LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas professionals are increasingly turning to "fractional work" as traditional full-time positions become harder to find and workplace flexibility remains out of reach for many.
Geoffrey Radcliffe knows this challenge firsthand. After running his own marketing agency for more than a decade, the pandemic reshaped how and where work could be done. Radcliffe realized he had a valuable skillset he could market in a new way.
WATCH: Tricia Kean speaks to a fractional chief marketing officer on why he chose to do fractional work
"Companies want an affordable solution. They want top-tier talent, but they don't always have the budget to afford top-tier talent, so fractional work is a great opportunity," Radcliffe said.
Radcliffe now works as a fractional chief marketing officer. Fractional work is a flexible employment model where a professional is hired to work part-time or for a specific scope instead of full-time, while still performing in a high-level, experienced role.
Currently, Radcliffe works for two different companies at the executive level. In one position, he's helping a landscape company build an e-commerce platform. In his second job, he's guiding an international mystery shopping company toward a future sale.
"As a marketing executive, you're pulling the same levers regardless of what the business is. So, looking at the opportunities within a single business, it's still the same tactics that you would be doing if you were working for a single organization. You just have to apply it to a specific industry," Radcliffe said.
Fractional work has taken off since the pandemic, especially as companies look for top-tier talent they can actually afford. In Las Vegas, the median salary for a full-time chief marketing officer is around $230,000 — a cost many small businesses simply can't absorb.
Fractional executives fill that gap, offering high-level expertise without the full-time price tag.
That's where Venturous comes in — a fractional executive platform that has now expanded into Las Vegas.
"What's great about fractional is they're embedded. So instead of a consultant coming telling you what to do and saying goodbye, or having an outside team, a fractional is an embedded employee inside of a company. So it's great because you become part of a team as a fractional employee instead of just being an outsider," said Lauralie Levy from Venturous.
Levy said Venturous connects experienced professionals — typically with 10 or more years on the job — to companies looking for expertise in marketing, finance, healthcare, technology, cybersecurity and more.
Workers set their own hourly or monthly rates, decide how much they want to earn and match with companies based on skills and pay expectations.
A recent survey of 300 professionals conducted by Venturous revealed what most professionals care about most.
"Financial stability, and the second was work-life balance, again that seems to track with everything we know and the third was flexibility, so people care about those things even more than they care about just a title or retirement or what things look like on a resume," Levy said.
At a time when Southern Nevada has become more expensive to live and executive-level jobs harder to find, Venturous says fractional work can help professionals stay in the valley and stay afloat.
For Radcliffe, it's not only about the income — it's also about flexibility.
"My children live in a different state than me, so I do have the opportunity to travel. I do have the opportunity to work remotely if I want. And also it really gives me the opportunity to experience different parts of the world. It's ski season right now. So if I wanted to, I could just go post up at the base of a ski resort and work all day," Radcliffe said.
Venturous is now accepting applications from experienced professionals interested in fractional work. You can apply and submit your résumé online at venturous.work.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
