Fractional, meaning part-time, or hire somebody?
Here is the honest version, including when you should skip me and go hire a full-time person.
You work in your business. I'll work on it.
Hire full-time when
- There is a full week of that one job, every week, not a busy month followed by a quiet one.
- The salary plus health insurance and extras doesn't scare you.
- You can wait months to hire someone, then more months while they learn the job.
- You want somebody doing the work all day, not deciding.
Go part-time when
- The problem changes shape every month, marketing one week, money the next.
- You need someone to make the big choices more than someone to put in hours.
- You want it to start now and be easy to cancel.
- You've outgrown doing it all yourself, but you can't yet pay a full-time person for it.
The part nobody says out loud
Most owners your size don't have one chief-sized hole. They have four half-holes and no budget for four people. That's the whole reason the x in CXO changes.
When should I hire a full-time CMO (a marketing chief) instead?
When there's enough marketing work to fill every week, and you can pay the salary plus health insurance and extras without flinching. Below that, a full-time hire gets paid a lot to wait for work.
What is the real cost difference?
A full-time marketing chief means a salary, health insurance and extras, extra taxes, and months of hiring. Part-time is one monthly price, paid a month at a time, and starts this week.
What's the catch with part-time?
You do not get someone sitting in your office all day. You get their decisions and their attention, not their whole calendar. If what you need is a full-time doer, hire one.
What if it does not work out?
Fire me with a one-line text. No contract, no goodbye meeting, your last bill is your last bill. That's the whole guarantee: if I don't pay for myself, you shouldn't keep me.