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Woman Quits 9-to-5, Triples Income to $220,000 Through Fractional Work

Prime Highlights

  • Rachael De Foe transitioned from full-time PR work to fractional roles, allowing her to guide multiple companies’ communications on a part-time basis while avoiding burnout.
  • The move transformed her career, increasing her annual earnings from S$72,000 to approximately $220,000and providing greater control over her workload.

Key Facts

  • Fractional professionals like De Foe typically work with three to five clients simultaneously, offering strategic guidance embedded within company leadership.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated fractional work demand, as companies downsized PR teams and startups sought part-time communications leadership.

Background

In late 2019, Rachael De Foe, a Singapore-based public relations professional, decided to leave her nine-to-five job after years of burnout. She described the agency world as chasing the “agency monster,” where large teams required more clients, and more clients required larger teams. “There’s never equilibrium,” De Foe said. She realized she didn’t want to follow in her boss’s footsteps and chose to quit without a clear plan.

By 2020, she had launched her own company, Redefy, and started working as a fractional head of communications. Unlike freelancers, fractional professionals are embedded in a company’s leadership, helping guide strategy and manage communications, but on a part-time basis. De Foe now works with multiple clients, typically three to five companies at once, while setting her own hours and managing her workload.

The move transformed her income. De Foe’s annual earnings jumped from $72,000 Singapore dollars (around $56,000) to approximately $220,000, and over five years, she has earned more than $1.1 million. The other benefit of fractional work is that she is not subjected to burnout, as she did in the more traditional positions.

The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated her career. Many companies downsized, cutting PR teams, and startups and venture capital firms reached out to De Foe for help with communications. What started as ad hoc freelance work evolved into long-term engagements and fully-fledged fractional roles.

De Foe believes fractional work is particularly suitable for services-based businesses. “You are the service. People want to work with you,” she said. She also noted that more senior professionals are turning to fractional roles as a sustainable career path.

De Foe, looking back, said, “I am never going to see one boss again. I am happier, more fulfilled, and am free to pursue the projects and clients that I desire.”

Her narrative gives emphasis to the rising interest in fractional work as a high-paying, flexible substitute to regular work.