Direct answer

What is the difference between a business coach, consultant, advisor, and fractional executive?

A coach develops you. A consultant delivers a project. An advisor reads the pattern under your decisions. A fractional executive does a role for you. Four distinct outputs, often confused. Confusing them costs money and time. Match the role to what is actually blocking you.

Coach: works on behaviour. Asks questions, the coachee does the work. Output is changed behaviour over months. Right when the binding constraint is the operator's own behaviour and the operator is willing to do the work.

Consultant: works on a defined project. Takes scope, produces a deliverable. Output is the deliverable: analysis, recommendation, implementation. Right when the brief is clear and the missing piece is knowledge, labour, or bench depth.

Advisor: works on the structural pattern under a decision. Reads, names the controlling element, tests the recommendation. Output is a read, not a deck. Right when the decision is no longer tactical and more information will not close it. Fractional executive: works as the role on a part-time basis. Output is the role being held. Right when the role is real but the company is not yet at full-time scale.