What each demands, how each pays, and who thrives in each
Today marks the first Tuesday in twenty-six years with no calendar to answer to, and three emails are waiting unopened on your screen. One comes from a former CEO in Henrico who wants you as a fractional chief operating officer, two days a week. A board recruiter has written to say your name surfaced during a search, which is how these things tend to start. The last message comes from a former vendor who would pay you handsomely to explain, candidly, what their customers actually think. You are 56. Right now the decision is no longer about which position to accept. The question is which way of living you hope to shape.
What each path asks of you
Fractional work relies on the practical operating skills you already have. You take charge of something substantial, part time, for a Richmond or Henrico company that isn't ready to hire a full-time executive. Compensation looks like a salary minus the benefits, which lands above what you expected but below what you used to earn. People who miss the actual work and want nothing to do with office politics tend to thrive in it. The danger is that two days a week gradually stretch to four while the title never changes.
Sitting on a board calls for sharp judgment and the discipline to restrain yourself when needed. You do a lot of reading, say relatively little, and remain accountable for choices you had no hand in making. Public boards pay a retainer and often equity. On private and nonprofit boards in Chesterfield or Hopewell, the pay is usually modest or absent, and your first seat will most likely be one of those. This path suits those who can watch an executive make a mistake without seizing control. The drawback is that landing the right seat can take years of searching. Richmond's nonprofit and civic boards, from the YWCA Richmond to the Greater Richmond Partnership's network, are a practical place to start building that record.
Consulting depends on the standing you have earned and the circle of contacts you have cultivated. Each quarter, you pitch for work before there is anything ready to hand over. Work is priced per project, so earnings arrive unevenly, and the strongest engagements typically come from people who already know what you can do. It suits people who enjoy the pitch. The hazard is becoming your own entire sales department, and that department never takes a week off.
The pivot point
You begin to notice the three emails are not three doors. These are three income streams, and the leaders who flourish after leaving the corner office seldom rely on just one of them. During the first year, the fractional role is what covers your bills. Consulting projects build the standing that brings the board recruiter back to your door. Once a board seat is secured, future fractional offers start arriving on their own instead of having to be chased down. Choosing among them is not really the core question. What matters is where to begin, and the answer is whichever one a client will pay for this month.
Why this matters beyond your own path
Citing Forbes, Black Enterprise notes that women founded 44% of new businesses in 2025, climbing from 29% back in 2019. A large share of these are second acts, started by women who saw the corporate ladder run out two rungs early. Across Virginia, where the economy ranks 13th among states by GDP, the market for executive judgment sold by the day is not a consolation prize. It is a market. Resources such as the Women's Business Center of Central Virginia at Virginia Union University, SCORE Richmond and the Virginia Small Business Development Center Network can help you structure that second act without starting from scratch.
Three takeaways to keep with you
1. Answer the fractional email first. Insist on a scope in writing and a day rate, and make your point clearly: "Two days a week means two days. What happens when it becomes three?" How they respond will show you what kind of client they are going to be.
2. Be prepared for the search for a board seat to run close to two years. Say yes to the first seat that teaches you something and hands you a narrative worth sharing, even without pay. Most boards lean toward people who have already held a seat on one.
3. Take the vendor's offer, and get the invoice out before the presentation deck. The rate your first consulting client agrees to becomes the figure every later client assumes is fair.
Three emails, three income streams, all within a single Tuesday. The schedule is blank, and for the first time, you decide what goes on it.