During the webinar, Sara Daw shared her research and insights into the C-suite access economy. She talked about practical tools to help you cultivate long-lasting client relationships and ensure income security for a thriving portfolio career. The questions kept coming. Alison and Sara helped with some answers.

• What does it take to build a thriving future-proofed portfolio career? webinar recording

This may depend on the scope of the work and the level of support needed by the business on an ongoing basis. If the business requires a regular weekly or monthly commitment, then a day rate usually works well. If, however, ad hoc support is requested during the month, a retainer fee is better.

It may be that a day rate is in place initially for a specific piece of work which transitions to a retainer fee for ongoing ad hoc support.

Where the support is a regular commitment, it is also reasonable to respond to some level of ad hoc queries between allocated days, providing this does not become excessive.

It’s not essential but is probably an expectation of potential "cold" clients these days. If you do have a website, it needs to be kept up to date and have a current look and feel. Having a strong LinkedIn profile may be more important to showcase your services.

Try to build and maintain your network of other portfolio CFOs by networking and LinkedIn so you have other people to refer the work onto or ask if they know someone.

Alternatively, join a group or collaboration of portfolio CFOs so there is a ready-made group of professionals to pass the work onto.

Three years is a good achievable benchmark to aim for.

In addition to ongoing networking (both in person and online), regular quality posts on social media, especially LinkedIn, providing content, opinions and thought-provoking material are very effective.

Independent portfolio professionals generally work as freelancers, either on a self-employed basis or via their own company (IR35 considerations not withstanding).

Any financial benefits that would usually be part of a permanent CFO role would therefore need to be factored into a day rate/charging structure.

You may choose to be slightly leaner/more flexible in charging depending on other factors, for example your flexibility and freedom of choice also come into play as part of the pricing considerations.

This is very much dependent on the complexity of the work, location, experience, skills and if any specialist knowledge is required.

Part-time CFOs suit well-funded start-ups and scale-ups plus mid-tier organisations with revenues typically between £2m and £50m. The size of organisation depends somewhat on their complexity, so it is possible to work with even larger organisations than this up to £100m.

The key to working with organisations at the higher end of complexity or revenues is to focus on the design of the entire finance function. It is possible to go a long way with a part-time CFO, strong FC and well designed and trained finance team, essentially ensuring the business has the right blend of finance skills at each level.

Even when a business takes on a full-time CFO, there can be a role for the incumbent part-time CFO to move into more of a strategic, non-executive type role, for continuity, mentorship and relationship purposes.

Yes, but it will probably be harder to establish than someone with prior experience as a full time CFO. As always, networking is the best route in and an opening via a former practice client who now needs a portfolio CFO would be very helpful as a starting point.

I would recommend seeking out friendly CFOs and established fractional CFOs to act as a sounding board and source of support as you make this transition.

As the above answer it will be harder than for an established former full time CFO but it will all depend on the size of the business and the level of skills and experience required.

I would recommend seeking out friendly CFOs and fractional CFOs who would be willing to mentor you and be available to give advice as you transition to portfolio CFO.

There are a number of online networks which you can join, some who have monthly virtual meetings or an option to post questions for other members.

Other options are joining a group or collaboration of other CFOs to meet other professionals and share knowledge and gain support.

Why not look at other webinars that will inspire and help you along on your portfolio or fractional career journey.

• Portfolio Careers Community webinars

Topics include: LinkedIn, how to get started and different types of roles.

^{*The views expressed are the author's and not ICAEW's}