From Both Sides: Jaidin McCann’s Insider Take on Fractional Work and Company Needs

Brett Trainor (: 00:01

Hi Jaidin, welcome to the Corporate Escape podcast.

Jaidin McCann (: 00:05

Hi, thank you so much for having me, Brett.

Brett Trainor (: 00:08

Absolutely my pleasure again is where we try to show and you know show people what's possible I love what you're building I can say I'd say what you've built but what you are building is probably more accurate so But it's good place to start Why don't you share with the audience a little bit about what you're working on now who you work with? And then I want to take you back to when you actually started this company

Jaidin McCann (: 00:33

Absolutely, yes, I own Jasper Consultancy. It is an executive search firm and we place directors through C -suite and board members through Series A through Fortune 500 tech companies. So super excited to be here. Happy to share a little bit more in depth if you need.

Brett Trainor (: 00:53

Yeah, no. So, all right. So let's go back because I think you mentioned offline three years ago, you had the idea for the company, but you didn't take it until about a year ago. if you don't mind walking folks back to what was kind of that tipping point or did you always have a vision that you wanted to launch this or what? Because mine just kind of happened. I hit a breaking point and like, you know what? I'm done with corporate. I'm going to go figure it out. I guess my long way of answer. Did you actually have a plan when you started thinking about it? I loved

get a little more insights from you.

Jaidin McCann (: 01:26

That's a great question. Honestly, situationally, it just hit me. had my corporate job and I loved that job. I just also simultaneously had a project to build an HR department from scratch. so started an LLC and started working on that on the side. And then it kind of spiraled and I ended up building a few HR and talent acquisition teams from scratch through that LLC as a side project to my corporate America job. Didn't have the vision to

Brett Trainor (: 01:54

Thank you.

Jaidin McCann (: 01:56

start my own official company. was definitely just a side project that got postponed and put on pause while I worked at this wonderful company called Flawless and helped the CEO under SunQuest build his recruiting agency out from scratch. And so after that, you know, I was like, I've helped so many teams and companies build from scratch, I might as well do one for myself. And so I

transformed a year ago my side project LLC into the company that it is today. And it's been such an adventure ever since.

Brett Trainor (: 02:30

Yeah, that's awesome. And I do want to dig into how you did that because at least for me, when I got to that breaking point, I'm like, I really don't want a full company, but I also want to make money. Right. So how do I balance it? And I think you're in hindsight, if I would have taken the path you did with the LLC or just to get some side projects to get started, probably would have been a better path. But I've also heard from folks that it's hard to balance both and it's hard to put your effort into the corporate job and do the LLC.

So if you don't mind going back, just kind of walk one, how did you come across the first opportunity for the side project? Everybody asks, well, how do I get that first customer? And then two, how did you balance the two while you were doing both?

Jaidin McCann (: 03:16

Both great questions. And my answer is not going to be that helpful. I'm not going to lie to you. It is my college professor reached out to me and in college I had the amazing opportunity to build an HR department for a startup hotel from scratch. They came and asked for one of their top HR students and he thankfully recommended me over. And so he knew I already had experience building out an entire HR department and they needed to do that again. And so he approached me and said, hey,

Round two, would you like to do this for one of my clients? And so I dove in, it was so much fun getting to work with him. So I would say that opportunity found me, I did not go out and find it. So I know it's not going to be that helpful, but really networking is key. I know we'll dive into that. But having that network is key. In terms of balancing, let's call it work life balance. You, people who do not know me, they will come to learn quickly. I can take on a lot.

And so I worked all day at my corporate America job. was also coaching cheerleading. was modeling and I was doing this after and it was just, it was my life. I was a young single 20 something year old and just had so much bandwidth and I love what I do. So it's not a workaholic, I guess, if you really love what you do every day and it doesn't feel like work. So I just, I mean, lot of sleepless nights, but all in all, very worth it. And I wouldn't take it back for the world.

Brett Trainor (: 04:32

Thank

Brett Trainor (: 04:38

just leave it there.

Brett Trainor (: 04:43

Yeah, I think that's such a good point that if you like what you're doing, it's not as much work. can be right. I think folks that are still in corporate thinking if they're listening to this podcast, they're probably not enjoying their work. If they are, then it's really like this topic for some other reason. But yeah, no, I get it. Cause right now I think in the last two plus years, I've worked harder than I have probably in last five previous that I was in corporate.

Jaidin McCann (: 04:57

Thank

Brett Trainor (: 05:10

but it's me, it's my company, it's my thing. And it just changes that dynamic. good point on the networking, right? But you obviously kept in touch with that professor that knew you and still was there. So the network, keep your network active. And if not, you're still in corporate, just start warming up that network, reaching out to people, see how they're doing. So after that project, how did you, were you looking for another project and it just happened to come along maybe?

How did you get start getting the additional projects after that one?

Jaidin McCann (: 05:42

Honestly, I started applying for jobs where I could build an HR department from scratch, right? HR management roles, things of that nature. But as I interviewed and they talked to me, they were like, if you want to just come do that, you we don't, you don't need to be that long -term leader. We can hire in that replacement. And I found the work more enjoyable. I really loved setting it up and then being able to walk away knowing that it was successful.

Brett Trainor (: 05:52

even.

Jaidin McCann (: 06:09

And it just happened to be a really good balance of the conversations that I had. So I didn't get hired on directly to build it out. They just, you know, they had me consult out for it and contract out for it. And I loved that because now I get to look back and say, yeah, I grew that team or I grew that department for this company. And I would say it's really satisfying, especially you learn so much, you get to dive into so many different, I mean, company cultures, so many different people. It's all a new experience. And I think

One of the reasons people become recruiters that you can ask almost any of them, they'll say they love that every day is new, it's constant new changes, challenges, companies, and I loved that aspect. And so I think I'd get

really bored, I'm not gonna lie, in the same company every single day for years and years and years and it just, wasn't for me. Even what I do now, right, it is my company, so it's my company for years and years, but we're recruiting for other companies, consulting for other companies, so there's that work diversity there.

Brett Trainor (: 07:08

keeps it different, keeps it new, keeps it the same way. think even in my corporate career, was like two years, about the, looking back, it was about a two year window. I'm like, they're on board. If we're not growing something, status quo was not good for me in my career. So finally being out of that, that helped. I think you talked about it, a strategy, a good strategy for folks, then maybe you weren't as intentional with it, but.

I started testing it before the escapee thing took off, which was reaching out to businesses that were staffing certain positions and say, Hey, are you open to non full -time employment? Right. Or other options, right? I think I can save you some time, money, reduce the risk, all the things that you probably presented. Cause I think a lot of these businesses would be open, especially if you've got, you know, a couple of decades of experience there. You probably don't want to manage your job of whatever it is or director job. It's going to be.

One, probably couldn't afford you, but two, smaller businesses are open to exactly what they did with you that says, hey, we need some help. You don't have to run this thing, just come help build it. So was that just semi -intentional luck or you were, how did that, it's okay to be honest.

Jaidin McCann (: 08:23

Honestly, I will say my career path has really found me, which has made me feel like this is exactly where I'm meant to be. When you become a founder, it's because you're so passionate about something and your life experiences have accumulated to help you find that life path. This was before I even knew what Fractional was. I was like, I'm a consultant, but I'm actually diving in doing the work and building these teams. And now...

Brett Trainor (: 08:39

Yeah.

Jaidin McCann (: 08:49

my whole world has changed owning this executive search firm, right? I did specialize in executive search, but it was permanent placement. And so I now I have an entire interim and fractional side of my company where corporate escapees can come and really explore that fractional side of the house where they're not full time. can take on different projects. They're still an executive and doing the internal work, but you get that diversity in clients. And I think

I didn't know what that was at the time and now it's one of the strongest things that I'm most passionate about and has become part of a service offering.

Brett Trainor (: 09:20

Yeah, that's awesome. I do want to dig into that, I'm going to table that just for a couple of seconds because I still want to, know, how you went from point A to point B. And then, you know, at some point when you're helping these companies build out, you had the idea, Hey, I'm going to start an agency or recruiting or executive recruiting firm. I'll get the terminology correct. How, what was the, was it, did it start as a project as well? Or did you just find a need kind of walk through? What was your, your thought process when you decided to launch this?

Jaidin McCann (: 09:52

Yeah, honestly, I'd been recruiting for a really long time. I love recruiting. My career just grew as I grew with these companies into Executive Search, which I loved. I fell in love with it. And I would say I started off right on the side, well, even since college, right, building these HR and talent acquisition teams from scratch. So I've always been a builder, but they were teams.

And then when I got the opportunity to join Flawless and help build out not only their enterprise division team, their executive search division, but their company as a whole, right? We're a startup building as a whole from seven to over 200 people. And so I got to really experience what it was like to build out a company. And then once they were acquired, my VP asked me to come and help build out her executive search firm. And then I sat there and I was like, you know what?

Brett Trainor (: 10:17

And we'll be

Jaidin McCann (: 10:43

After all of these companies and teams, clearly I know how to build. Why don't I do it for myself instead of for everybody else? And so what I really love though is that the aspect of what I do through human capital consulting, executive search, fractional work, I'm also not only building my own company, but I am helping to build out startups in their companies still. So I'm just, I don't know, a master builder, I guess. The Bob the Builder of business, I don't know.

Brett Trainor (: 11:10

No, I love that and again, I think there's just so much value in doing that and if you've got the experience it it makes sense and When you decide to go on your own with your vision to create Like a company where do you think and hey? don't want to say fractional and kind of be a full -time executive But just take on as many clients as you want or was your vision to say hey, you know want to build this out to be a growing firm because everybody's got kind of different

aspirations if you will. So is your goal to build or maybe what is your goal still to build it bigger than where you're at today?

Jaidin McCann (: 11:43

Yes to both. Yes, my goal was to build. had an amazing network. My head of sales, knew my my head of executive search I knew so I had sales and delivery already. My goal is not to be the next biggest largest executive search firm of all time, but truly I value lean teams and what I love the most on top of building is being a leader and leading high performance product prod productive lean teams. And so

I definitely, think this is a perfect combination of my skillset and I've just been loving it. But yes, to answer your question, there is more growth to come, but not on a massive large scale. Definitely I want to see everyone within my firm reap the benefits, right? The lower the overhead, the more the profit, but also, mean, commission wise, the more they make, right? I want it to be a culture where everyone really feels excited to be here and like we're succeeding together as a team and everyone brings their different skillsets to the table. So.

I don't want to have a team of 20 plus salespeople. Yes, we could make a ton of money that way, but I would rather we each individually maximize the amount of money we all make together collectively.

Brett Trainor (: 12:54

Awesome. No, I love it. think again, most, I shouldn't say most, everybody's got different dreams. But again, I think when people are stuck in corporate, fear is they think they had to go build this big company, next Google, Facebook, or open up a restaurant. And you really don't, right? You can find your sweet spot with it. you know, the way to build businesses and I don't know if I've asked, don't know, is all of your staff full -time or do you have some contractors, some fractionals? Did you build it out as a hybrid or how did you?

think about building.

Jaidin McCann (: 13:26

That's a great question. They are contractors, but I actually just did hire my first W -2. He's going to be the partner over my interim and fractional division. So now it is a hybrid mix of both, which is exciting.

Brett Trainor (: 13:40

which makes so much sense, doesn't it? Right? As we talked to, as I talked to small business owners, I'm like, you don't have to have 50 or 20, you full -time equivalents. Go find the expertise that you need in order to build this out. So, no, that's really cool. So, all right. So, fractional, the fractional side, you just said you're hiring somebody to oversee the fractional side of the business.

Give me your thoughts on the businesses. Are they starting from a business perspective on fractional, right? Because we always tell people looking to go fractional, the businesses are kind of catching up. I'm just kind of curious, what are you hearing from the market, your customers, where are you seeing the growth in this going and kind of what are the expectations of these businesses?

Jaidin McCann (: 14:29

Yeah, I would say that typically, mean, we rarely see enterprise use utilize fractional resources, right? Maybe if they're building out a new team or department within it, but typically they want to hire that person on full time, dependent on the length of that project. So I target mostly startups, right? And, it's a lot of education. They are catching up. They are becoming more aware of what fractional is. It's a new term.

Brett Trainor (: 14:30

Okay.

Jaidin McCann (: 14:54

But I will say, I do a lot of outreach to VC and PE firms and educate them and say, hey, let us come into your portfolio companies. Let me tell you why this is the best for you and your portfolio companies, because it saves you the equity you give out to your executive team. It saves you the runway of paying this full -time executive. And essentially how I came across adopting Fractional into Jasper, because we only did permanent placement executive searches and then human capital consulting.

And I would meet with startups like Seed Stage Series A and they'd say, hey, I need a CRO. And I'm like, no, you don't. You're a Seed Stage company. I would say, you need someone who's gonna do marketing and sales, right? You need that. But account executives are so much cheaper to pay for, right? And at a startup stage, you can get them to be commission only, right? So you don't even have to pay out that salary.

Brett Trainor (: 15:32

Yeah, right.

Jaidin McCann (: 15:47

but you do need someone to run high level strategy, right? That go to market strategy. And you can either hire an outsource firm to do that, or you can bring in a fractional, but these people are not gonna do this well to the best of ability you want it. And this person isn't gonna be the person that wants to sell day to day. And so I think there's a really great synergy there and opportunity there for these startups to leverage fractional executives to come in, lay that groundwork, lay that strategy that these account.

managers or know, salespeople marketing teams can come in and follow. And I really do I think it's, I think it's the best way to go about it. I'm a little biased, but I honestly I talk myself out of full time placement sometimes, because I really do I want to do what's best for clients. And so I, I've said to one actually said, Hey, I will happily take your money and put a permanent placement person in there, right? It actually I make more money off of that. But what I recommend

Brett Trainor (: 16:43

Right, makes sense.

Jaidin McCann (: 16:45

is what's best for you. And then when it's time to hire, who better to consider hiring than the person who's been with there since the beginning. It's a great try before you buy because there's a lot of lack of trust in the interview process in the market right now. People are afraid to pull that trigger and make that full time hire, especially newer founders who haven't done this before. And it's their baby. And they don't know who they can hand the reins over to. And on top of that, even if they don't want to go with that fractional or that fractional wants to stay fractional,

who better to then advise on who's actually needed in this role. So at least for my company, if I'm gonna place their replacement and their full -time executive, I can now go to that fractional and say, what is the communication style, right? They may tell me one thing, what is it, right? What does that look like? What is the day to day? And help me place this person. And so I think it also gives me a leg up on the permanent placement side and they feed each other.

Brett Trainor (: 17:14

Okay.

Brett Trainor (: 17:30

Yeah.

Brett Trainor (: 17:39

Yeah, it's such a good point. And indirectly, I've kind of told folks that when they do that, part of your value prop to these small companies is you can help them get started. Exactly what we talked about, build the foundation, lay the framework. And then when they're ready for that full time, you can help them find that right person to come in and run it. Because most of the time, somebody that's a builder or a fixer probably isn't necessarily your grower. Sometimes it's two different.

skill sets or somebody that's in a different place. So I love this idea just because it builds the flexibility into a business because again, less on the startup side, but more on small traditional small businesses that wrong hire can sink them, right? Because it's an 18 month mistake. And by the time they realize it's a mistake, it's lost costs or opportunity costs and times gone. And then you've got to

it can be super dangerous for these small companies. So I can imagine even in your world with, you even it's got, you know, venture -backed dollars and stuff, every dollar still counts.

Jaidin McCann (: 18:45

Yeah. Well, and I mean, I could nerd out all day with you on the human capital piece of right. Those those people leave and they take their top performers with them. Everybody is so connected, especially at that startup stage where everyone's really close and you don't want your top performers who know they can go work other places interviewing and applying other places because people right. They don't leave jobs. They leave managers. We hear it time and time again. So making leadership hires the white leadership hires is imperative.

Brett Trainor (: 18:51

you

Brett Trainor (: 19:15

so important. That's what I love about your business too that you have the consulting piece as part of it because I've worked with recruiting firms in the past. Some are good, some not as good, but most of the time they don't understand necessarily, they don't understand what they're recruiting for other than what they're getting off the spec. And there's a whole lot more value coming from what you're talking about where you understand and can push back and say, I don't think you need a head of sales at this point, right? That's not what you need. There's

Yeah, again, sometimes they won't get out of their own way, but actually having somebody push back and it's huge.

Jaidin McCann (: 19:53

Yeah. Well, and as anyone who becomes a future fractional or has been or has been a consultant, you know, sometimes, sometimes the team, the executive team pays you to not listen to a word you say, but, it's definitely a value add to, to be able to coach them on the interview process. Right. Have you even set it up? Let's see, and structure this so that we can have trust in that interview process. What should it look like training CEOs to give an offer because it should come from them, but

Brett Trainor (: 20:06

Right.

Brett Trainor (: 20:11

That's it.

Jaidin McCann (: 20:22

Do they know how to do that? Lots of times they're amazing software engineers that have built an amazing product, but they're not in sales. They've never recruited. And so being able to coach them on that or even say, hey, let's dive into your workforce planning. You just got funding. That's fantastic. Where do you start? Because you may not even know.

And so let me come in with my HR cap instead of my selling you as an executive recruiter cap and really map out what's best for you and then we can help deliver on that. And so I've just, found that invaluable.

Brett Trainor (: 20:55

Yeah, no, agreed. it just, it's going to save some small businesses, right? Because that's the only, it's such a shame that there's some, there's some really good small businesses that just never get over the hump for one, either the owner never pulls the trigger to bring in the right resources or they brought in the wrong resources. They just never got the right guidance or they guessed wrong on something that they didn't have to be guessing. And, know, it ends up sinking them. So, no, I love that. All right. So I want to.

pivot a little bit, but not much because you again, you're doing some education with these startups of fractional. So what advice would you give for the corporate folks now that are pursuing corporate or fractional work and they're going out just networking and talking to their own companies? What are some of the things that are resonate with those? I think we covered a couple of them, but I'm just curious what you're having those conversations. What are the things that are resonating with those businesses and those founders?

Jaidin McCann (: 21:50

Yeah, honestly, and I can at least say when, you know, at least for my my fractional community, right is I think a huge piece that they really appreciate is being connected to other fractionals who have been there who have done that who have their own firms, either, you know, an entire firm of people that they own it or just their single, you know, one stop shop, they are their firm, having that knowledge and that networking there to be able to learn and adapt, right, you're not just

Brett Trainor (: 21:53

and it was so good.

Jaidin McCann (: 22:18

you know, a chief marketing officer or you know, a chief revenue officer, but you're out marketing yourself now you're doing your own accounting, you're doing your own sales, right. And so being able to learn from other people and how they've been able to do that has been amazing. And then on top of that, I mean, because it is a learning curve, right, you do go from being a little bit, you know, very specialized in your space so much that you can be a fractional executive in that space, but to having to have knowledge.

and execution knowledge, I should say, right? We get how the companies work across the board, but now you are your personal accountant or hiring accountants, but doing those finances. So I would say that's definitely a learning curve. Study up, learn, continuous learning is gonna be so important, but it's also really rewarding, right? Cause you come out of it with skillsets you never thought you would have that make you so much more well -rounded for anywhere that you go. The other one,

Brett Trainor (: 23:07

Yeah.

Jaidin McCann (: 23:16

And like I said, networking, networking groups, you know, there's my fractional community, but there's also a ton of different communities, right? And just being able to get your foot in the door, their potential clients, their potential teachers, their potential partners, right? You guys could do very similar things, potential referral partners even. It is really a referral business and getting that ball rolling is the hardest part. But once you do, it tends to snowball. And so really,

Brett Trainor (: 23:43

Yeah.

Jaidin McCann (: 23:44

finding out, right, where do you get those leads? How do you get people to refer others to you? Setting up those business development partnerships. You know, you can ask chat GPT at first, right? But definitely those networking groups are gonna be where I found the most value in getting that ball rolling.

Brett Trainor (: 23:56

Yeah.

Brett Trainor (: 24:04

That makes sense. it was interesting I had on the podcast, just recorded it yesterday. They're kind of blurring a couple recently, but it was two women, had like both marketing almost similar kind of backgrounds, both had industry and then also had time at a big four consulting firm and went solo and they're now collaborating together on certain.

deals if you will and it was interesting because they had never met each other but one client knew both of them and said you guys need to work together can you work for us on this project they hit it off now they're still doing their own thing but if they come across the right opportunity the two of them are coming in together to go after and approach and I just I think that collaboration piece is such a big opportunity and you just reinforce that with the network and again it's okay if you guys both do the same things there's more than enough opportunity right for

for everybody out there if you approach it.

Jaidin McCann (: 24:59

Absolutely. And one thing I say, and at least so far the feedback's been very valuable, but I try to keep my fractional communities to around five fractionals with the same subject matter expertise in terms of like, you can be a great CTO, but do you specialize in digital transformation or AI innovation for new products or building a team from scratch, right? What is it that you really specialize in that that company needs? And then if a company meets with you and it's not what you do,

you know exactly, there's other CTOs in here and this is what they do. So let me refer them over and vice versa. And so you don't just in these networking groups, mean, you get partners, but you also get a strong referral network through everybody. And the larger you can cast that net, right? You may know 10 people, but if those 10 people will advocate for you and they know 10 people, right? It just continues to expand from there. And I've found it.

to be one of the most helpful things that I've ever gotten involved in. And it is extra work, it's extra bandwidth, right? You gotta make time for those conversations. And it can be draining, especially in tech. If you're a software engineer and you might be a little more introverted or even people that are just naturally introverted, it can be draining. But once you meet with a ton of people and you find your core ones that are like, okay, these people, really, we match, know, values wise, we wanna support each other in our growth. And you cling onto those.

Brett Trainor (: 26:05

Yeah.

Jaidin McCann (: 26:25

they will bring people your way. And I will say, I actually have a great friend, I'll name him even, Andrew Larson, he's wonderful. But he brought me business, he recommended these guys over to me, and they met with me and they're like, nope, we totally trust Andrew, so we totally trust you, we're gonna go ahead and move forward. And I did not have a sales cycle, it was a one meeting, but that's how powerful a good referral is when you have a great network involved.

Brett Trainor (: 26:51

Yeah, it's such a good point. It's funny. I've been doing this now with the escaping network for, guess it's only been eight months. So it hasn't been a long time, but just really underappreciated how much the networking aspect and like I said, I've been on my own for four plus years. So I've gotten used to it, but I forget that if you haven't done it, that it's, seems daunting, but you know, I think within our, again, our world and we do more than just fractional. So people do a little bit of everything by 80 % of the businesses coming from networking.

And then I think one of the fractional networks, John Arms network, they just had their, I don't know if it a state of fractional or something, I think they had like 93 % of their fractional business was coming through networking and referrals. So yeah, you have to get at least to a level of comfort. But again, even with the software, use the software engineers, not all of them are introverts, but if you find and you're just genuinely curious, it's not as bad because you're not pitching for your job. And I think that's the other thing I encourage folks is,

Network to learn, see if you can help this other person. If you go in with that, you'll be surprised at how much more willing they're going to be to help you. just think our corporate networking was about us and getting a job, right? Versus, hey, how do we connect, find good people? And then the more good people you have in your network, the better the conversion rates it's going to be. So I think we overcomplicate it sometimes, maybe.

Jaidin McCann (: 28:16

We do, it's relationship building. At the end of the day, you want long -term relationships, they help you grow, they bring you new ideas. Like I said, right, I specialize in HR and talent acquisition.

I'm not in marketing or in sales. so having a really great network, I actually had a really great one of my fractionals. He's like, Hey, do you mind if I take a look at your like sales documents and how you're marketing yourself? And I just really appreciate the value you've given me. So I want to give something in return. And he was wonderful. And he totally rebuilt like my, marketing strategy for me. And I, super appreciate him. but it's just through relationship building and just seeing how we can help each other grow and be more successful together. Cause there is enough of the pie for everyone to go around.

Brett Trainor (: 29:00

Exactly and that's what we just got to get these corporate folks to think because again in corporate it's every man woman for themselves and you're fighting for the same thing and it's competition about here it really is more of a There's enough for everybody and if you can work together, it's it's it's a much easier process So so I do want to ask you since you do have a fractional practice and people are thinking about fractional What are some of your you know, the folks you work with that have been successful as fractional? What are some of the key?

attributes or success criteria, anything you can share that if folks are thinking about heading down that path, what should they be thinking about? What should they be focused on? Anything you could share would be super valuable.

Jaidin McCann (: 29:43

That's a great question. One, I would say is your personal or executive branding. How you show up on LinkedIn or when people first search you is important, right? It's your first impression. It's not the Zoom call you hopped into. It is the search they did on you before they get into that call. And so really building out your brand and say, and identifying your brand, right? Who am I? What do I stand for? What am I out to change? Who do I want to be?

You know, I mean, ethics get called into question when you're building things with other people and it's, do I support what they're doing? You know, the way that they're doing it. And so you really got to know who you are, what you want to do moving forward and find people that align with that and that you guys can help each other grow. So I would definitely say personal branding is something I would start with. And then I would always do market research. think.

Especially now, one of my fractional CROs actually taught me this. He's wonderful, but we are in a buyer's market. It is no longer the day where we create things and if we're good at selling it, it will land. That's not how it's going right now, just to be educated. It is a buyer's market. And so really doing the pre -marketing, reaching out to people, seeing if they have buy -in, if they have a need, what that need is, would they find it valuable?

Brett Trainor (: 30:58

you

Jaidin McCann (: 31:04

And I would say, honestly, that's where you get your early adopters, right? Because those guys, you're asking them questions, but now they're interested in your growth and supporting that growth. so it, yes, is a great sales tactic, but also it sets you up for success because if you're offering something that the market doesn't need right now, you're going to go nowhere in, well, hopefully you'll still find some success, right? There's needs all over, but you're not going to grow the way you expected to grow and you take it personally.

Brett Trainor (: 31:25

Yeah.

Jaidin McCann (: 31:33

Really, you're like, is it me? What am I doing? But it's just that there's not a market need for what you're offering. And so making sure there is that need and even within it, right? You could be a CRO and right now lead generation is very hard for people. But if you're specialized in closing deals and that company is really great at closing deals, then you're not offering what they need, right? And it's not about you. You got to go find that.

Brett Trainor (: 31:38

Right.

Brett Trainor (: 31:51

Thank

and for me.

Jaidin McCann (: 31:56

So yeah, I would just really hone in, know who you are, what you offer, your value proposition, and then brand yourself really well so that people, it builds that automatic trust.

Brett Trainor (: 32:06

Yeah, such a good point too. And again, it's okay to pick a lane to start. You can always pivot later because you do want people to know. If I met with you or one of our folks meets with you and you just say, I'm a chief revenue officer. You're like, you meet chief revenue officers all the time. What is it about you that's unique that you're going to remember that, hey, if this company has this challenge, yeah, Brett actually mentioned that he did this. Because I would tell people if you tell everybody you can do everything.

they're never gonna remember you because there's nothing, everything is nothing, right? So you gotta pick that one and it can change. And I always tell you, you can be opportunistic, right? Pick one you wanna go after and as stuff comes inbound, you can be opportunistic and take it, but just pick a path to begin or it's gonna be a much more difficult path. interesting.

Jaidin McCann (: 32:56

Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a common, and I don't want to say mistake, it does work for some people. It just has not worked for me. But I will say, you know, some people are like, wow, I can be industry agnostic, right? I can hire executives across a multitude of industries. That's true. But they think that if you're closed off and you're only for one industry or only for one, you know, some people are tech, some people are tech startups only some people are, you know, and so you can get more and more refined.

Brett Trainor (: 33:12

Right.

Jaidin McCann (: 33:25

But people think that if they close themselves off, they're not going to make as much money when I think the confidence of the buyer is actually there and they feel more secure investing in you. If you are a technology startup or a, you know, they're looking for lawyers and you only do lawyers, right? Whatever that looks like, you're now that go to, and it doesn't hinder you. So I definitely, I definitely recommend specializing, if anything, for your own personal mind of peace of mind.

When you try and sell to everyone, that is so much harder than trying to sell to one specific group, getting your foot in the door, getting those good referrals in that group. One thing I did learn is it's a way tighter knit community than we ever thought. know, like the same people attend the same events in Seattle that I'm at for tech startups, the same people know the same people. So I get introduced to people I already know and they're in the same networking groups, right? So the world is so much smaller than we think.

I really do when you specialize in specific areas, it's good to have that tight network because now you're well known in that space versus not very well known in this vast world.

Brett Trainor (: 34:36

So true. And the other thing I tell folks is that most of us, you're starting your solo business, looking for 100 clients, you're looking for two, three, maybe five most. So you can get super nichey on what you're going after. As long as there's more than five people in the country or world that need this, you're going to find folks there. And again, it's a better chance for you to match what you like to do. if you had a 20 -year or three -year corporate career, you've probably done a lot of different things.

Jaidin McCann (: 34:50

Yeah.

Brett Trainor (: 35:04

Now is the time to pick the thing you like to do best and hopefully that's what you also do the best but right versus the spray and pray and hope you land something.

Jaidin McCann (: 35:16

Yeah, absolutely.

Brett Trainor (: 35:19

Well, time is flying by, I can't believe that. So I do want to be respectful. Anything that we missed, I think this was super helpful and down a path that we haven't had on the podcast yet. So I appreciate you taking some time. Any other words of advice for folks just getting started?

Jaidin McCann (: 35:36

gosh, yes, it's more work than you think it is, but it's so worth it. So absolutely, there will be days where you wanna pull your hair out and throw it all away and say, I would love to go back to my cushy comfort corporate job, but fight through it, keep fighting through it. And what's really amazing about this network that you'll get to know is that we all have felt that way. We have all been in that place and you can open up about that to them. They will relate.

and you don't have to keep that in and internalize it. You can get it out. So definitely there's a huge support system here. It's definitely not corporate America. We are all here to help each other grow and succeed. And I just think that's the coolest thing is it's not competition. Even when you're in the same field, it's actually now a new referral partner for if you have bandwidth issues, if they have bandwidth issues, if you specialize in different things, everyone is so helpful. And we, for the most part,

all want to see everyone else grow and succeed. And so it's so worth it. And just I would take that leap and enjoy the journey.

Brett Trainor (: 36:32

Yeah.

Brett Trainor (: 36:40

Yeah, well said, well said. And I think you're 100 % right. The other thing that we don't, I didn't fully appreciate until I was out was you can eliminate the negative people, right? You can't choose your coworkers and maybe who their customers are in corporate, but here you can choose who you want to work with and choose the positive folks and eliminate the negativity. It was a game changer. I did not appreciate that until I basically cut it out. So another added benefit.

Jaidin McCann (: 37:08

Absolutely.

Brett Trainor (: 37:10

All right, Jaidin, so what's if people want to connect with you, learn more, what's the best way for them to do that? I'll make sure I add it to the show notes as well.

Jaidin McCann (: 37:19

Yes, they can reach out to me on LinkedIn. And then also feel free to shoot me or my team an email at jayden at Jasper consultancy .com spelled just like you see on the little box on the screen. And I am more than happy to offer advice or you know, give you real talk on all the good, the bad and the ugly. So you feel really prepared, happy to chat about, you know, Jasper and what we do. Honestly, like I said, I just really want to see everyone grow and succeed. And from

startups to fortune 500s. Somebody's worked really hard to get where they are. They have a vision for their life and it's somebody's dream and they're accomplishing that. And so I just want to come alongside and help them reach that full potential and achieve that dream. So if that's you are happy to help in any way I can.

Brett Trainor (: 38:04

Awesome, I appreciate that. I think we will do one of the things I'm gonna start doing on this series of podcasts is where are they now checking back in? So maybe in other six months, we'll see how your fractional practice is growing and see maybe what the market's telling you. So again, as folks that wanna pursue fractional might as well hear it from somebody that's doing it every day. No, but some really great advice, was some insights. I hope.

people will take to heart, take some notes and figure it out. So Jayden, thank you so much for joining us and we'll catch up with you soon.

Jaidin McCann (: 38:37

Thank you so much for having me, Brett. It's been a pleasure.