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The $35k / Month Formula: What It Really Takes to Build a $400k Fractional Business · Founder Unfiltered - What Founders Think But Never Say

• 0:00
  Welcome to another episode of 6 Figure Secrets for Fractional
• 0:04
  Experts. My name is Bradley Jacobs.
• 0:06
  I'm your host, the founder and CEO of Mylance.
• 0:09
  Before we jump in today, I have to tell you about our new
• 0:12
  product. We are helping you become a
• 0:14
  thought leader on LinkedIn because whether you like it or
• 0:18
  not, your clients are on LinkedIn and your ability to be
• 0:22
  on there sharing your expertise is a complete game changer.
• 0:27
  It is building a relationship one to many with literally 1
• 0:32
  post a day, maybe even 3 posts a week.
• 0:35
  And it is an absolute game changer for your business and
• 0:37
  our product helps you do so. So come check it out, go to our
• 0:40
  website, you can apply to be on the wait list and we're taking
• 0:43
  out beta customers actually off the wait list every day right
• 0:45
  now. So with that being said, let's
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  get into it. Today's episode is all about
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  hitting your goals in an actually systematic way because
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  the majority of fractionals, independent consultants that I
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  talked to want to build a business somewhere between 25
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  and 40K a month. That is the most common range
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  that I hear. Because if you really think
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  about it, let's just say you do 35K a month, right?
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  You're, you're well into 6 figures over 400K per year.
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  And that's just gross revenue, right?
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  So when you take into account taxes and other expenses and all
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  those and you know, the benefits that you're not getting, it's
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  obviously less than that, but you can certainly sustain a very
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  high quality of life with those kind of numbers.
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  Then the question becomes, how do I actually do that?
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  For some people, that sounds like a pipe dream.
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  For some people, that's their expectation because maybe that's
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  when you include benefits or equity and all the things that's
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  what they were making at their corporate job and that's what
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  they want to replace. So and the answer is either
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  you're doing 25K or 40 KA month, the numbers kind of work out
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  pretty similarly to be honest, as far as how many clients you
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  need, it's really just a per client amount that's going to
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  change a little bit, but the rest of the system is basically
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  the same. So this podcast is going to go
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  into three different pieces of what makes this doable. 1 is
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  what do our client engagements even look like?
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  What are the models? What is the pricing?
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  How does this actually work? 2 is how do we actually get
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  leads? How do we get these these
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  clients in the door and close them?
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  And then three, how do we sustain this over time?
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  Because if you do it for one month or two months or three
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  months, that's great. But the whole idea of not only
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  this podcast, but what I'm passionate about and what you
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  likely want is this sustainable business over time.
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  I mean, that's really the name of the game is so that you can
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  go and spend time with your family, enjoy your hobbies, go
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  on vacation, do all the things you love to do, and of course
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  love your work, but you want it to be sustainable over time.
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  So we're going to hit on those 3 components.
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  The first piece is really getting clear on your goals.
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  You can't know where you're going or how to get there until
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  you have a lot of clarity in what success even looks like for
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  you. The number of people that
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  actually have no freaking idea what their dream looks like from
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  a how much money am I making? How many hours per week am I
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  working? What do my, what does my work
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  look like on a day-to-day week to week basis?
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  You can't know how to build it if you don't know where you're
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  going. And so let's get clear.
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  And so let's just give an example, right?
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  Let's say I want to make 40 KA month.
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  I want to work with no more than three clients.
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  I want to work no more than 35 hours a week and I want to be
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  able to take off, you know, 4-5, six weeks a year.
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  It's like, OK, great. So now I know that if I want to
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  work, if I want to make 35K a month and I want no more than
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  three clients, then my retainers need to be between 10 and 15 KA
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  month, right? I can't go less than let's say
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  8K would be maybe the lowest if I did right in 8K and then A15K
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  get to 23 and then I can do 12, OK, I can make it work.
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  But I can't accept A5 KA month retainer, right?
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  So when I get clear in my goals, the decision making process for
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  who I accept into my business becomes a lot easier.
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  So you get to just say no to the 3K, the 5K, the seven KA month
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  client. They just don't fit right.
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  And when you say no to those, you do make room for the bigger
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  clients. So first step, really simple,
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  let's get clear. The second is in order to make a
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  sustainable business, we really need to have retainer clients.
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  Retainer clients are the best because they're just renewing
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  month over month, right? So there's, you don't have to
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  like resell them every single time.
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  You don't have to scope out a brand new project, you don't
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  have to renegotiate all these things.
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  You can basically just renew the contract, right?
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  So maybe the contract is for six months and it's month to month
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  that they pay you and then you just renew it for next six
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  months. And you can even put a clause in
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  there that you have to give be given 60 days notice to fire
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  you. So even if they do want to get
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  rid of you, they still have to pay you for two months.
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  And that gives you more time to do business development, which
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  we'll hit on later that you should always be doing business
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  development, but does give you more time to get everything in
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  order. So one is retainer clients.
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  Now I always get the question like, how does this really work,
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  right? Because am I just, you know,
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  taking an hourly amount and converting it to a monthly
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  amount? And the answer is no, right?
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  Because you are focused on the value and the output that you
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  bring to that company, meaning I don't care how long it takes
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  you. The best example might be
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  partnerships. Because if I introduce you and
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  facilitate A partnership that brings in millions of dollars to
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  your business, that might have only taken me a few hours to
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  make that partnership happen, but it's worth millions of
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  dollars to you. And it doesn't matter how long
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  it took me because really what you're getting is you're getting
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  my contacts, you're getting my word, which goes a long way.
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  Like a trusted referral relationship, you're getting my
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  expertise in closing the partnership.
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  You're getting a lot of things that I've developed over maybe
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  decades, if not, you know, years, if not decades.
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  So you are paying. The client is paying for that.
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  They're not paying for how long it took me.
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  So I don't give a shit about how long it takes you.
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  And if a client asks you that, you can give him the answer I
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  just gave you. It doesn't matter how long it
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  takes me. I'm going to get the job done.
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  I'm going to knock it out of the park for you.
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  I'm going to add millions of dollars in value to your
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  business. And this is how much I charge.
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  This is the investment you make. I, I love calling it investment
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  versus a cost. So this is the investment that
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  you make. You invest $12,000 in me and I
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  return millions of dollars or at least hundreds of thousands of
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  dollars to your business. That's how it works.
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  So you get to be really clear on one, retainer clients and two,
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  pricing based on the value and the output that you bring and
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  having a lot of structure and boundaries around that.
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  Meaning when you scope out the value that you're going to
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  bring, I would almost guarantee you every single client is going
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  to ask you to do something out of scope.
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  When it's a little bit outside of scope.
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  Teeny bit you say, OK, you know what, like there's some give and
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  take here, that's fine. I'll probably work a little bit
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  less some months and a little bit more some months, and that's
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  fine. But when it goes too far out of
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  scope, you get to speak up. You get to say, look, that's out
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  of scope. I'm happy to increase the scope
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  of our engagement, but we either need to increase the scope or we
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  need to change something out of the scope, like switch something
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  else out, right? So you get to be the one on top
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  of that because every single client will take as much as
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  you're willing to give them. If you're willing to work for
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  free, they're going to take it guaranteed.
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  So no one else is going to enforce your boundaries for you.
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  So the way it really works is, you know, the partnerships is a
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  great example where you're saying like, I'm willing to
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  make, you know, this many introductions or add this much
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  value or close this many deals a month or 1/4, whatever it is,
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  the investment will be 13 1/2 KA month and we'll do a four month
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  contract to begin that. Can we we can either renew it or
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  we can end it. And that's how it works, right?
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  And so you know that depending on your goals, you need three of
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  those clients and that's how you're going to make your
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  living. So when we really break down
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  getting to let's say a 400 KA year business, then we know how
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  many clients we need, where our boundaries need to be both in
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  what clients we say yes and no to and where our boundaries are
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  in working with each individual client.
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  And we know that we need to agree to scopes that we can get
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  done within a week, within our hour cap.
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  Because if we agree to three clients and we know it's going
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  to take US 20 hours per client, but we only wanted to work 35
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  hours a week, we've done something grossly, you know, a
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  miscalculation. So that's Part 1 of this is
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  getting clear in their goals and then really being disciplined
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  about where you say yes and what scopes you agree to with what
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  kind of clients. The second part of this is
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  actually getting those clients. So once we get clear on what it
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  needs to look like, then we need to get clear on who is that
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  client. And that goes to our ideal
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  customer, which we've talked about at length on this podcast.
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  So I will keep it short for this.
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  But when you get clear on who your customer is, what their
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  pain points are, where you uniquely add value, then you're
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  building a content strategy. So there's a three-part LinkedIn
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  strategy that is tried and true that just works.
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  It is simply one. Create content at least three
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  times a week that speaks to your clients pain points and your
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  unique value. Add through your experiences,
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  your learnings, your pain points, all that kind of stuff.
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  2 is adding new connections every single day.
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  You can add 20 new connections every single day.
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  Add them as decision makers in your ideal client profile,
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  right? Add decision makers and then
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  three is engagement. So it is reaching out to those
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  connections maybe one month into the connection, introducing
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  yourself, asking them if they've seen your content, asking them
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  what kind of pain points they have.
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  Check who's commenting and liking on your posts, seeing if
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  they're decision makers in your ICP and engaging with them in
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  the same way. Just posting content or just
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  adding connections is not enough.
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  This three-part strategy, which is not that complicated and does
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  not take that much time, is the way it is guaranteed to work if
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  you stick with it and are disciplined.
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  The only caveat is if what you're doing is not working
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  across, let's say two or three months, then you get to pivot.
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  You get something about your content, something about your
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  ICP is not resonating. So that's where I'd highly
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  recommend talking with a friend, getting a coach, getting
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  feedback, trying your best to objectively look at what's not
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  working and make a change. But the framework is tried and
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  true. It works every single time, I
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  guarantee it. So you get to take, let's just
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  say six to seven hours a week, creating content, adding new
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  connections, and engaging with people.
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  Again, people in your just in your ideal, just ideal customer.
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  What's not mentioned here is referrals because that's a
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  given. It is a given that you are going
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  to your network. You are catching up with people
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  in your network. You are asking your clients for
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  introductions to other potential clients consistently.
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  And because the end of the day, checking in with your client to
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  see how you're doing is just smart business.
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  Because if you're not doing well, you want to know what you
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  need to change. You want that feedback because
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  you want that client to go on for a long period of time,
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  assuming they're a good client. So by checking in with how
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  you're doing, you're not only setting yourself up for success,
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  for, for continuing the engagement, but you're also
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  easily saying, well, I've done such a good job.
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  Is there anyone in your network that you could refer me to?
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  Like I in fact, I would ask specifically what are, who are
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  three people in your network that you could refer me to?
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  That'd be good for me to talk with, right?
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  Not even necessarily get me a go, get me a client, just like
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  who's good for me to chat with. And you should be always meeting
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  new people, networking, asking for introductions from both your
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  network and your current client base.
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  And then once you have these clients, and this is Part 3 of
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  this is how do I sustain this over time?
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  At the end of the day, we talked about this, it is all about
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  sustainability. If you crush this for the first
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  three months, but you completely burned out, stopped doing
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  business development and then your pipeline is dry, you're
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  going to be really frustrated and you're going to think you
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  can't make this work. So the key to success is when
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  your plate is full, when you hit your three clients, when you're
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  doing your 3540 KA month, you get to keep doing business
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  development over and over. And this is not something you
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  turn on and off. That's like me saying, you know
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  what, I think I have enough customers for my Lance.
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  I'm just going to stop marketing for the next three months.
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  Like imagine a business owner saying that and yet fractional
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  say it all the time. So you get to find a sustainable
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  way to do this. Now, I highly recommend getting
• 12:47
  support here because when you're doing 35 hours a week of client
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  work, adding another 10 hours a week of business development
• 12:53
  probably doesn't sound like the greatest thing in the world.
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  So how can you get support that does make this sustainable over
• 12:59
  time? I will tell you, for me, I have
• 13:02
  Ava and I've created dozens of automations and systems that
• 13:06
  support me in addition to building my own software that
• 13:09
  helps me create content on LinkedIn.
• 13:11
  So you get to set yourself up for success by getting support.
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  Like once you're making 30K a month, 20K a month, you have
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  money to invest in your business.
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  So invest in business development, invest in tools,
• 13:24
  invest in automations. I mean, the end of the day, your
• 13:26
  business doesn't need to be 100% margin as much as we would all
• 13:30
  love that to be. Imagine spending 20% of your, of
• 13:34
  your margin on pieces that give you time back, that allow you to
• 13:39
  spend more time with your family, that allow your business
• 13:41
  to sustain. Because the end of the day, you
• 13:45
  have to have leads coming in every single week, every single
• 13:49
  month, even when your plate is full, because at any given
• 13:52
  moment, these clients could drop you and then you need to have
• 13:55
  another client ready to go. So your dream situation is that
• 13:59
  you have a warm league list that you can reach out to at any
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  point and say, hey guys, I actually had a client space open
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  up. Who wants to chat, right?
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  And then you have like 5 people booked on your calendar.
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  You book your new client and you're good to go.
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  But you, your business development never ever stops.
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  So to recap, one, get clear on your goals and build high value
• 14:21
  retainer clients that are priced based on value.
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  And outcome 2 is get leads on LinkedIn with our three-part
• 14:27
  strategy. It's content, new leads, new new
• 14:30
  contacts and engaging with with people over time.
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  And three is keep your business development going no matter
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  what's happening in your business and invest in whoever
• 14:41
  you need and whatever you need to make this work for you.
• 14:45
  That is all for today. I'm going to just plug our
• 14:47
  product again. It is a LinkedIn content
• 14:50
  strategist tool. It takes your ICP, your ICP pain
• 14:54
  points, the value add. It creates a beautiful content
• 14:57
  calendar for you. It actually uses AI to generate
• 15:00
  the posts, which you will then finish because we're not
• 15:01
  publishing AI content. And then it will learn your
• 15:04
  voice over time. It'll sound more and more like
• 15:06
  you. It'll use AI to analyze your
• 15:08
  analytics of what's working and what's not working.
• 15:11
  And it's something that just makes your LinkedIn content not
• 15:14
  only publish content that's going to resonate with your
• 15:17
  user, but it just makes it in way less time so you can get
• 15:20
  back to actually serving your clients, spending time with your
• 15:23
  family, doing all the things that you love to do With that,
• 15:27
  I'm going to leave you. Come check us out at mylance.co.
• 15:31
  Shoot me a note on LinkedIn. I love, absolutely love hearing
• 15:33
  from you guys. Have an amazing day, an amazing
• 15:36
  week, and I'll talk to you guys soon.