Fast track your success through building a Portfolio Career
Honestly I’ve never just had one job really. It starting when I was 12 and worked in my dad’s business, full time during the summer holidays – what we now call seasonal portfolio and casually during school terms.
When I turned 16, I became a group fitness instructor and added teaching nights and weekends to my agenda. If I look back at this its one of the best things I ever did because it helped me later to finance not only my University study but also my first apartment. Having a side hustle is all I have ever known.
When I was 20 and at Uni, I was still teaching 10-15h a week at gyms, I landed another 15h a week job as PA which then led me to a full-time job at this company when I finished my studies. The fact that I had done so much before I finished with my Masters also landed me my dream role as Assistant Brand Manager at Unilever:
I didn’t have the required 2 years of experience that the job ad stated but still got invited to an interview and I got the role, despite competing against 267 other applicants.
I only know this because I got the call directly from the GM who interviewed me. He gave me the feedback – pointing out that on paper, I didn’t qualify but he was impressed with my self-initiative and that determination – that’s what set me apart from the other much more qualified talents.
And the story continues.
Now I’m running 2 companies - The360Talent.Co and impaCCCt, launched a membership: The Future of Work Campus, do a fair bit of public speaking, I’m a casual teacher at Universities, host this poddy and have an exercise schedule not far off a professional athlete (just kidding- exercise keeps me sane 🤓)
Having all my eggs in one basket is just not for me- I can’t even imagine it because it’s always been natural to me and to be honest, I enjoy the creativity and breadth of work, networks and skills that I built with no other focus other than branching out.
A Portfolio Career builds skills and expands networks.
But let me tell you- this didn’t go well for some.
Even my brother asked me – ‘so what are you doing again this week?’ – you know with this condescending tone. Initially I thought something was wrong with me because I just got bored so quicky doing the same thing and even questioned my commitment to things.
Little did I know that I was kind of a trend setter back then in my own way because all of a sudden my tendency to spread my wings and fly had an official name … portfolio career.
So what is a portfolio career?
Simply put – it’s having multiple things on the go and different sources of income; not necessarily doing the same thing but applying multiple skills in different situations and environments.
Think of working a day job, driving Uber on weekends and freelancing at night. Or being a full-time project manager and a casual teacher at night.
That’s what a portfolio career is.
Today, we see the rise of the side hustles and its effect on creating the gig economy which has been attributed to the post-financial-crisis everywhere. But it’s not a side product of millennials nor anything new. My dad had his own furniture fit out business but also a car dealership, was qualified massage therapist and developed and launched a women’s-only office chair.
So whilst it’s nothing new, it is becoming more popular (but also more necessary) these days thanks to technology and the fast changing world of work where job security isn’t a thing anymore as well as the desire to live a more flexible life.
In fact, it' becoming a framework for the future of work that has three major advantages:
It is unlikely that we will spend our entire careers in one industry, let alone one company.
The world is changing faster than ever before, and entire industries are disrupted. Having only one skill in one industry isn’t only limiting but can put people in very vulnerable positions. Diversification across skills and industries is the only way to stay nimble and relevant. And that’s another reason why you want to focus on building a Personal Brand, rather than just a career so when you want or need to zig-zag, it’s easier for you. If you haven’t listened to last week’s episode, go back as I talk about the power and necessity of a Brand in the Future of Work.
Your network is your net worth. But your diverse network is your next career opportunity.
We know that a majority of jobs never get advertised so chances that you’ll progress in your career through someone you know or someone you can get introduced to. When you build a portfolio career and work in different industries and environments, you also meet people and build relationships with them. Now they may not be the ones who give you the next role but they’re connected to others and in the end – word out of mouth is still the most powerful way of marketing.
This is not about work-life balance. It's about work-life integration.
Whilst it may sound full on to be spread out, it actually enables you more flexibility because you don’t have to rely on one source of income and it reduces your risk enough. It comes down to knowing what kind of lifestyle you want and organise your commitments accordingly.
Having multiple engagements doesn’t mean more stress. In fact, it can reduce the pressure and offer more flexibility.
I absolutely believe that Portfolio Careers are the Future of Work, and those who aren’t embracing it, will fall behind.
If employers want to attract top talents, their policy needs to reflect that and contracts that prohibit side hustles will hurt recruiting and retention long-term.
Especially businesses that expect lifetime commitment (while making no such commitment in return) will struggle as talents realise – especially now due to Covid-19 – that remote working and being part of a global team isn’t a utopia anymore.
At the same time, also talents who don’t diversify their skill sets will be disadvantage as we don’t just see the rise of so-called super jobs, that require average to above average skill sets but also a bigger global competition from freelancers and contractors who can fill gaps quickly in a much less risky and less expensive way compared to full-time employees.
So how to get started?
Portfolio careers clearly don't come pre-packaged and ready to go.
It can take time to build them and may require a few pivots and changes before you hit the sweet spot and the right combination for you.
The good thing is that they're not too risky to get started with.
There are three main ways people launch their portfolios (and you can begin two of them without even handing in your notice):
1) Moon lightening: I did that for 2 years straight when I was still in my full-time role but worked at night, from 8pm-midnight during the week and on weekends on my own business. I didn’t quite know what I really want to do so it took me a lot of experimenting, learning, testing and repeating but hey- that’s what it is. Part of the journey.
2) Rejigging: I also did that at the beginning of my career: it means shifting work hours to fit in multiple roles. So for example: I studied full-time but worked a couple of days as PA and worked from 6-9pm as group fitness instructor during the week and in the mornings on weekends.
3) Part-timing: another way is to reduce the hours you work in your current full-time role, even down to 4 days a week and create some time for your other career.
4) Seasonal: depending on the industry you’re in, you can also have multiple incomes depending on seasons. Think teachers – when school holidays are on or hospitality when parts of the business is closed during certain months.
5) Freelancing: finally, the easiest way is to provide your skills or sometimes your time on demand. So it could be as Uber driver, as handyman on weekends, doing what you do in your day job as one off project or smaller engagements through platforms like Fiverr and Co.
Whatever your choice is, you need to consider steps before getting started:
1) Identify your skills you want to use and hone in on.
Question here is: Are you more of a 'wide achiever' or a 'high achiever'? Do you want to really go deep in your area of expertise and want to learn everything there is to know or do you want to extend this skill. So let’s say you’re in social media. You can either specialise in everything Instagram related or you can work on your video editing skills, get better with analytics, know everything there is about algorithms and co. There’s no right or wrong – just a personal preference.
2) Be clear about your ideal portfolio career and your commitments.
It can be overwhelming to manage multiple commitments so if you want to make it sustainable, you need to be clear about your boundaries and realistic with yours and other’s expectations. Otherwise you’ll do everything half hearted, forget deadlines, neglect loved ones.
3) Know your financials.
Work out how much money you need every month to feel secure and give yourself a bit of a financial buffer for times when income drops. This will also help to determine the projects and rates you offer.
4) Do your research before you dive in.
Ever heard of the proximity principle?
Basically it is about who you need to know and where you need to be in order to find new opportunities. Before you make a conclusion in your own mind, you want to spend time with people who already live the type of portfolio career you consider.
And with ‘spending time’ I actually don’t necessarily mean you need to become best buddies. Of course, one way is to set up informal interviews, connect with them on LinkedIn and ask some questions but it can also mean to follow them on social media and learn more about the lifestyle required. It’s important that you’re honest with yourself and get clear on if the good, bad and ugly is what you want and commit to or if that’s something you had a more romantic idea about.
5) Keep building your Personal Brand
That also means sharing your portfolio career journey, learnings, challenges and everything in between. That’s a great way of making people aware of what you do and showcase your breath of experience and interests. It also tells a lot about your personality and this is what makes people remember you.
Now I’m curious – do you have already a portfolio career?
If so, share on LinkedIn or Instagram what your portfolio looks like and tag me so I can see it.
Or you want to learn more about how to get started?
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