If you’re secretly done with your job, read this

Hey, hi, hello — and happy Monday.

It’s taken a few years, but I can finally say this without hedging: I have a successful fractional practice. It pays me well. It lights my brain up. I work with people I genuinely like. My calendar doesn’t make me dread Mondays, and my career fits my life instead of forcing my life to contort around work.

That didn’t happen by accident.

And it definitely didn’t happen by following the advice most people give about consulting, freelancing, or “just picking up a few fractional clients on the side.”

Which is why I built a coaching program for new fractionals — even though I already love what I do.

Here’s the thing: I am deeply, unshakeably obsessed with self-employment.

Not in a hustle-bro, grind-yourself-into-dust way. And not in a “everyone should quit their job tomorrow” way either. But in a grounded, practical, nervous-system-aware way. I believe — truly — that knowing how to make your own money is a survival skill. And while not everyone needs to be self-employed forever, far more people should understand how it actually works, and how to do it without blowing up their health, their relationships, or their sense of self.

Because this is what I see constantly: wildly competent people. Senior operators. COOs, CFOs, CMOs, HR leaders. People who carry entire companies on their backs. And they’re exhausted. Underpaid for the level of responsibility they hold. Treated as endlessly available. Asked to clean up messes they didn’t create. And living with the quiet anxiety that none of it is actually secure.

Then one day, often with zero warning, the job disappears. No runway. No backup plan. No leverage. Just a Slack message and a calendar invite.

That makes me furious.

And it’s exactly why I care so much about helping people transition into fractional self-employment well.

Not chaotically. Not by panic-applying to Upwork. Not by recreating a full-time job with multiple bosses and worse boundaries.

But in a way that’s intentional, sustainable, and actually better than what they’re leaving behind.

Future Fractional exists to help you build a fractional practice that pays you appropriately, gives you leverage and choice, and lets you work with clients you’re excited about — not ones you tolerate because you feel trapped. It’s about learning how to price, scope, position yourself, and protect your energy so this work supports your life instead of slowly draining it.

Fractional work gave me a level of freedom I didn’t know was possible. And once you see that path clearly, you can’t unsee it. I don’t want to keep that knowledge to myself.

So if building a fractional practice is on your 2026 bingo card — or if you’re quietly thinking “I can’t keep doing this much longer” — I’d love to support you.

My coaching program, Future Fractional, kicks off January 26.
Registration closes Friday, January 23.

You can find all the details here: 👉 Future Fractional.

If you’re still in the “fractional-curious, tell me everything” phase, I’ve also written a lot about this already. A few good places to start:

• How to Make Fractional Work, Work 
• So You Want to be a Fractional Ops Leader
• Your Brain is the Business 
• Eight things I wish I knew when I started as a Fractional COO

I’ve also shared reflections from the last Future Fractional cohort if you want a clearer sense of what the experience is actually like.

And as always, I’m happy to have a no-pressure coffee or tea chat if you’re sorting through whether this path even makes sense for you. No pitch. No agenda. Just a real conversation. You can reply directly to this email or send me a note on LinkedIn.

Onward,
Mary Alice 💛