The Fractional Playbook

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Six More Rules I Broke to Get Clients

The ghosted lead who came back a year later, the sushi dinner that pays for itself, and the goodbye email that keeps landing referrals

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About the Playbook

Who is this newsletter for?
The Fractional Playbook is a weekly publication written specifically for freelancers, design consultants, independent agency owners, and product operators who want to break free of hourly billing, transition to a premium “fractional” partnership model, and scale their client earnings while working fewer hours.
What is a “fractional practice”?
A fractional practice is a senior-led service model where an elite specialist (such as a product designer, head of product, or developer) embeds part-time into multiple startup teams simultaneously. Instead of selling rigid agency retainers or trading hours for dollars, a fractional partner operates as an integrated team member — matching startup speed, making high-level strategic decisions, and executing deliverables on flexible, weekly terms.
Who writes it?
The Fractional Playbook is written by Gev Marotz, the founder of Gev Design. Gev is a senior product designer and brand strategist who delivers over $2M a year in product, brand, and web development work for venture-backed startups (including early product projects for Facebook and design leadership at Wealthsimple). Today, he shares his exact playbooks, pricing frameworks, and client management templates with independent professionals looking to build high-margin fractional practices; find him on LinkedIn ↗.