The first advisory role I took was £500 a day.
They said yes too quickly. That was the sign.
It was meant to be 2 days a month. It crept to 4. I didn't clock it at the time but that moment taught me more about pricing and scope than anything else. Today I have the receipts and the data. We are talking at least £2,500 a day.
I keep hearing people use fractional, advisory, coaching, and portfolio career as if they all mean the same thing.
They do not.
And the reason this matters is not semantic. It is commercial.
If you do not define the engagement properly, you can end up pricing advisory and delivering fractional work.
That is a very expensive mistake.
Advisory = strategic input
Fractional = embedded operational involvement
Coaching = support for a founder or executive in their development
Portfolio career = the overall design of your working life
Or even more simply:
Fractional work is a role. A portfolio career is a design.
Fractional work usually means you are brought into a business in a part-time but meaningful operating role.
You are not just there to share ideas. You are in the rhythm of the company. You are joining team meetings, helping drive priorities, and taking on real operational workload.
A founder might hire a fractional CMO, COO, CFO, or people lead because they need senior capability, but they are not ready for a full-time hire.
Fractional work is often about:
- building a function
- solving a specific problem
- getting through a transition
- creating momentum before a permanent hire
That is why I always come back to this question:
What is the problem they actually want you to solve?
If the answer involves ownership, execution, internal meetings, or driving work forward, it is probably fractional.
Advisory is different.
I make this very clear when I am contracting.
- Advisory means no operational or execution responsibilities
- Fractional means joining day-to-day team meetings and taking on operational workload
- Coaching means supporting a founder or executive in their development and decision-making
If someone wants me to go beyond advisory scope, I am happy to support, but I charge separately for that kind of engagement.
Because once you move from perspective into execution, the economics should change.
Why people get this wrong
Because founders are often vague.
They say they want advisory support when what they actually want is someone to:
- unblock a team
- build a function
- join weekly leadership meetings
- own momentum in part of the business
That is not advisory.
That is a more embedded role.
A vaguely defined advisory role can very quickly drift into fractional territory.
A portfolio career is broader than all of this.
It is not one role. It is the intentional design of your work across multiple income streams and multiple ways of contributing.
That might include:
- advisory work
- fractional roles
- consulting
- investing
- speaking
- board roles
- coaching
- building your own company
Fractional work can absolutely sit inside a portfolio career.
But they are not interchangeable.
Fractional work is one component. A portfolio career is the whole system.
How do I know which one I am doing?
You are probably doing advisory work if:
- you are there for perspective, judgment, and strategic input
- you are not responsible for delivery
- your value is your thinking, network, and pattern recognition
You are probably doing fractional work if:
- you are in recurring internal meetings
- people depend on you to move things forward
- you are carrying operational responsibility
- you are building, fixing, or running part of a function
You are probably building a portfolio career if:
- you have multiple income streams
- you work across different roles and identities
- you are actively designing your work around more than one lane
Why this matters more than people realise
For portfolio career professionals, this is where confusion becomes expensive.
Some advisory work is structured around monthly retainers, flexible support over a defined period, milestone-based success fees, or equity upside.
But that is a very different commercial model from a role that becomes embedded in the day-to-day business, with recurring meetings, operational responsibility, and constant back and forth.
Very different scope. Very different expectations. Very different economics.
That is why clarity at the start matters.
When scope is vague, it tends to expand. And once it expands, the economics often stop making sense.
My view on advisory for small companies
I will be direct.
Advisory work for small companies is usually only worth doing if one of two things is true:
- you believe in the mission and are happy to support it on a semi pro bono basis because they are cash-constrained
- or you have real equity upside and genuinely believe the company could succeed with your help
Otherwise, the financial value of your time is often better spent elsewhere.
The real question
The real question is not which label sounds better.
It is this:
What kind of work are you actually being asked to do, and does your compensation reflect that reality?
If you can answer that clearly, you are already ahead of most people.
And if you are building a portfolio career, that clarity matters even more.
Because every poorly defined commitment affects your:
That is the whole game.
If this helped you name something you have been carrying, send it to someone who is currently untangling advisory, fractional, or portfolio work.
They need it more than they know.
One more thing.
The Money Method has launched.
It is the part of The Portfolio Method that helps you map your revenue architecture, find your floor, and stop leaving money on the table.
Try it free for 7 days. No card required.
PS. We have a few spots left for Monday’s coworking day. If you’re building a portfolio career in real time and want a focused day alongside people figuring out the same questions, come join us. Reply to this email and I’ll send you the details.
See you next Sunday.
June x
