The 4 Key Traits of 7 Figure Fractional CFOs

I've been doing a lot of reflection lately on the characteristics that are inherent to being a great fractional cfo. Specifically, I wanted to think about the characteristics that tend to separate the best from the rest. Now, there's certain characteristics that I think are inherent to all of us in this industry. Things like being analytical. Without having some analytical skills and a bit of analytics in our DNA, we would never even get in the game of being a fractional cfo. That's not what I'm talking about today. I'm specifically focused on what are the characteristics that the fractional CFOs that are having the most success? What are the characteristics that they have that a lot of other people don't have at all or they maybe need to develop? And so in today's episode, I'm gonna share with you the four characteristics that I have observed that are common to those that are having the most success, the most impact as fractional CFOs. And my hope is that you'll take some notes on this episode. My hope is you'll write some of these things down and spend some time doing some introspection about you and where you sit relative to these four characteristics. My hope is that it makes you a impactful fractional cfo. Without further ado, let's dive in. Over the last couple of years, I have had the privilege and honor of coaching literally hundreds of fractional CFO firm owners. I even have a small mastermind that I call Elite. And we've got high six figure, seven, multiple seven figure firm owners in that group. And I've done a lot of just observation, a lot of just watching those firm owners and really looking to see, like, what is it that makes them special? Why are they able to run these firms that are larger, that are having tremendous impact when other people tend to struggle. And I found that there were four characteristics that were very common to those most successful firm owners that I've been around. And those four characteristics are areas of opportunity for firm owners that are struggling to grow. And so I want to share these four characteristics with you today. But as I get into them, I want you to be mindful that in my observation at least, it's not any one of these four characteristics that makes some of these larger firm owners successful. What I'm finding is it's actually the mix of these four characteristics that kind of work together inside the firm that's kind of making them special. So as you think about this, I want you to think about not just leveling up on one of them. But how can you kind of massage or exercise all four of these characteristics inside of your own firm and inside yourself? The first characteristic that I find common amongst these Most successful fractional CFOs is they are extremely assertive. So what does it mean to be assertive? Well, to me, when I think of somebody that's assertive, I think of somebody that's really good at expressing their opinions in a very clear manner. I think of somebody that expresses their thoughts in a concise way and they do it without hitting either end of the spectrum. They're not overly aggressive. They're not yelling and screaming and kind of getting into their clients faces, but they're also doing it in a way that's not completely passive either. And I think that's so important, especially when you think about giving clients advice. If you go in as a vendor at the end of the day, as fractional CFOs were vendors, and you go super aggressive on your clients all the time, it's kind of like, who does this guy or who does this lady think she is, right? She, she works for me. This is a vendor. You can't be super aggressive with your clients, but you also can't be passive with your clients either. You've really got to lean into the issues, you've got to point them out, you've got to call attention to them. But again, you've got to do that in a way that, that really presents the information to your clients with dignity and respect, but also without ambiguity. And so having that assertive kind of vibe to you, so, so important. Your clients need it. And so as you listen to that, if you're like, okay, I'm not as assertive as maybe I should be, I'd love for you to just kind of do some research and find ways that you can level up your assertiveness. The second characteristic that some of the more successful CFOs tend to have is they're bold. When I think about being bold, to me in a lot of ways it's about taking risks, it's about being courageous. It's part of the DNA of entrepreneurs anyway. And as a fract cfo, you've really got to embody that. In the times when it's most important to be bold is when your clients are in situations of high risk, when they're in situations of uncertainty, when they're in a situation for the first time, when they're in a situation that they don't know what to do, they need you to step in and be bold. They're counting on you to step in and be bold and courageous and direct with them and really let them know what's going on and what your recommendation is and why. Also, when I think of being bold, it's about pushing boundaries. It's about pushing your client outside of their comfort zone. It's about pushing your client to try new things, take on some new strategies, put in place some new tactics so that it will unlock for them their next level of success, so that it'll help them achieve their goals. It's what like that saying, like, you know, what got you here isn't what's going to get you there. You've got to be bold to push your client through that mindset. The third characteristic that I find common to some of the most successful fractional CFOs is just confidence. It's just confidence. I always go back to that word swagger. You know, you walk in the room and people are like, oh, she's here. You know, the energy in the room changes when you walk in. And when it comes to strategic finance, you've got to have confidence. When you get on the CFO call or you get in the meetings with the clients, you've got to exude confidence that what you're saying is right. You've got to pull from your 5, 10, 20, 30 years of experience as a CFO or whatever roles you've been in, and you got to kind of pull from that first. You've got to trust in what you're saying before your clients are going to trust in what you're saying. You've got to have confidence in you before your clients are going to have confidence in you. If you're somebody that lacks confidence, then my words of encouragement would be just think back to all the things that you've done in the world of finance and accounting. Think back to all of the projects that you've helped previous clients or employers see their way through. Think back to some of the wins that you've had your other fractional CFO clients have. If you don't do so, journal on those things, keep written records of those things. So if you're like, I just don't know, go back to those journal entries at some point and read them and let that kind of manifest that confidence in you. But it's so important as a fractional CFO to show up with confidence. One of the things that I think that we tend to lose sight of a lot of times as fractional CFOs is we still have that C in our title Right. We are a C suite executive, even if it's on a fractional basis. And to earn the right to be in a C suite position, you got to have confidence. You've got to have confidence. That's part of getting your ticket to the door. And so I'd really encourage you. Remember the wins that you've had, remember how far you've come, remember some of the accomplishments that you've had and that you've been able to have for some of your other clients and really bring that to the table when you're meeting with your fractional CFO clients. The fourth characteristic that I'm seeing all the time with the Most successful fractional CFOs is they are direct. There is no ambiguity, there's no beating around the bush. They tell their clients like it is. They make their recommendations, they're super direct with it. You've got to do this, this and this. If you want X, Y, Z outcomes, they're super direct. Now the challenge with being direct is a lot of times if you're not careful, it can be perceived as being blunt, it can be perceived as arrogance, it can be perceived maybe that you're insensitive sometimes, but here's the truth. Sometimes your clients need that. Sometimes your clients need you to hit them with that reality stick. I don't even know what a reality stick is. That just came to mind. But sometimes your clients need you to be super direct with them. In fact, sometimes your clients require that of you. Again, particularly when they're in the hard times, when they're doing something that is going to have really expensive or catastrophic consequences, they need you to be direct. The other time where being direct really comes into play is during the sales process. When you're in that sales process, you've got to be really direct with those leads and telling them how you're going to help them, what those outcomes are going to look like. And really the important part with being direct on sales is telling them what's happening next. What's the next step? Be direct with them. Say, look, I'm going to send you over the proposal. Go ahead and get it signed. We'll start your onboarding Tuesday at 9 o'. Clock. Does that work for you? It's super direct. Look for those opportunities where you can level up your directness with your, with your clients. And, and like I said, that starts in the sales process. During onboarding, during your weekly check in calls, during your monthly fractional CFO calls, you've got to be direct at all times. Again, you're a C suite executive on this team. You got to be direct. You can't be like, nah, you know, I don't know, maybe you could do this or maybe you could do that. You got to be direct. This is what I recommend. This is why I recommend it. So again, when it comes to the Most successful fractional CFOs, from my observations, anyway, four key characteristics that you got to have, and they've got to be working in harmony and in unison. You've gotta be assertive, you've gotta be bold, you've gotta be confident, and you've gotta be direct. Those are the ABCs of a really good fractional CFO. Listen, if you're looking to level up your skills as a fractional cfo, if you're looking to level up your impact as a fractional cfo, if you want to take your firm to the next level in 2024, then I want to invite you to join me in Dallas for the 2024 CFO Accelerator Live. The CFO Accelerator Live is literally the only conference in the entire world for fract fractional CFOs. We are bringing 300 fractional CFOs right here to Dallas to level up their impact. If that sounds like something you're interested in, go to the cfoacceleratorlive.com to learn more information. In the meantime, I can't wait to see you back here next week, my friends. I'll see you then.