Marcela Zafra - Fractional CMO

From 'Never Enough' to Repeat Clients—How an Immigrant Consultant Learned to Value Her Worth

Marcela Zafra had the expertise. Years of nonprofit marketing experience. A clear vision for helping organizations thrive. But when she launched her fractional consulting business, she hit a wall that felt all too familiar.

"Being an immigrant, since I landed, it's like you're never enough," she explains. "You don't have the language, you have an accent, your career isn't valid here. So even when they ghosted me or rejected me, my thought was like, 'maybe I'm just not good for this.'"

Like many consultants starting out, Marcela took whatever work she could find. Social media for a city government. Website development for an oil and gas company ("very, very painful," she recalls). She subcontracted as a fractional marketing manager. Anything to keep revenue flowing while building toward her real goal: fractional marketing for nonprofits.

Then came the ghosting.

After coffee meetings and conversations with potential clients, Marcela would submit proposals and... silence. For someone already battling imposter syndrome, each non-response felt personal. "My thought was like, 'oh, maybe I'm just not gonna do this, maybe I'm just not good for this. Should I just go back to being employed?'"

The Breakthrough: Understanding Nonprofit Time

Working with Cindy, Marcela learned a crucial reframe: "The ghosting is not actually ghosting. People are just super busy."

That mindset shift paid off. The client who had "disappeared" after requesting proposals? She reached out on a Friday morning months later: "Can we meet today? I need you." That led to a fractional interim marketing manager role—and eventually, repeat work.

"It took them like a year for me to be there with them," Marcela reflects. "It's a really long process, but not all of them are that way, but it definitely happens."

Building Boundaries (And Rates)

The real transformation came in learning to set boundaries. "When you push back, they trust more in you, because they see you as the expert," Marcela explains, citing advice from Cindy that stuck. "I always have that in my mind, because I hate to push back."

Now, when clients ask for work outside the agreed scope, Marcela responds confidently: "It's not on the scope, it's not in the budget. I can definitely do the Google ads, but we can absolutely try to revisit that in another scope."

The financial confidence followed. "Before I was like, 'okay, just tell me how much you can pay, and then I'll figure it out,'" she admits. "But now I'm more strict with my prices, with my boundaries, with my value. I'm raising my prices in September."

The Results: Sustainable Success

Today, Marcela has repeat clients who value her expertise. She's confident about her pricing. Most importantly, she's learned that being an expert consultant means saying no to protect the quality of her work.

When a client recently asked her to teach coordinators how to run Google ads instead of doing the work herself, Marcela's response was immediate: "That's the same thing, so I'm like no."

The woman who once took any project to pay bills now turns down work that doesn't align with her scope or value. She's built something sustainable—a business that respects her expertise and her boundaries.

Metrics: Specific revenue figures not stated, but Marcela reports consistent repeat clients, successful rate increases, and the confidence to turn down misaligned work.

Key Takeaway: Sometimes what looks like rejection is just timing. And when you finally learn to value your expertise, clients do too.