Fractional thinking = you're the CRO of YOU.

So far on this blog, I’ve mainly been writing about AI agents. But the site is called FRACTIONL I hear you say! What do agents have to do with fractional working? What is fractional? Why is fractional? How is fractional??

Well, the two meet neatly in fact. So let me first define what the two are:

Agentic Work = learning how to co-operate with and orchestrate a team of AI agents in order to 10X your output.

Fractional Work = learning how to move from a salaried job that requires 100% of your work time, to a world where you fractionally rotate multiple consult roles, projects or businesses in and out.

I deeply believe that these two forces will combine at large in the coming years to create a world where the gig economy and AI agents intertwine to derisk paying a full time salary for an employer - and derisk being tied to one job for an employee. In fact, the two theoretically push each other along, and I’m passionate about ensuring as many people have as many employment and value-creation options as possible in the years to come.

Eventually Fractionl.AI will be amore expansive hub to help people leverage agentic and fractional methods to build their own value proposition. Stay tuned for how I’ll bring this to life 😀

Now, grab a cup of tea and I’ll tell you about my journey to date, and a fundamental realization I’ve had recently around what it takes to go fractional.

It starts in your mind, but it’s a never ending journey.

I recently moved to New York from Sydney where I had a stable job as Managing Director of an adtech business. I loved my job, but as I moved across the pond with impeccable timing 😭 I found it incredibly jarring “applying for jobs”. So I’d spend my days leveraging all the new AI tools out there and eventually building AI agents, a skill that built upon my studies in Computing, Languages and Psychology - and of course my career roles in tech businesses commercializing data and automation capabilities. Have a read of the rest of the posts in this blog to get a feeler for what I’m doing with agents.

Back to my story. Sip your tea 🍵

In the midst of tinkering with AI agents I found myself in a serious rut trying to apply for jobs in New York and getting auto rejected by AI screens for roles I had done 7+ years ago. I vented my irritation at the unfairness to my girlfriend. She replied: “Don’t apply for a job, you need to go and GET work. Make work happen”. The depth of that advice is what started me on this journey - from “going to work” to “making work exist”. That is the first step (I believe) towards developing real personal agency and not feeling so helpless.

As co-incidence would have it, AI agents are the perfect complement towards taking control of your fractional career.

You can literally just do things.

Want to write a book? Start writing 500 words now with your favourite AI. Want to build a product? Create a prototype using AI agents. Want to change careers? Spend an hour on YouTube learning a relevant skill today and then stress test it/get next steps from your GPT. Until now in human history, you couldn’t just do what you wanted and create value.

Now you can.

This tech-world mantra represents a fundamental shift in how we conceptualize personal agency. But the world of employment and jobs are still about to get pretty hairy. Sam Altman himself says that 95% of marketing tasks will be done by AI in 5 years. That doesn’t necessarily mean that 95% of marketing jobs will go, but it will be higher than 50% when all is said and done.

The marketing industry will likely have around 50% of the humans in it than it did in 2021. Think about that for a hot moment.

I can see it around me right now: those that are in a job are either worried about losing it, or being pressed in to a pulp by their company for more productivity. So the risk lowers if there is not really an alternative that has you feeling like a million dollars automatically right? If you feel trapped by unemployment or a stagnant career, then you’re reading the right post!

Fractional work (building a portfolio of income sources instead of relying on one job) offers a way forward. With stable corporate jobs becoming less dependable or less fulfilling, it’s on you to "make work happen" rather than wait for a reply from an application to a HR bot.

Be the CRO of yourself.

That requires a complete mindset shift: from trying to become the Chief Revenue Officer of a business you get accepted into, towards becoming the Chief Revenue Officer of "You".

In other words, treat yourself like a business, with you responsible for driving and diversifying the revenue streams. In a business, the CRO is tasked with building revenue streams and then optimizing and tweaking them for highest profit. In a Fractional world, being the CRO of yourself basically means starting on the journey of having multiple income sources, and then optimizing the mix of where you spend your time to make the right amount of income for your time.

This approach means being proactive, self-reliant, and strategic in how you monetize your expertise. It’s not an overnight job - it’s taken me around 6 months of frustration, helplessness, chasing my tail and reverting back to old ways. And guess what? I’m still nowhere near where I want to be financially. But the only way is up, right? At least this way, my financial success is in MY hands, not my employers. The first part of any project worth doing sucks, but persistence always pays.

So with that in mind, let’s run through the main roles of a CRO in a business, and look at how that thinking might apply to YOU.

Diversify Your Income Streams

Diversifying revenue is a top CRO priority. Companies know that "relying on a single revenue source is risky, so they expand into new products or markets. Likewise, as a fractional worker, job security is not your priority. Income control is. So you should cultivate multiple income streams to avoid being at the mercy of one. Think of your abilities as a portfolio of offerings. For example, you might freelance a few days a week, consult for a couple of clients, and run a small online venture on the side. This variety gives you flexibility and security – if one gig ends, others keep you afloat.

Set a Smart Pricing Strategy

In a traditional job you take the salary given; in fractional work you set the price. Just as a CRO prices products to maximize revenue, you must choose rates for your services. Research what others charge and consider the value you provide. Don’t work for pennies – lowballing signals low quality – but also start with a reasonable rate to win clients and build credibility. Pick a pricing model that suits you and adjust over time. The goal is to charge what your expertise is truly worth, ensuring you’re rewarded fairly for the value you deliver.

Design Your Personal Sales Funnel

CROs optimize sales funnels to convert prospects into customers – you need to do the same for your career. Rather than passively applying for jobs, actively build a pipeline of opportunities. Think like a salesperson: promote your personal brand (e.g. on LinkedIn), identify leads who might need your skills, and guide them from an initial chat to a signed contract. Creating a repeatable process for this journey allows you to create a sales forecast - which in a fractional world means predicting your future income. By structuring how you attract and win work, you control your deal flow and avoid the freelancer’s feast-or-famine cycle. You effectively become both the marketing and sales department for yourself.

Maximize Client Lifetime Value

Landing a new client is hard, so treat each one as a long-term opportunity. A CRO doesn’t stop at one sale – they focus on boosting each customer’s lifetime. Likewise, aim to extend and deepen your client relationships. Deliver great results and then follow up with ideas for the next project or offer ongoing support. A happy client is far more likely to rehire you or refer you to others. By turning one-off gigs into repeat engagements, you increase each client’s value to your portfolio and build a loyal base that sustains your career.

Ultimately, being your own CRO is about regaining control of your career. It takes hustle and strategy, but it frees you from dependence on any one employer. By diversifying your work, pricing your value right, managing your own deal flow, and building loyal client relationships, you create a self-driven, resilient career. The reward isn’t just financial – it’s the freedom and confidence of steering your own ship.

You can get going too if you want to:

1. Audit Your Skills: List your top skills and brainstorm one way to monetize each (e.g. freelancing, consulting, tutoring).

2. Launch One Income Stream: Pick one idea and act – set a price for a small service or project and offer it to a potential client this week.

3. Reconnect and Pitch: Contact a past colleague or client and offer help. You might secure a small gig or at least plant the seed for future work.

Here’s the GPT project that acts as my day to day guide and unblocker of step 1 above.

Subscribe for more to come, and email me at [email protected] if you want a FREE consult on your personal situation and how to get going - before I set up a pricing model for this site 😉

Oh, and one final reminder: you can just DO THINGS now with AI tools. Use AI as your personal inspiration, to unblock you from getting going - tell it where you’re stuck (be detailed) and then ask it how to turn the problem in to a 7 day action plan.

LFG! 🚀 

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