Fractionals United 3 Months In

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Last week, Fractionals United turned 3 months old and we hit 1000 members. 

To say that I couldn't have expected this back in January when I went looking for my fractional tribe is an understatement. And since I'm an "accidental founder" and a first-time community builder, I've had to learn a lot...every day. 

Here are some of my top lessons:

  1. Being a founder is hard. As a Fractional COO, I've run small to mid size businesses across many industries and therefore don't shirk from tough decisions and responsibility, but now that every decision and every mistake ultimately is mine, it's harder. I will say that having an ops background and having been a COO and Fractional COO has made some things a lot easier, but it is different in ways I could not have anticipated.
  2. It's about the people. It should be obvious that community is about its members, but that means that you constantly have to keep their good in mind and also listen to what they're saying and need. And although I'm new to community building, leadership is also about the people so I think it helped prepare me to do that listening...and to facilitate and then get out of the way, which is critical to both leadership and community.
  3. Always be learning...and when you make a mistake, say you're sorry. This wasn't a new lesson (and I've been told "learning" is one of my superpowers), but doing it so much more publicly both makes it harder and all the more important.
  4. Never say never. As a COO and Integrator, I never thought I'd be a founder since I'm not the "ideas" person and visionary. Turns out all it takes is the right idea at the right time.
And luckily my idea for a fractional community came at the right time: when fractionals are in the news weekly (or sometimes daily) and there are more and more leaders realizing the benefits to working fractionally. 

Now we just need to educate all the companies and CEOs on the benefits of hiring fractionally.

To end off this short post, I just wanted to thank everyone at Fractionals United:
  • the fractionals and wannabe fractionals who have joined me on this marvelous journey and who are generous with their time and support in slack;
  • the volunteer leaders who have stepped forward and given even more of their time to help me build this wonderful community;
  • and to Tammy Bavishi, our wonderful community manager who is helping me with all the many things necessary to keep a community running.
I literally could not have done this without all of you and I look forward to seeing what we continue to build together...and where we are in three months from now.

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