From Idea to 1,400 Registrants: Behind the Scenes of the Fractional/Shift Summit

Written By cindy wagman

"It's not a standalone revenue model or strategy. It really is like a marketing tool... to market and get paid to market." Cindy Wagman

From Idea to 1,400 Registrants: Behind the Scenes of the Fractional/Shift Summit

Okay, so you know how Jess has been bugging Cindy FOREVER to host a summit? Well, she finally did it! In this fun behind-the-scenes chat, Cindy spills all the tea on her first-ever Fractional Shift Summit that absolutely crushed it with 1,400+ registrations and $24K in revenue (and yes, she's got the Airtable data to prove it — you should see how happy spreadsheet data makes her!).

Cindy opens up about why she finally felt ready to "take up space" as THE fractional expert, how she convinced practically every sponsor she approached to say yes (only three said no!), and why she thinks the nonprofit world needs way more time to make decisions than those "launch in 3 days" gurus will tell you.

If you've been on the fence about hosting your own signature event, this episode is your permission slip to either go all-in or wait until it feels right. As Cindy says, it's definitely a "high effort, high reward" project — but now that she's built it once, she can rinse and repeat next year with half the stress.

Highlights:

  • The moment Cindy knew she was ready to claim her spot as THE thought leader on fractional roles (and why she's glad she waited)

  • How she crafted a "curated approach" to partnerships that made sponsors feel like they were getting the golden ticket (and they funded all her speaker fees!)

  • Why she started promoting a full two months before launch (and why LinkedIn delivered even better than her email list)

  • The hilarious reality of launching her Academy right when the nonprofit world was in crisis mode (and what she'll do differently next time)

  • Her secret weapon named Christine who made the whole thing possible (because let's be real, no one does this alone!)

Timestamp summary: 

  • [00:00:00 - 00:02:26] Introduction and overview of the Fractional Shift Summit. Cindy explains why the timing was finally right for her to host this event and how her experience working with fractional executives helped her curate relevant content.

  • [00:02:26 - 00:06:36] Summit structure and impressive results. Cindy breaks down the format (two days, three stages including main stage, fundamentals track, and mastery track), attendance numbers (1,401 registrants, 186 VIP pass upgrades), and email list growth (760 new subscribers).

  • [00:06:36 - 00:08:09] Attendee demographics. Detailed breakdown of participants by experience level (30% not yet consulting, 44% in first three years) and specialization (41% fundraisers, 16% operations, 9.5% marketing).

  • [00:08:09 - 00:13:26] Strategic sponsorship approach. Cindy shares her curated method for securing sponsors like Neon One, Handwritten, Zatik, and others, explaining how speaking opportunities were included and how these partnerships added value beyond financial support.

  • [00:13:26 - 00:17:42] Pre-summit marketing strategy. Discussion of the extended promotion window (starting November 18th for January 14-15th event), marketing channels, and registration spikes after email sends, with LinkedIn (31.5%) and email (27%) driving the most registrations.

  • [00:17:42 - 00:21:25] Post-summit launch challenges. Cindy reflects on the timing between the summit and Academy launch, explaining why she'll separate them more in the future and how external factors (nonprofit funding crisis) affected enrollment.

  • [00:21:25 - 00:25:55] Future plans and lessons learned. Plans for expanding beyond fundraisers with a beta program for other fractional executives, nurturing summit attendees, and approach for future launches.

  • [00:25:55 - 00:28:40] Scaling and repeating success. Discussion of how future summits will be easier with templates and systems in place, though finding equally impressive speakers remains a challenge.

  • [00:28:40 - 00:30:29] Summit profitability. Transparency about financial results, with approximately $24,000 in revenue but significant speaker fees, positioning the summit as "getting paid to market" rather than a standalone profit center.

  • [00:30:29 - 00:32:36] Strategic value beyond direct revenue. How hosting a summit establishes thought leadership, opens doors for podcast interviews, and strengthens Cindy's association with fractional work.

  • [00:32:36 - 00:34:12] Preview of upcoming in-person masterminds. Announcement of events in Toronto (May 21st), Boulder (August), and potentially Atlanta (October), designed to help consultants form their own mastermind relationships.

Resources Mentioned:

Find Us Online:  https://www.confessionswithjessandcindy.com/

Connect with Cindy:

Cindy Wagman Coaching https://cindywagman.com/

The Good Partnership https://www.thegoodpartnership.com/

Connect with Jess: 

Out In the Boons: https://www.outintheboons.me


TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Cindy: Hey, Jess. Hello. What's up, everyone? This is overdue. This is so overdue. Although, it feels like we've had five years in one month.

[00:00:11] Cindy: Yeah. it really has only been a month and like a few days since I hosted the Fractional Shift Summit. So it's not that long. I know. So much has happened since then. So.

[00:00:22] Jess: Exactly. Yeah. Daily. but you're in for a treat because, our very own Cindy is now on the other side of her first online summit.

[00:00:33] Jess: Round of applause.If you've been on the podcast, you know that I have been encouraging Cindy to do one of these for a long time, and, I think that this will be an interesting debrief, because I have a feeling there's other people that listen to the podcast that have thought about doing this level of an event, and for whatever reason haven't jumped in with two feet, and so maybe we can even talk about that a little bit, as part of the debrief, because, Yeah.

[00:01:00] Jess: It's not a small project. No, it's not. But it's a, it's, I always call them like a high effort, high reward project.

[00:01:10] Cindy: Yes, and there were like, oh, I'll give you all the highs and lows. it was great. And to your point, I do think it was good for me to wait. Because I really, two things that I think really worked.

[00:01:25] Cindy: in my favor. One is, I have enough experience now working with fractional executives, not just fundraisers, but all types, that I was able to curate topics that were so good. Yeah. And I really knew the audience and what they needed. And I think that comes from experience. And that was critically important to the success.

[00:01:50] Cindy: people consistently said that, they loved the speakers and all the content. that was so important to me.

[00:02:01] Jess: Yes.

[00:02:02] Cindy: And the other thing is, I knew where I wanted to take up space. in the sector. And so I felt like always fractional fundraising was too small or too niche, but when I decided to move beyond just fundraising, like I felt like I was really putting my stake in the ground as a quote unquote thought leader on this topic in our sector.

[00:02:26] Cindy: And I was ready to take up that space this time, which I didn't feel ready for before. But Now I do and I'm owning it. So those were two things that I think really helped me know that now was the time. Like having that really clear focus and being ready to like really own it. Own something unique and like very niche within the sector.

[00:02:52] Jess: Yeah, so to back up, like, how did you decide to do this besides my insistence? Because it's not like you had people banging on your, door, like, when are you gonna do a summit? When are you gonna do a summit? But, you do have people asking you questions all the time and for content all the time, so what was the thing that really, you were like, okay, I'll do this.

[00:03:13] Cindy: Fractional's been picking up steam. I've been talking about it for a few years. but I feel like more and more, there's a lot of people calling themselves Fractional Executives. It's growing and I felt like it's all over the place. All over the place. I actually don't think there's literally anyone who is positioned as I am to talk about this.

[00:03:39] Cindy: I've trained, now at this point at time of recording, I think I've had 70 or so people come through my academy. I've worked with a handful of other Fractional executives. So I think that I have a really unique perspective on this that no one else can provide and that people actually need right now because it is like, everyone's calling themselves a fractional.

[00:04:05] Cindy: What does that mean? How do we, I think for. Our sector and for our businesses, it's really important that we elevate and come up with some sort of a shared definition of what this is. Because if we're talking to potential clients, they need to have a clear picture. I'm aware of how other things, and if there's no clear picture or definition, it's going to be harder for all of my clients to be successful.

[00:04:33] Cindy: So I was like, now's the time, I just felt like we're at a bit of a tipping point where this is more and more common, that we need to be creating space for these conversations.

[00:04:48] Jess: Yes. Okay. for folks who maybe, I can't imagine there are, but for folks who like didn't know about it or didn't attend, just quick overview.

[00:04:58] Jess: what was it called? How many days? How many people were there? give us the overview.

[00:05:04] Cindy: Yes. it was called Fractional Shift. And it was two days from noon to 4 p. m. Eastern. and the way, so it was from noon to four on the second day, we added some networking at 1130 that people loved. And I would do that again.

[00:05:23] Cindy: I had, so I promoted it as we had a main stage and then we had two sort of tracks or additional stages. One was for, I think we called it fractional fundamentals, which was for people who were at the beginning of their journey. So not yet consulting or within their first year. And then we had mastery and momentum, which was for people who were more established.

[00:05:46] Cindy: And so I really tried to make sure that we were addressing the needs of both those audiences. In the end, I had 1, 401 people register.186 of those paid for a VIP all access pass, which gave them, Access to all the recordings for a year, the recordings in a private podcast for the year, a training that I did as private training on pricing, and a training that Ashley Rose, who was on the podcast talking about Airtable, she provided a training just because I'm so obsessed.

[00:06:24] Cindy: so we had 186, quote unquote upgrades. we had 760 new email subscribers from the summit.and

[00:06:36] Jess: Do you have any idea, what the split was from more of the newbies versus the, I think you called it the momentum track?

[00:06:44] Cindy: Yeah. I had, an onboarding form. Yeah. In Airtable. so I asked people to fill it out.

[00:06:51] Cindy: We had 764 people fill it out. And 30 percent were not yet consulting.

[00:06:58] Cindy: 44% were in their first three years of consulting. Um, 15 and a half percent were 4 to 8 years and 9 and a half percent, 9 plus years. yeah, I know that. I also know where people heard about us, which is super cool, so I can run through all of it.

[00:07:21] Cindy: The stats and data. You should see her,

[00:07:23] Jess: the face of, glee she has just around her level of, data organization. not sponsored by Airtable, but should be sponsored by Airtable.

[00:07:32] Cindy: she's so

[00:07:32] Jess: happy.

[00:07:34] Cindy: So happy. So I know who was, like, what their specialty was. So 41 percent were fundraisers, 20 percent were, like, Other, which I should tell you what the things were before other.

[00:07:46] Cindy: 9 percent were interim leadership roles. nine and a half percent were marketing. 16 percent were operations. We had, 2 percent in finance and, 2 percent in human resources. a good mix. I was worried that it would all be fundraising, but it was actually pretty,it was more skewed toward fundraising, but still pretty diverse.

[00:08:09] Jess: Yeah. a couple things I want to talk about. And I'm gonna just pick one. okay, so let's talk about pre summit stuff before we talk about the actual summit stuff and then post summit stuff. So one of the things, like from an outsider looking in and as a summit host, I think one of the things you did really well was, You're like partnership sponsorships.

[00:08:32] Jess: And so do you want to talk through that a little bit because This is a big project and it's a project that you might not see any Compensation for until you either open registration all of the VIP upgrades or perhaps like a If you sell something on the back end. And so it is time. It is energy.

[00:08:57] Jess: And I know as business owners, we're constantly making decisions and weighing decisions around like where you put your effort and energy towards. and so sponsorships and partnerships are a way to like front load that compensation. So talk to us about how you did it because, I think it's a, it was done differently.

[00:09:18] Cindy: Yes. So for me, I knew that this was going to cost me money to host because I wanted to pay all my speakers. And for me, that was the first thing was like, I will be out of pocket. I'm committing to be out of pocket if I can't get sponsors. But I knew that my audience had a lot of value to certain people.

[00:09:47] Cindy: And that there

[00:09:48] Jess: are

[00:09:48] Cindy: people that I like working with that, I think, Should be in front of my audience. originally, I anticipated 250 people signing up for the summit. So that's what I went to sponsors with. I was like, I think there's about 250 people.

[00:10:04] Jess: Um,

[00:10:04] Cindy: Register?

[00:10:05] Jess: You thought that there was only going to be 250 Registers?

[00:10:08] Cindy: I like to manage expectations, including my own. Okay. Listen, we blew it on the part goes. yeah. You like, yes, you did. Everyone's expectations are so happy. So I actually like very, I would say it was a very curated approach to partners where I. Specifically reached out to certain people. I would say out of all of the, people I reached out to, hold on, there were one, two, three, three that said no, and then everyone else said yes.

[00:10:48] Cindy: So,I approached, so a couple, like Neon One, Tim Sarantonio from Neon One, has, we've been talking literally for years about working together on something and I know that they really want to, be a leader in this sector and how they manage relationships with consultants. And I was like, This is the right ask.

[00:11:13] Cindy: And so they sponsored, and they were our sort of like tech partner. So they have a license for this tool called ring central, which we use to host the summit. And actually it ended up being pretty cool. I like, wasn't sure it would be. a ton of value, but it worked really well and it was great to have the multiple stages and their team helped with production.

[00:11:36] Cindy: This is really helpful. I approached handwritten, which is a tool that I use to send cards to all my clients. and again, it was a no brainer for them. we actually sent cards. to every single person who filled in our onboarding form and gave us their address. And so we had I don't know, five or six hundred cards go out that peopleloved.

[00:11:59] Cindy: it was a great win. Zatik, who's my bookkeeper, and I've referred a ton of clients to Jane and her team. again, no brainer, like I refer her all the time. I'd love to get her in like her. I'd love Successful. similarly

[00:12:22] Cindy: Sort of like more CFO stuff, fractional CFO, was like a really no brainer, I'd love to get her in front of, everyone I know needs to hire Carlene. You were a sponsor, as well, which obviously, you and I have, We support each other. I sponsored your things, you sponsor my things, we collaborate on things.

[00:12:42] Cindy: So that was a no brainer. And then I also had a small business sponsorship opportunity. So all of the sponsors, and one of the reasons it was so curated was because it included a speaking opportunity. And I wanted a lot, again, first thing I said was the quality of speakers. And so I was very careful in who I wanted that too.

[00:13:05] Cindy: And it was expensive, like it was not cheap. but I wanted to have an opportunity for smaller consultancies or smaller businesses to still be involved as sponsors in the summit. And so I had a small business sponsorship level where you could include like a thing in our swag bag and get some logo recognition and all that.

[00:13:26] Cindy: and our friend Chrissy Scott, sponsored at that level as well. So that was the sponsorship. I feel really great about it because it more than covered the cost of the speakers. and just. Also added to the experience. I think of all the people there. yeah, it was like a

[00:13:46] Jess: win. Yeah, for you for them and for the attendees.

[00:13:50] Jess: Okay, great. Next question I have for you. I said, I've just been seeing this like a lot. So apologies. I've even said this on the podcast, but it's come up with a bunch of clients. And I know you were really mindful of it as well. But yeah, I've been saying out loud a lot. Like it doesn't matter what your product is.

[00:14:08] Jess: If you do not have the time and space to market it, period. Absolutely. End of story. like no one is on the internet, like searching for things. Like randomly and marketing requires repetition, and so I'm just curious about some of the pre conference marketing things that you did to get this out there, get this in front of people, especially because, when you're a first time summit host, you don't have the luxury Something of, being familiar, right?

[00:14:39] Jess: people don't even know what, fractional shift is. Some people might not even know what fractional means. you're almost having to educate and inform at the same time, which is, tricky. how, early did you start promoting it? Did you have any kind of,I don't know, I call them like spike moments or anything to like rally?

[00:14:58] Jess: Did you put together stuff for your speakers and partners to also be sharing? tell us about the pre.

[00:15:06] Cindy: Yes, so I started like I have an

[00:15:09] Jess: air table for that,

[00:15:10] Cindy: I do So I can see day by day how many people registered Yeah,I started very early probably way earlier than like anyone would Recommend so the summit was January 1st 14th and 15th, I started promoting on November 18th.

[00:15:31] Cindy: So that's really

[00:15:32] Jess: started promoting by the sense of here's the registration form or just starting to tease it. Oh, wow. So

[00:15:38] Cindy: on that first day I had nine people register, but the next day I had 118. I'm pretty sure the next, the 19th, I sent out an email.

[00:15:45] Jess: Yeah, for sure.

[00:15:47] Cindy: So and that was by far, the biggest, tool or marketing tool to get people who are already in my space, or on my email list to get them registered.

[00:15:57] Cindy: definitely there were spikes when I sent out emails. Also, LinkedIn was a great, source, so organic posts and other people's posts, so for all the speakers I provided them with an image that they could share and stuff like that, so that was, LinkedIn accounted for 31%, 31. 5 percent of how people said they found us, 27 percent from my email list, Facebook and Instagram.

[00:16:29] Cindy: So I did run ads on meta.

[00:16:32] Jess: Did I

[00:16:33] Cindy: Pretty, I think I did. I'm like, I dunno, , I did. I ran as ads on Meta, and got like a good handful of people that way. I'm not doing that right now. just as an aside, I am not, I'm advertising with other small businesses instead of. Companies like Meta for the foreseeable future.

[00:16:55] Cindy: But, that was still that I did. That was before all of this crap.so a good, like 20 percent came from that, 2 percent said from the podcast. So I don't know if that's this podcast or other podcasts and eight, eight and a half percent from someone else's email list. So I would say like LinkedIn.

[00:17:22] Cindy: Yeah. Meta ads and other people's email lists and my own email list, that's really where I promoted it. I can't think of any other things. I'm also like, right now, and during that time, doing a lot of, speaking on podcasts and things like that. So there's always like that trickle, but, Totally.

[00:17:42] Jess: Yeah, that omnipresence. Well, the one thing I just want to call out here, for folks listening who, whether you're hosting some sort of webinar or a summit or just like some sort of what I'll call launch event, I just want to call out the differences between the work that we all do as nonprofit consultants versus what these for profit, like other kind of Jenna Kutcher's of the world or whoever might tell you what to do.

[00:18:08] Jess: a lot of them will tell you to do like a One to two week open cart registration. And I've done that too. Like I usually do three weeks actually. So it's on the longer side, but it's definitely not two and a half months or whatever, like Cindy. Now I will say you also were promoting this through the holidays, which is just a tricky time of year in general.

[00:18:30] Jess: So I think it was. It's extra smart that you gave yourself extra time. But I just really want to call it the difference because I just think our sector is different. And we need to see things a gajillion million times, more so than the average person. It just takes people more repetition to take action.

[00:18:49] Jess: And so, again, I'm seeing a lot of people like host these kind of webinars or whatever and they're giving people like three days to register and it's I think you need to really give. Your audience space. Yeah, time. That was actually

[00:19:06] Cindy: a really interesting, learning for me with regards to my launch that came after the summit.

[00:19:13] Cindy: what we haven't talked about yet, and I'm jumping ahead, but I think it's relevant here, is I wanted to use the Summit to launch my Fractional Fundraiser Academy, and so typically with the Fractional Fundraiser Academy, I have a long launch window with a lot of pre launch, engagement, and so I thought, okay, that'll be part of this, so I'll start promoting the Summit, and then I have the private podcast, and I'll target the fundraisers, and all this stuff, Next time I will give more time between the summit and the launch.

[00:19:45] Cindy: So I will just launch the summit. People really need that time when I'm launching a high ticket offer. And I feel like there were too many messages or like it was a little confusing that They were two separate things. And so, um, I will sort of pull them apart more next year. and that was a really interesting learning.

[00:20:06] Cindy: Like people were not prepared for the Academy launch because everything was so focused on the summit. Um,also, I launched the Academy, in the middle of the crisis that the non profit sector was experiencing in the U. S. when, they threatened to pull all the federal funding.that was also interesting.

[00:20:27] Cindy: Um, So, overall, I can say that I think the summit did help get enrollment into the academy. for sure. My launch numbers were lower than I had hoped. but, like, I, my goal was 20, and we had 11 people. which, again, not bad at all. But, I think those two things combined. So one, just like the sheer bad luck of the timing, like I'm teaching people how to leave their jobs at a time when things are very unstable.

[00:21:03] Cindy: I think that's less appealing.and, just pulling it apart from the summit, I think is also helpful.

[00:21:11] Jess: So do you think next time you'll do the summit and then

[00:21:16] Cindy: Two months later almost oh,

[00:21:17] Jess: okay And so basically go from summit to then all your pre launch stuff that you've done in the past like launch your podcast launch the and I have

[00:21:25] Cindy: Budget template.

[00:21:26] Cindy: Thank you. I was trying to call it a calculator, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:29] Jess: Okay, so you'll basically What I picture, like in my head, I'm so visual, is like this big funnel, right? Where you're like gathering all the people and then you're putting the people down and then you'll launch to them like that. I see.

[00:21:45] Jess: Got it. Yeah,

[00:21:45] Cindy: and then like literally people are hearing it here first. So I, my goal is for next after next summit and for the fractional launch, is to not have it just focused on fundraisers. My goal, I'm doing a small beta this spring, for about nine months to test the academy out with non fundraisers and to see what I need to update to make it for all fractional executives in the nonprofit sector.

[00:22:18] Cindy: So that's like I'm testing it. It's not a commitment, but if all goes well, that will be next year's summit. we'll take not just fundraisers into the launch, but everyone.

[00:22:28] Jess: Yeah, cool. Super exciting. She's taking up space, people. Okay, cool. Let me think of any other questions I might have. So that was really helpful on the marketing side.

[00:22:39] Jess: You do this on it. It was, Super success all the way around. I know you got nothing but rave reviews. And so, we were together during your launch phase. And, she was doing everything you could possibly do. And, like you said, you had 11 people. And what does it look like post summit? what have you done to just continue to nurture people?

[00:22:59] Jess: when is your next launch? yeah, what's the, time frame between?

[00:23:04] Cindy: right now, everyone goes onto my email list. Um, so obviously they get my weekly emails, and that's really the nurture. I also have this LinkedIn group that I have to decide what to do with because, Oh yeah, we didn't even talk about that.

[00:23:17] Cindy: Yeah, that's where I decided to let people congregate. and it was good. It was like, there was lots of engagement and people were lovely there. I might shut it down. because it's not doing anything right now. but I was actually thinking of posting there for this beta. So what I'm doing now, end of March, early April, I'm doing sales calls for the beta of the non fundraising test.

[00:23:42] Cindy: And how are you selling

[00:23:43] Jess: that? Just to like the LinkedIn group in your email list? Or just individually?

[00:23:50] Cindy: Right now what I've done is I put like as almost like a PS and one of my emails that went out to the email list being like, I'm thinking of doing this for non fundraisers, like reply if you're interested.

[00:24:04] Cindy: And so I think there's about I think I have about seven or eight sales calls from that alone. Again, power of email. yeah. So if those go well, I might just call it a day there. Otherwise I might send a couple emails out to my list. Yeah. to get well, you know,

[00:24:23] Jess: right. Like you at least have some segmenting of people who are non fundraisers that you could target that way, Exactly. Exactly. That's amazing.

[00:24:31] Cindy: so that is the plan is a really, that's like a really soft launch. Yeah, really low key. Also just want to take it a little easy right now. I don't want to overthink things. I don't want to go crazy. It just You know, yeah, chill.

[00:24:47] Jess: Yeah, for sure.

[00:24:49] Cindy: I feel like I've really had a lot story was really busy leading up to the summit was busy February so far has been busy because all the meetings that I didn't have in December in January or in February and so Yeah, I'm just like let's be chill And then the next account fun.

[00:25:06] Cindy: So the next launch will be in the summer probably July And like mid july and that will be I guess for fundraisers and that will be more of a Like it'll be rinse and repeat of the traditional launches that i've done which will be a lot of pre nurture thelike I want to do I used to do a viet not a vip like a pre sale day so People could apply early And join a day before everyone else and if they joined on that day, they'd get a bunch of bonuses Called it like a flash sale and I want to do that again because that was really great.

[00:25:47] Cindy: So yeah, that'll be a rinse and repeat kind of launchyeah, and then I think the summit again january

[00:25:55] Jess: Yeah, and what's, what I think, can't be overstated enough is that now you've created everything, right? So the first one of anything we all do is the most difficult, the most time intensive.

[00:26:10] Jess: and then you get to just you said rinse and repeat. you always. Make things custom and special and unique, but it's one of those projects that you really can't squeeze a lot out of once you do the first one and you have so many lessons learned and testimonials and you have like videos and you just have so Thank you so much now.

[00:26:31] Jess: I think you've started something great and we always appreciate a behind the scenes look. now we're both at home.

[00:26:40] Cindy: Honestly, like the biggest thing that gives me a gig for the next one is like speakers. I don't know how we can top last year's speakers. obviously we're gonna have to but I'm I just, it was so great.

[00:26:53] Cindy: Every one was amazing. Oh, I just was like, I'm in love with the, with how that went. So that's really the thing. Everything else, I feel like it's like rinse, repeat, easy. I just got to like, How do I step it up from stepping it up? I don't know, but that's the goal. So if anyone has

[00:27:11] Jess: anyone that can figure it out, it's you, my friend.

[00:27:14] Jess: so stoked for you. And, yeah, big fan over here. So if anyone is, uh, Now you can ask both Cindy and I questions about this type of thing. it's a powerful tool. No, it's not.

[00:27:30] Cindy: it's really, and I didn't mention, I hired someone to help me with the launch. Christine, and it was supposed to be for like, I don't know, 20 hours a month.

[00:27:39] Cindy: It ended up being almost double. but she did a lot of the stuff. It's like helping with speaker management, bunch of logistics. And I had the neon one team help with a lot of the like run of show and things like that. Like I don't know. Also with the launch, I got 150 page document of email copy that we had to schedule each one and stuff like that with different segments.

[00:28:04] Cindy: So I could not have done it without Christine, like at all. and it really, it's a big undertaking. Also, like, you know me, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to go big, And I was just thinking,

[00:28:16] Jess: and you like to build. of all the things, this is the kind of thing that you really enjoy.

[00:28:21] Jess: It's a lot of work, and it can be stressful, but I know you also like it. Yeah. so yeah, it's, I'm not saying this is for everyone, but if you are someone listening who, Is that for the kind of challenge? It's, it can be very fruitful.

[00:28:36] Cindy: definitely. And it was a lot of fun. Oh, speaking of fruitful, like the summit alone, if I wasn't launching off of it, I do think, it's helpful to share, the profitability, so to speak.

[00:28:48] Cindy: it brought in about 24, 000 into revenue. But I paid out thousands of dollars in speaker fees as well. which I don't have in my air table. So I don't know the true, profit margin. But,I just think it's important. You're, I'm not, this, I wouldn't build a business off of this.

[00:29:08] Jess: No, but like you always tell me when I'm like, is it time to scrap this?

[00:29:12] Jess: And is it time to scrap that? You're like, you're literally getting paid to grow your email list. exactly. No, you should not kill this. This is

[00:29:20] Cindy: not like a standalone revenue model or strategy. It really is like a marketing, it's a tool to market and get paid to market.

[00:29:31] Jess: For sure. Yes. and it, it's a little bit more hard to quantify, but I think with everything that you do, like the name association, Cindy Wagman with Fractional.

[00:29:45] Jess: Is just becoming more and more solidified, which has been a big, big goal of yours, and,I, I don't know how you measure that, but that's super de duper de valuable, because when it comes up in side conversations, or at conferences, or whatever, it's gonna be like, have you talked to Cindy?

[00:30:00] Jess: and that is just really important.

[00:30:03] Cindy: Yeah, that's, that is part of my goal, for sure. Yeah. It's just like, we're world domination. Well, and I always say, like,

[00:30:09] Jess: I always say,you can go on other people's podcasts, you can be a speaker on stages, or you can build your own stage. And, yes, one is more work and energy, and there's space for both, but you're out here, really establishing yourself in that way.

[00:30:24] Jess: And I think that, like, that will, that will, it's gonna go faster that way.

[00:30:29] Cindy: For sure. And I will say like it's also easier for me to get on other people's stages or platforms when I've hosted my own because now people are like, oh, they know. Yeah, people who are at the conference. I think I booked two or three podcast interviews just from the summit So yeah, yeah, I know definitely Supports each other.

[00:30:49] Jess: Yeah, for sure. thank you for sharing

[00:30:52] Cindy: Of course you at the next summit

[00:30:55] Jess: You're like We're not talking about that yet. No, I'm

[00:31:00] Cindy: super stoked. I'm like, we're in. I think my next summit

[00:31:03] Jess: is before yours. yeah. Yes, definitely.

[00:31:07] Cindy: Okay, should we also mention that you and I are hosting a couple in person masterminds.

[00:31:14] Cindy: Yeah. So if you're listening to this. Look at all this. So many like, breaking news. Talk about breaking news. I'm like, this isn't

[00:31:22] Jess: even out yet, but yeah.

[00:31:24] Cindy: Yes. It's

[00:31:24] Jess: not, I mean. Who doesn't want to gather in person?

[00:31:28] Cindy: Who doesn't want to gather? Exactly. And so many people have asked you and I about our mastermind that we talk about all the time.

[00:31:36] Cindy: And we have found like a methodology that works really well in terms of having these big breakthroughs and not a lot of time. And so we're hosting hopefully two or three this year in person where you can join us. And I think both of us, when we talked about this, we were like, Wouldn't it be so cool if we could instigate these relationships and then people could go on and Have their own masterminds coming out of meeting at ours.

[00:32:07] Cindy: So totally I think right now tentatively May 21st in toronto and I'm coming back. I might not leave. Don't leave. There's room here. and then, Boulder, Colorado in August. I can't, August 12th.

[00:32:27] Jess: 11th or 12th. Yeah. I can't remember something like that. Yep.

[00:32:31] Cindy: Yeah. So actually I think the 11th I picked my, I picked Lennox up from overnight camp.

[00:32:35] Cindy: So I think it'll have to be the. 12th or 13th, but, that week, whatever that Monday or Tuesday is, in Boulder, and then We're toying with Atlanta. Are you going to say this?

[00:32:47] Jess: Oh, good. I was like, I hope she says the city I'm thinking, which is Atlanta. Atlanta,

[00:32:52] Cindy: in October. there's cause there's AFP lead, which I would go for that.

[00:32:58] Cindy: And then we'd build that on, but also it's at the same time as IFC in the Netherlands, which I also want to go to. So we haven't talked about this, but I'm, I don't know. I don't know. We'll figure that one

[00:33:08] Jess: out. That one's the most TBD. It's also the farthest away. So we have time.

[00:33:12] Cindy: Yeah, and I love all the consultants in Atlanta.

[00:33:16] Cindy: oh my gosh, there's so many

[00:33:18] Jess: I know and I feel like the South the states are a bit smaller than like at least on the west coast Like it just it's I think a little bit easier to get to places Like Atlanta might even be like the busiest airport in the United States. It's, wow. It's a big hub.

[00:33:36] Jess: So I feel like it might just be a bit easier, even if you're not directly located in Atlanta or Georgia to get to it. But we do love everyone that lives there. So maybe fun just to see, there's so many

[00:33:47] Cindy: good consultants there. Like I, so like I've, I don't know. we'll figure it out. Yes. and well, you'll have

[00:33:52] Jess: to make the call to Netherlands or not.

[00:33:54] Cindy: yeah. but. Super excited. Yeah. So keep your eyes peeled. Yeah.

[00:34:01] Jess: All right. Yeah. Just coming soon. I love these with you. I know. Have a great, I'm going to go eat some lunch. You're going to go be a soccer mom and, and we'll talk soon.

[00:34:12] Cindy: Bye everyone.

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