Your Team Says They Are at 140% Capacity | Kati Peterman on What a Fractional Operator Actually Fixes

Every founder Kati Peterman meets says a version of the same sentence. I'm just not there yet. Not there yet for a COO. Not there yet for a real operator. And she has come to believe that sentence almost never means what it sounds like it means. It is rarely about the money. It is that a visionary founder cannot picture what that person would actually do all day, so a big salary looks like a bet on a job description they cannot see. Her answer is to go find the money first. Outstanding collections, billables, how clients pay and when, merchant services. Unglamorous operational leakage sitting there in almost every company. Fix that in the first weeks and the fractional executive has paid for herself, and the founder stops arguing about whether operations deserves funding. ## In this episode - What fractional actually means now that the word has gone hot, and what it buys a company not ready for a full time hire - I'm just not there yet, and why that sentence is usually about understanding rather than budget - The quick win that funds the role, starting with money the business has already earned and not collected - A better question than calling a founder a control freak: where does my founder have fear right now - Placing the right person versus installing the system, and why the operator has to actually enjoy the work - Education as the thing that makes a system stick after the operator leaves - Where she refuses to let AI go, including refunds and cancellations, and why the sales conversation is burning leads - Teams running at 120 to 140% capacity, and what it takes to get back to 70 - Who should not hire a fractional executive ## Timestamps 00:00 A show for founders who are done being the bottleneck 01:10 What fractional actually means, and why the word got hot 03:11 The first COO offer, and the gap she kept seeing 05:04 I'm just not there yet, and what founders really mean by it 08:05 Outstanding collections, billables, and money already on the table 09:10 Founders get a bad rap as control freaks 09:54 The better question: where does my founder have fear right now 14:41 Why the operator has to actually enjoy the work 16:59 Education is true empowerment, and what makes a system stick 23:12 Teams at 120 to 140% capacity, and getting back to 70 24:35 Zero AI in refunds and cancellations 26:08 The thing that is not up for debate: response time 28:50 Who should not hire a fractional executive 30:01 Why franchisee owners became the favorite client 31:40 Where to find Kati ## About Kati Peterman Kati Peterman came up as a chief of staff and integrator inside seven and eight figure companies, then founded FRX, a national bench of fractional executives placed into small and mid sized businesses. She is also COO of Empire Operating System. FRX: https://yourfrx.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katipeterman/ If your team is at 140% and hiring is not on the table, that is the conversation: https://crm.frontrangesystems.com/discovery