The journey to becoming a Chief Marketing Officer can be long and arduous, but the less-traveled road to becoming a Fractional CMO can catapult your career and provide much more financial security. Casey Stanton is the Founder of CMOx, a Fractional CMO, and author of the Wall Street Journal #1 bestseller, The Fractional CMO Method. In this episode, Casey shares some of his own journey in the marketing world, how to make yourself stand out, and whether becoming a Fractional CMO might be the better path forward.   Takeaways: Becoming a CMO through the traditional route takes a long time. You often get stuck at certain levels in the organization for various reasons or your try to hop from company to company every few years, getting a higher title each time you start somewhere new.  The traditional path to becoming a CMO requires you to put in a lot of effort to make yourself look better on paper. Common examples include leadership courses from a university, getting certifications, etc. If your objective is to become a CMO, you’re going to have more success pursuing younger, more entrepreneurial companies. This way you can speak directly to the growth-minded entrepreneur at the helm and explain how you can help. Getting the job of a full-time CMO for a company is great, but if they let you go, you’re right back into the job hunt. It’s much better for your financial stability to serve multiple clients in that high-level marketing role. Many companies need the value that a CMO provides but they can’t pay for a full-time CMO. A Fractional CMO is perfect for companies of this size.  As a Fractional CMO, you can provide high-value insights for multiple clients which decreases the risks posed by one client leaving. This approach also increases your earning potential while allowing you to, potentially, decrease how much you work.   Quote of the Show: “It's better for you and your financial stability to have multiple clients”  - Casey Stanton   Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyStanton LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseystanton/ CMOx Website: https://cmox.co/call/ The Fractional CMO Method: https://cmox.co/book/   Ways to Tune In: Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/039bc2d6-c1b5-4ced-ac2a-437e69546e7c/fractional-cmo-show Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fractional-cmo-show/id1592740671 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1HGwnjsXA4c4gYQvj4w53E?si=bd6e0908e25749ec Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmFjdGlvbmFsY21vLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjlpNDTveb0AhUXEFkFHaZcDtYQ9sEGegQIARAC YouTube: https://youtu.be/t3LQZcahc0I