiding behind a "brand name" they made up. People think it makes them look more credible, but actually what it does is remove the single biggest selling point of hiring fractional in the first place - being a human. My advice? Stop pretending to be an agency and sell YOURSELF."
When I first started out, I initially leaned towards the brand name approach. Initially, this felt like it would make it "more real", but after spending way too much time spinning on potential brand names (and striking out on domain names), I thought more about the personal name approach. After weighing both options, I made a deliberate decision to build my fractional SEO consulting business under my own name rather than creating a company brand. This wasn't a default choice or lack of creativity; it was a strategic decision that aligns with how I work, who I serve, and what I value.
The foundation of my consulting practice is built on my personal reputation and network. Most of my clients come through referrals or people who've known my work over the years. When someone says 'Go hire Jason!' they're making a personal recommendation, putting their own credibility on the line by vouching for me specifically.
That referral dynamic changes with a company name. 'Check out this SEO firm' doesn't carry the same weight as 'You need to work with Jason, he's done amazing work for us.' The personal connection in that recommendation is what opens doors and builds trust before the first conversation even happens.
Every article I publish, every insight I share on LinkedIn, every successful client outcome builds equity directly in my name. I'm not splitting my brand-building efforts between Jason Faber the person and Some Creative Name LLC the company.
Here's what sets me apart from traditional SEO agencies, and why my personal name reinforces that difference: When you hire me, you get me. Your strategy isn't delegated to a junior account manager. Your content isn't outsourced to a contractor three layers removed from your business. Your technical SEO audit isn't handed off to someone who just started learning the field.
I'm the experienced SEO professional who shows up to your strategy calls, builds your roadmaps, and gets his hands dirty. This is my core value proposition, and using my personal name makes that promise crystal clear.
Too many clients have been burned by the agency bait-and-switch: impressive pitch from a senior consultant, delivery by someone still learning the ropes. Operating under Jason Faber eliminates that possibility entirely. There's no ambiguity, no fine print, no organizational chart to navigate. It's just me, my expertise, and my commitment to your success.
SEO work requires deep collaboration with clients. I need to understand their business intimately, their competitive landscape, their growth challenges. That kind of partnership flourishes when there's authentic human connection, not corporate formality.
Using my personal name creates approachability from the first interaction. There's an implicit message: I'm a real person you can talk to openly, not a faceless entity behind a corporate brand. Clients feel comfortable asking questions, sharing concerns, and being honest about their challenges.
This matters more than you might think. The best client relationships I've had were ones where we moved past vendor-client dynamics into genuine partnership. My personal brand enables that shift naturally.
One underrated advantage of building under my personal name: it gives me complete flexibility to pivot, shift focus, or scale into different areas without the friction of rebranding.
When I started, I positioned myself primarily as a Fractional Head of Growth—a broad role covering multiple growth channels and strategies. But as I worked with clients, I quickly realized where the real demand was and where I could deliver the most value and impact: SEO and Organic Growth. So I pivoted and doubled down. Then tripled down. My focus narrowed considerably, and my messaging shifted to reflect that expertise.
This pivot was seamless under my personal brand. I updated my website, adjusted my LinkedIn positioning, and started creating content around SEO specifically. Done. No brand identity crisis, no explaining why "Growth Catalyst Partners" only does SEO now, no awkward disconnect between my company name and my actual offerings.
Now imagine if I'd launched as "SearchWorks Ltd" (terrible name, I know, but stick with me here...) That sounds great when you're all-in on search engine optimization. But what happens when the landscape shifts? We're already seeing it happen—search is evolving rapidly with AI, LLMs are changing how people find information, and concepts like AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are emerging. If search fundamentally transforms over the next five years, a brand name tied explicitly to "search" potentially becomes a liability.
Or what if I decide to expand my offerings? Maybe I want to layer in conversion rate optimization, paid media, or digital analytics. With a personal brand, that's just a natural evolution of my expertise. With a niche-specific company name, it creates confusion or requires explanation.
Personal names are future-proof in a way that craft-specific or industry-specific brand names simply aren't. "Jason Faber" can do SEO today, expand into broader growth marketing tomorrow, and pivot to whatever the market needs next year. The brand equity stays with me regardless of how my services evolve.
This flexibility isn't just theoretical, it's already paid dividends as I've refined my positioning and will continue to as the industry changes around us. My brand adapts because it's built on expertise and relationships, not on a fixed service description embedded in a company name.
Operating under my personal name doesn't mean I've ignored branding altogether. There's a crucial distinction: I haven't created a separate company brand, but I've absolutely invested in building a strong personal brand.
I've worked deliberately on my messaging and positioning. I've clarified exactly what I do, who I serve, and what makes my approach different. I've created a personal logo that appears on my website, social media profiles, proposals, and client documents. I've developed a coherent design system (colour palette, typography, visual style) that I leverage consistently across my website and LinkedIn presence.
None of this existed when I first started. Even a year ago, my branding was considerably less refined, even scattered. This is something I grew into over time as my business matured and I understood what resonated with my ideal clients. The difference is that all this brand work builds equity in "Jason Faber" rather than splitting attention between me and some corporate identity.
My business is also formally incorporated—the official entity is "Faber Fleming Consulting Inc." But that's a legal and administrative structure, not my market-facing brand. Clients only see that name on contracts and invoices where it's legally required. In every other interaction (website, proposals, emails, social media, Slack, networking) it's just Jason Faber.
This approach gives me the best of both worlds: the legal protection and structure of an incorporated business, combined with the clarity and authenticity of a personal brand. I've invested in professional branding, but that investment strengthens my personal reputation rather than building a separate corporate identity.
Some consultants create a company name but remain the visible face of the brand. Think 'Smith Advisory, founded by Jane Smith' or 'Strategic Growth Partners, led by Alex Rodriguez.' This can work, but be thoughtful about it. Make sure you're not creating confusion or diluting your brand for little gain. This is the approach we saw Gev taking with Gev Design.
The hybrid approach works best when the company name adds genuine clarity about your niche or methodology, and you maintain strong personal visibility. It fails when it just adds a layer of corporate veneer that nobody asked for.
Here's the truth: your branding decision matters less than you think and more than you realize.
It matters less because great work speaks louder than any brand name. Clients care about results, expertise, and fit. They want someone who can solve their problems effectively. Whether that someone operates as 'Stephanie Moore' or 'Catalyst Consulting Group' is secondary to the value they deliver.
It matters more because your choice affects daily operations, how you show up in the market, and how clients perceive you. A misaligned decision creates friction in everything from marketing to client conversations to long-term growth.
Your answers will point you in the right direction. And remember, you can always evolve. The fractional consulting landscape is flexible enough to accommodate changes in how you present yourself as your business grows and matures.
Whether you choose a personal name or company brand, what ultimately matters is the consistency and quality of your work. Your reputation is built through client results, not your business name. Your network grows through genuine relationships, not clever branding.
For me, operating as Jason Faber aligns perfectly with how I serve clients: directly, personally, and with the full weight of my experience behind every engagement. It makes referrals easier, relationships more authentic, and my business simpler to operate.
But that's my path, shaped by my specific business model and values. Your path may be different, and that's exactly as it should be. The best branding decision is the one that feels true to how you work and serves your clients most effectively.
Choose deliberately, execute consistently, and focus on delivering exceptional value. Everything else will follow.
