What each demands, how each pays, and who thrives in each
Twenty-six years of calendars have finally run out, and it is a Tuesday with three unread emails glowing on your screen. Your former CEO has written first, proposing that you join as a fractional chief operating officer for two days each week. A board recruiter, reaching out from Hartford, mentions that your name surfaced during a conversation about open seats. A former vendor is offering payment in exchange for your honest read on what their customers really feel. You are 56. The choice in front of you has shifted, so that it is no longer about which job to accept. It is which kind of life to build.
What each route expects from you
The fractional role calls on your hands-on operational skill. Working part time in Greater Hartford, you take charge of something substantial for a business that cannot yet afford a full-time executive. The pay looks like a salary with the benefits stripped out, more than you might expect and less than you once earned. This fits people who crave the hands-on work and feel little pull toward internal maneuvering. The hazard is that your two working days gradually grow into four in Hartford, yet the job title still says part time.
A seat on a board requires your sound judgment along with your restraint. Much of your time goes to reading, you say relatively little, and you are held accountable for choices you never made yourself. Boards of publicly traded firms usually offer a retainer, frequently paid partly in stock. Private and nonprofit boards frequently pay less, or nothing at all, and most people's first seat is one of those. This suits people who can watch an executive make a mistake without seizing control. The drawback is that landing a seat can take years of searching.
Consulting asks for your name and your network. You make the sale before any work is delivered, and this cycle repeats every quarter. Payment arrives project by project, so income rises and falls, and your best engagements tend to come from people in East Hartford and beyond who already know your work. It suits people who enjoy the pitch. The hazard is becoming your own sales department, a team that never gets a day off.
The turn
Look closer and the three emails stop looking like three doors. These are three separate income sources, and the leaders who do well after leaving the corner office seldom rely on only one. During year one, it is the fractional position that pays the bills. Consulting projects in places like West Hartford and Glastonbury build the reputation that draws the board recruiter back to you. Once a board seat is secured, future fractional offers start arriving at your door instead of you having to chase them down. Rather than asking which path to pick, ask which one a client will pay for this month, and begin there.
Why this matters well past your own situation
Per Forbes, reported in Black Enterprise, women started 44% of new businesses in 2025, compared with 29% back in 2019. Plenty of these ventures represent a second chapter, started by women who saw the corporate climb stall before the top. Executive judgment sold by the day is a legitimate and growing market, not a second-best option. It is a real market, and Greater Hartford's concentration of insurers, healthcare systems and manufacturers means there is no shortage of companies that need experienced operators on a part-time basis.
Three points worth remembering
Start by replying to the fractional offer email. Request a written scope and a day rate, and state it directly: "Two days a week means two days. If it turns into three, what then?" How they respond will show you the kind of client they will be.
Second Plan the board search across roughly two years, as you would any long project. Accept the first seat, even an unpaid one, that teaches you something and gives you a story worth telling. Boards generally prefer candidates who have already served on one. Local networks such as the CT River Valley Chamber's WAVES group or the Women's Business Development Council's events in Hartford are good places to meet the people who sit on those boards.
Third Accept the vendor's offer, and send your invoice ahead of any presentation. The rate you set with your first consulting client becomes the rate everyone after them expects to pay. Free work teaches clients to expect free work.
Three messages, three sources of income, and all of them arriving on the same Tuesday. The calendar is blank, and for the first time in years, it is yours to fill however you choose.