Javier Lozano, Jr. — Fractional CMO and founder of Bolder Media Co. — joins Kelly Callahan-Poe to break down exactly what “going fractional” means, how it differs from consulting or agency work, what kind of companies need it and when they finally make the call, and what senior marketers need to have in place before they can make the leap — including the non-negotiable skills, and why right now might be the best window yet to build a career on your own terms.
You’ve put in the years. You’ve built the strategies, led the teams, and delivered the results. But what if you could take everything you’ve learned and deploy it across multiple companies — without the corporate politics, the single-company ceiling, or the full-time commitment?
That’s the promise of going fractional. And in Episode 89 of the Marketing Moms Podcast, Fractional CMO and Bolder Media Co. founder Javier Lozano Jr. pulls back the curtain on what it really takes.
Javier is clear on the distinction: a consultant tells you what to do and walks away. An agency handles tactical execution. A fractional CMO does neither — and both. They embed into the leadership team, show up for the Monday morning meetings, own the wins and losses of marketing, and bring a proven playbook to bear. At a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
The sweet spot tends to be companies in the $1M–$20M range, often at an inflection point: founder-led businesses that need a strategist, or scaling companies where sales and marketing have fallen out of alignment. But Javier argues the opportunity is broader than that. Any company that needs a proven framework built — and someone who can eventually train the internal team to run it — is a candidate.
Two to three clients, 10–15 hours a week each. Meaningful work, real impact, no benefits overhead. It sounds pretty great — and Javier says it can be. But he’s also refreshingly honest about what the glossy LinkedIn posts leave out: you have to sell yourself. You have to network consistently. You have to build thought leadership before you need it. If you’re an introvert who’d rather just do the marketing work, this path requires a mindset shift.
Javier’s advice for senior marketers eyeing this path? Don’t wait until you’re ready to make the leap. Start building your network now. Start posting, writing, connecting. Take one engagement at a slightly reduced rate to prove the model to yourself. By the time you’re ready to go fully fractional, you want people to already know, like, and trust you.
The market is shifting. Companies are rethinking the full-time CMO model. And experienced marketers who can build systems, align with revenue, and transfer those skills across industries are exactly what’s in demand. Is fractional your next chapter? This episode is a great place to start figuring that out.
Kelly Callahan-Poe: You’ve spent years building marketing expertise, but what if you could deploy it across multiple companies without the politics or the single-company ceiling? I’m Kelly Callahan-Poe, host of the Marketing Moms podcast. Today’s episode is called How to Become a Fractional CMO with Javier Lozano Jr.
Javier is the founder of Bolder Media Co. and a fractional CMO with 20-plus years of experience turning marketing chaos into revenue-driving systems. He launched and sold his first business during the Great Recession, then scaled a tech company from one to $20 million-plus in under four years. Today, he partners with B2B companies to build the marketing frameworks, positioning, and demand generation systems that create predictable growth. He’s also the co-author of an Amazon bestselling book and hosts the Predictable B2B Growth Podcast. Welcome, Javier.
Javier Lozano, Jr.: Thank you for having me, Kelly. Really excited about this.
Kelly: I’m happy to learn about this because it’s a topic I’ve been curious about myself — it’s an area a lot of marketers who are mid- or senior-level executives want to explore post-corporate. So for people who’ve never heard the term, how do you explain what going fractional actually means?
Javier: There are a couple of ways to look at it, but the biggest thing is that you are essentially getting a leader who strategically brings what they’ve done over the past several years — but you’re not going to have them on full time as a full FTE. This is a great solution for companies that don’t want to invest completely into a true CMO or CFO, but they want their knowledge, they want their strategy, and they want someone who can come in and execute it quickly. It’s the strategic side, at a fraction of the cost.
Kelly: Got it. And how is this different from a marketing consultant or hiring an agency?
Javier: They’re really different. A consultant is not going to be embedded into the leadership team. A fractional CMO is going to be in the Monday morning leadership meetings. They’re going to be reporting the wins and losses of marketing. A consultant comes in, tells you what to do, and walks away expecting you to execute. An agency is going to be more tactical — you might hire one for SEO or Google Ads, and those aren’t bad things. But what you really need is a strategy led by someone who has done this before and knows how to pick the right agencies or support to execute. A fractional can also execute a lot of what they build — like branding and positioning — themselves. That’s the biggest difference: strategy plus execution, versus ideas-and-step-away (consulting) or purely tactical (agency).
Kelly: What sort of companies hire fractionals? More startups and younger companies, or larger ones too?
Javier: I see it across the board. Some fractionals get embedded into very early-stage, founder-led companies — the founder is getting momentum, booking meetings, making sales, but so in the weeds they don’t have time to step back and be strategic. That’s one end of the spectrum. Another is where there’s a misalignment between sales and marketing — companies scaling at two, three, four million a year, growing but unable to forecast revenue or create a predictable pipeline. Those are the tipping points. In dollar terms, I’d say anywhere from about $1M to $15M or $20M is the sweet spot, but I wouldn’t pigeonhole it there — even larger companies can benefit from a fractional bringing a fresh perspective.
Kelly: As an employer, how do you find fractional CMOs? Is it mostly word of mouth or LinkedIn?
Javier: For myself, it’s networking — finding my way into conversations with CEOs, founders, COOs, and CROs. Either at networking events or on LinkedIn. Other times there are opportunities through private equity or VC connections, where if you have the right relationships, you can get inroads into their portfolio companies. But ultimately, a lot of it is just your existing network — letting people know you’re venturing into the fractional world and what you’re doing. In marketing, you don’t have just one trick-pony strategy — it’s all the little things you’re putting out there, and every piece of bait helps bring opportunities inbound.
Kelly: For a marketing executive considering this path, what do they need in place before they go fractional?
Javier: First, ask yourself: do you really want to be a fractional? Because it’s not just doing marketing. You’re also doing business development. You’re doing sales. When you’re in-house, you don’t have to sell yourself — you’re focused on strategy and go-to-market and supporting the sales team that’s already there. When you go fractional, you have to be willing to put yourself out there, go online, pitch, and build a pipeline. And here’s the thing — you only really need two or three clients to be relatively successful. So it’s a smaller pipeline than you’re used to, but you do have to build it. A lot of people talk about the glorious things about being a fractional, but they’re not talking about the networking grind. If you’re an introvert, you’re going to have to put yourself out there. That’s a real trade-off to think through.
Kelly: What skill sets are companies looking for in fractionals?
Javier: If you’ve built systems and frameworks within a company that you can deploy repeatedly — that’s the signal. I’ll use myself as an example: I helped get our ICP more clarified to the point where we went from 15 out of every 100 leads being in our ICP to 95 out of 100. I created lifecycle campaigns generating $1.5M to $2M a year. Those are repeatable systems. The other non-negotiable: you have to be tightly aligned with revenue. As a marketing leader today, you should be tied at the hip with sales. If you’ve built a go-to-market strategy that’s worked — and worked more than once — and you believe you can productize that, then you have the foundation. It’s not about years of experience. It’s about having signals that prove you can take a playbook and deploy it.
Kelly: What’s the typical length of a fractional engagement?
Javier: It depends — which I know is the answer everyone hates. But every engagement really is a little different. You should have a standard framework for how you start, continue, and off-board. Some clients need a full go-to-market audit — three to four weeks, analyzing everything from their website to their HubSpot to customer interviews. Other times it’s a half-day or full-day workshop where you build a playbook together with the CEO. That’s a great entry point because it’s a one-time expense, gives them deliverables, and lets them test you. For longer engagements, I’d say the minimum is about six months, with twelve months being more typical. The first two to three months you’re heavily engaged — maybe 10 to 15 hours a week — executing what you’ve built. Then you gradually off-board as you train someone internally or bring in a mid-level hire to run the strategy. My goal is always to work myself out of a job.
Kelly: Does the work need to be in-person?
Javier: I haven’t gone into an office as a fractional. Everything is Zoom or Google Meet. Since COVID, working remotely and autonomously is the norm — and honestly it’s better for fractionals, because the value you bring is the strategies and ideas you’ve seen across multiple clients and engagements. It’s hard to bring that cross-pollination when you’re localized in one physical space. That said, quarterly in-person meetings are a reasonable conversation to have with some clients.
Kelly: So you could realistically run three fractional positions at the same time?
Javier: Yes — two to three at 10 to 15 hours a week each is a very sustainable sweet spot. If you get to five, you’re probably doing three to five hours per client. But here’s what people forget to factor in: you also need time for business development. You don’t want to fill 60 hours with fractional work and have no time left to build your pipeline. And don’t onboard new clients all at the same time — stagger them by about 30 days. The beginning of each engagement is like drinking from a fire hose. Give yourself the bandwidth to do it well.
Kelly: Why is right now actually a great moment to consider the fractional path?
Javier: The market is in a really interesting place. More leaders are becoming open to fractionals because they’re realizing they don’t need a full-time embedded CMO — especially when they can’t afford one. Instead of hiring a marketing director and hoping they’re a unicorn, they can bring in a fractional for 12 months to build the foundation, then hire someone to run what’s already working. For experienced marketers, going fractional also gives you a taste of the entrepreneurial journey without going all the way to a brick-and-mortar business. It’s a real option for building a career on your own terms — and the window for that is open right now.
Kelly: Any final advice for people who want to start the path to becoming a fractional CMO?
Javier: Start now. Don’t jump ship tomorrow, but start building your network today. Start putting yourself out there — go to events, connect on LinkedIn, have coffee meetings. You don’t have to announce you’re going fractional yet, but build the relationships so that when you do make the transition, people already know who you are, what you’ve done, and what you’re looking for. Then take one engagement at a slightly reduced rate — maybe $7,000 a month instead of $10,000 — just to prove the model to yourself. And in parallel, start building your thought leadership. A newsletter, consistent LinkedIn posts, whatever feels natural. Because when you make that full transition, you don’t want to be starting from zero. You want people to have already gotten to know, like, and trust you. That’s what makes the leap so much easier.
Kelly: Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your insights today, Javier. We’re going to provide links to your website, your book, your podcast, and contact information in the transcript. Don’t forget to subscribe and share. Thanks for joining.
Javier: All right, thank you, Kelly.
