Articles
The Business of Being a Fractional
Short essays on networking, trust, business development, and the work of showing up as a serious advisor.
Article list
- Why a LinkedIn newsletter reaches so many people so fast My first LinkedIn newsletter edition passed 800 subscribers in about a day. The reason is how LinkedIn invites your network, not the writing. Read article
- Why brianpetro.com is built the hard way Native web code on purpose, and how AI is speeding builds, with Stack Overflow adoption data and a Copilot speed study behind the workflow. Read article
- What AI still cannot replace in B2B Gartner buyer research still favors human interaction for high-stakes B2B. Trust and networking are not going away. Read article
- Hard truths are how consultants earn trust Integrity research and psychological safety both point the same way: candor builds trust; sugarcoating spends it. Read article
- When networking outreach pays for itself One client’s ongoing $5k+/month win, plus referral studies on why systematic networking beats waiting for luck. Read article
- Why appearance of fitness still shapes who gets hired Labor and hiring experiments keep confirming it: looking fit still influences callbacks, pay, and perceived authority. Read article
- What I actually do for clients Target lists, outreach, and conversations aimed at referrals, backed by how consultants actually win most of their work. Read article
- Why every networking call can be a win Most networking calls will not turn into work right away. Measure them by the relationship instead, and every call counts. Read article
- When making an introduction, less is more A long bio and a one-pager give people reasons to skip the meeting. A short introduction and your recommendation work better. Read article
- Admitting a weakness builds trust with prospects Honesty and authenticity build trust, and the quickest way to show both is to be willing to admit a real weakness. Read article
- My women clients get more replies on LinkedIn Women I do outreach for get slightly better replies. Part of that is women backing women, and part of it may not be about business. Read article
- Total commitment made my fractional career work I started having real success as a fractional when I stopped looking for a W-2 job and fully committed to the work. Read article
- The LinkedIn connections who have no time to talk Some people accept a connection request and then refuse to talk. My favorite reply so far came with an hourly rate attached. Read article
- Being smart and hard working isn’t enough Talent and effort take you a long way as a consultant. In my experience they are not the whole story; luck still plays a part. Read article
- My YouTube channel works like a resume LinkedIn posts come and go. Keeping the same short videos on YouTube turned into one of the easiest ways for prospects to get to know me. Read article
- How fractionals and consultants thrive in a dead internet More and more of what gets posted and read online is automated. For fractionals and consultants, the answer is the part automation doesn't replace: real relationships. Read article
- How fractionals win interim positions from aging job posts Look for job posts that have sat unfilled for a long time, then offer to step in as an interim while the search goes on. Read article
- What to do when you lose half your clients in a few weeks Most independents lose a big share of their business at once at some point. Before you dissect what went wrong, take care of what you still have. Read article
- Knowing why you consult makes you better at winning work A clear, honest reason for doing consulting work makes you more compelling to prospects and better at the job once you're hired. Read article
- Human relationships are the anchor in the AI storm AI marketing tools keep racing each other. Doing business with people you know, like and trust hasn't changed in thousands of years. Read article
- Don't send a proposal until discovery is done If your good conversations aren't turning into accepted proposals, slow down discovery and make sure money is never the reason you lose. Read article
- Strategic networking on LinkedIn means looking for referral partners If work comes from referrals and introductions, the people to look for are the ones who can introduce you, not the clients themselves. Read article
- How to move a LinkedIn conversation to a Zoom call Asking for a Zoom call is easy when you aren't planning to pitch. Keep the same conversation going and ask for introductions at the end. Read article
- How much time a fractional should spend networking Networking works. The bad news is you're probably not doing enough of it, and stopping when you get busy is the classic mistake. Read article
- You get out of a networking group what you put into it Business doesn't rain from the sky because you joined a group. Show up, meet people one on one, and give it a couple of months. Read article
- I don't chase LinkedIn algorithm updates Algorithms are trying to find good content. Make good content, then spend your time on outreach instead of reverse engineering the formula. Read article
- Fractionals and consultants can win work without traditional selling Successful consultants get their work through networking, referrals and introductions. Here's why that beats traditional sales, especially on timing. Read article
- Consultants, Silicon Valley has its own language Burn rates, funding rounds and growth over profit mean a lot in Silicon Valley and much less to most businesses you might want as clients. Read article
- How to make an introduction with no risk to your reputation An introduction says you two should talk. A referral says hire this person. Knowing the difference lets you help people without risking your name. Read article
- You can reach CEOs on LinkedIn Ignore the people who say executives can't be reached on LinkedIn. Genuine networking outreach gets through, sometimes to much bigger companies than you'd expect. Read article
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