What is a Fractional COO?

and how can a Fractional COO change your Business?

Let’s talk about a word you have probably seen floating around on the internet for the past few years. Fractional COO.

What is a COO?

First, let’s start with explaining what a COO is and what they do. A COO is a Chief Operating Officer, and they ensure that the day-to-day logistics and operations of a business are running smoothly. What does this entail? Well, this varies on the type of business, but let’s take a look at some examples below:

• For a healthcare institution, a COO handles staffing, severe weather events, building maintenance, housekeeping, patient flow, compliance, and the list goes on.

• For an e-commerce, a COO manages supply chain, customer service, order fulfillment, and quality products are delivered in a timely manner.

• For a Digital Agency, a COO ensures workflows are optimized, automations are in place, and team capacity is running smoothly to ensure client satisfaction.

All businesses have a lot of moving pieces, and it is the COO’s job to ensure all pieces stay connected and moving forward consistently and on time.

What is a Fractional COO?

How let’s talk about what A Fractional COO is. A Fractional COO serves at a fraction of the time and cost of a full-time COO. This means a Fractional COO does not work under the typical ‘employee’ model, providing 40+ hours a week of services. A Fractional COO can work on a consultancy base (fee per hour) or on a monthly retainer on standby for needs as they arise.

Think of it as having your own strategic partner in your corner, to keep the wheels of your business turning.

How can a Fractional COO help my Business?

Now you may be wondering, what does a COO have to do with a small business or solopreneur?

And the truth is - EVERYTHING.

If you are a small business owner and have ever found yourself wishing you knew more business owners to pick their brains, found yourself in analysis paralysis, or scouring the internet for business advice or comparing products/ services late into the night - this is where a COO may be the Strategic powerhouse that your business needs.

What does a COO do?

This next section is going to go in-depth to really peel back the layers of the full skillset of a COO so that by the end of this section, you will be able to see why Corporations leverage COOs to drive growth.

• Strategic Planning

  There is an old saying that goes, ‘A Goal without a Plan is Just a Wish’, and no truer words have been spoken.
  If you have ever found yourself with big hopes, big dreams, and year after year none of them have come to fruition - it is not because of a lack of drive or imagination.

  It is because of a lack of a plan.

  At the core of being a good COO is having the ability to:

  • Understand your Vision

  • Map out a Big Picture plan that aligns with your Vision

  • and ALL of the tangible steps to successfully accomplish this plan

  A COO is not just an ‘executor’, they are a Strategic Thinker who is on your side and cares about the sustainability of your business.
  
  

• Audits & Organizes Operations

  Before this Big Picture Plan can truly get started, a skilled COO will conduct a FULL audit and analysis of your business. This is not to pass judgment, this is to understand who you are, where your business is, understand the strengths, and weaknesses to meet you where you are.

  The purpose is to get a high-level view and ask, ‘is this working?’ And if it is not - this is the time when your business can meticulously be reorganized.

  Some of the items that may be analyzed are:

  • Your client onboarding process

  • Your supply chain

  • Your payment systems/processes

  • Scheduling tools

  • Service delivery model and process

  The purpose of this is to gain intimate insight into the gaps, inefficiencies, and potential duplication of efforts.

  *Personally, this is one of my favourite parts of onboarding a new client :)
  

  By the end of this session, I get to see a sigh of relief and a smile from my client, knowing, they no longer have to carry the full burden anymore to figure it all out.
  
  

• System Building & Implementation

  This is where the meat and potatoes of your business begin to truly start feeling different. This is not a quick solution that happens overnight, often you may find that these processes are built in sequences that will not cause a full disruption to your entire operations.

  Because COOs are obsessed with systems that scale.

  If your business lives inside of your head and EVERY decision must be approved by you - this might feel uncomfortable because this untwining process will involve:

  • Peeling out all of the thoughts that live in your brain, scattered sticky notes, and endless spreadsheets

  • and putting those intro structures SOPs, templates, and tools.
    

    If you are not familiar with what an SOP is check out my article here
    
    

• Capacity Building

  Most Entrepreneurs quickly find themselves constantly working IN the business instead of ON it.

  What does that mean exactly? That means that instead of focusing on driving the direction of your business, making high-level decisions, you find yourself making daily phone calls, answering emails for hours, problem-solving for your team, replying to DMs or stuck all day in client or patient calls. With all of this on your plate, it is no wonder you don’t have time to strategize.
  

  A Fractional COO creates white space in your schedule.
  

  And THIS is one of the most beautiful things a Fractional COO can create for a CEO. You might be wondering, how does a COO do this? Let me show you some examples:

  • Taking over your client onboarding process

  • Managing product / service launches and ensuring they are done on time

  • Keeping your team on track

  • and acting as your second brain

What does this look like in the day-to-day?

Well, this is what some of my Clients have to say:

• ‘We wish we had found Priscilla years ago!’

• ‘Priscilla gave us excellent advice and actionable recommendations. Great knowledge base and helped us understand blind spots.’

• ‘I finally feel like a CEO’ 🥲

Who might a Fractional COO be best for?

✓ You are making consistent income (even if is messy)

✓ You have solid offers / services in place

✓ You feel overwhelmed with an endless to-do list

✓ You have outgrown the DIY stage

✓ You feel like your business is duct-taped together

Final thoughts - You do Not have to keep doing it Alone

Whether you are a therapist, health coach, or nutritionist - you likely started your business to help people. And somewhere along the way, running your business got put on the back burner while you served your patients. The inbox, rescheduling, clinical notes, payment chasing, tech stack, etc all just became too much.

I am here to help you do what you do best, help others.

A Fractional COO brings order to chaos, not just so that your business runs, but so that you can breathe again.

If this is you - and you are ready for a Strategic Partner, I have a few options for you:

→ Book a free discovery call

→ Learn more about how to bring me onboard as your Fractional COO

→ If you are not ready for a Fractional COO yet, I also offer no-commitment private coaching calls