The Value of Cadence as a Solopreneur

A Live-or-Die Balancing Act

“It is as though I am constantly in a balancing act

I envy those that seemingly do not go through.”

from The Balancing Act by Andreas Simic

The independent nature of fractional executives is evident as many operate as solopreneurs, managing their enterprises single-handedly. Without co-founders or staff, they shoulder every aspect of their business, with service delivery and business development being at the core of their endeavors.

Service delivery, a crucial revenue driver, is the active phase where the executive is engaged and compensated by a client. Business development encapsulates the pursuit of such profitable engagements.

Striking a balance between these facets is pivotal. It's this equilibrium that often defines a solopreneur's prosperity and longevity in the field. However, pinpointing the perfect allocation of time to business development is not a one-size-fits-all answer. It's neither feasible nor beneficial to dedicate all one’s time to either end of the spectrum, and this balance tends to shift as one's business matures.

For instance, leveraging former employers or associates as initial clients might skew a newcomer towards service provision, potentially neglecting business development. Conversely, those starting from scratch may find themselves immersed in only business development activities.

Determining the optimal ratio often begins with a financial target:

If you aspire to earn $300,000 annually, accounting for a month of leisure, and your rate is $200 per hour, you must bill approximately 31 hours each week. This allocation suggests that around 20% of your time can be devoted to business development.

But establishing a business extends beyond mere formalities like a name or an EIN—it's about securing paying clients. Often, fractional executives find themselves scrambling to fill their schedule as engagements conclude. This reactive stance underlines the absence of a robust pipeline of opportunities—a predicament considered by some as inevitable given the unpredictable lead times and limited annual slots.

Nonetheless, not all prospects require immediate engagement. Some may linger, waiting on a significant event like funding, offering flexibility that could align with your availability. There are indeed strategies to nurture a pipeline, which I will delve into shortly.

Another approach to calibrating the balance is by assessing your lead generation pursuits:

Should you aim for the same $300,000 income with an average deal size of $30,000, a 10% conversion rate, and 120 minutes invested per lead, you'd be looking at dedicating 10% of your time to business development.

Alternatively, you could reference your last full-time salary to establish a baseline, adjusting for the absence of employer-provided benefits:

This could dictate billing 33 hours per week at $250 per hour to meet a revised goal of $390,000, leaving approximately 18% for business development.

In the end, while the figures will vary, my conviction is that the ideal falls within 15-25% of your time—translating to 6-10 hours weekly. The secret to success isn’t merely the quantity but the regularity of business development efforts, with a daily commitment being the gold standard.

A large part of my ideal is based on countless conversations with Fractional Executives. One of them, Jeff Slater, a Fractional CMO, published his thoughts in a post:

“I invest about ten hours every week in my business development effort. It requires consistent diligence and is a never-ending activity. To assist me, I schedule it on my calendar, so I know I have a block of time committed to supporting my lead generation needs. Business development isn't a faucet you turn off and on at random intervals. BD is to my business what water, sunlight, and fertilizer are to gardening.”

Contact us to find out how we might be able to support your cadence.

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Jeff Slater – How To Manage Business Development and Stay Top of Mind

Photo by Anne Gosewehr