Why a portfolio career could work for you - especially in unpredictable times
When people think of a change in career direction, they often think about discarding one line of work and swapping it for another. But what if you develop more than one work theme and create a portfolio career?
What is it?
A portfolio career is a working life in which several work themes co-exist and generate income. Some may be more significant in terms of effort and reward than others, but basically you have more than one way of earning money.
Your portfolio could include multiple part-time or temporary roles as typically found in the ‘gig economy.’
It could be made up of a dominant career strand along with one or more subsidiary elements.
The threads of your portfolio may a) connect and amplify each other, adding a deeper layer of satisfaction or impact or b) they may be completely separate (e.g. web designer / music teacher)
The importance to those who choose a portfolio approach is that there is more than one string to their bow. This might have evolved from having many interests, multiple strengths, several areas of expertise, or as a result of external shifts in the economy or their personal lives.
I have developed three distinct careers over my working life – teaching, career coaching, and programming literary events. At times I have run a couple of these at a time, so could say I have experienced a simultaneous portfolio career for short periods.
In my case, this was part of a career change strategy, maintaining one income stream while redesigning my main career. I haven’t chosen a simultaneous portfolio to be my preferred career format because ultimately I prefer a narrower focus. But for others, the very breadth, variety and range of stimulation and impact a portfolio offers are what they really want from their professional lives.
Why it might suit you
Careers are no longer predictable, linear or assured. For these reasons alone, many are accepting that they could expect a more varied career path than previous generations.
But there are more individual reasons why a portfolio career might appeal. When one or more of these factors applies to you, a career that encompasses multiple strands could be the answer:
· You are a Multipotentialite – you have many talents and interests
- and you want to express these in your career. Emilie Wapnick popularised this description in her 2015 TED talk, Why Some of Us Don’t have One True Calling. You can find out more on her website: Puttylike.
· You have a career transition plan in place and a portfolio career is part of your strategy to move from one career to another – this was my experience of moving from teaching to careers work
· Your purpose can be best expressed through working with a variety of client groups or with multiple areas of focus – you want to help or serve different groups of people, perhaps in different ways
· You’re a Scanner – a term coined by the late Barbara Sher in her book and programme ‘Refuse to Choose’. There’s a lot of overlap with the multipotentialite idea, so worth looking at both to see where you feel most at home
· You’ve changed and your career and life needs have changed over time
· You have a wealth of experience in more than one field and want to make a contribution in each and to continue to develop in each
· A portfolio career allows you to express your whole self through your work – and this matters to you
When I work with career changers who are actively re-designing their working lives, they don’t necessarily set out to create a portfolio career. But some discover that this is the best option to fulfill their career needs and deliver the life they really want.
You’ll also be in great company! These familiar names, along with 2019 Booker Prize-winner Bernadine Evaristo are also part of your tribe:
Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Da Vinci, Elizabeth I, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton
Why a portfolio might work well uncertain times
I think 2020 has taught us all to accept that change is a powerful force. We will always have choices, but conditions will change – and this can be sudden and disruptive.
By creating a portfolio career, you could in some ways be ‘future-proofing’ your career.
By this I mean:
1. Spreading the risk (as well as the fun) – having more than one role, sector, or area of expertise, you are more likely that one of these will be less severely impacted by sudden disruptions like Covid.
2. Some themes may work better when the unexpected happens. For example, working from home is more applicable to some careers than others. It could be beneficial to build flexibility into your portfolio.
3. By creating an Anchor thread – your core focus and a reliable source of income, you are creating some degree of security while also fulfilling your need for variety.
4. A portfolio allows you to exercise flexibility and agility when the need arises. Interestingly, these are also personal qualities that many employers are increasingly learning to value.
5. According to Emilie Wapnick (founder of Puttylike – the community for multipotentialites) the superpowers of this group include *adaptability *rapid learning and *idea synthesis. If these qualities apply to you, use them to better position yourself for unpredictable times; embrace and deploy them as part of your marketing and portfolio development strategy.
By now, you might be warming to the idea of a portfolio career, so how you can work out if this is the right path for you?
Things to consider
The greater clarity you can muster about WHY a portfolio career has your name on it, the more likely you are to bring it to fruition. These questions will point you in the right direction:
1. Which of your highest values align with this way of building a career? If autonomy, flexibility, authenticity or variety are amongst your highest values, they could find direct expression in a portfolio career. Also think about potential clashes with your values – if dependability or routine are important to you, be sure to consider how well they would fit this route.
*You can read more about Values Discovery here and how values fit into career change here.
2. Which of your favourite skills & professional or personal strengths lend themselves to this avenue? Being able to use these skills often could be a route to greater fulfillment.
*If you’d like to explore activities where you feel in flow, using your strengths, absorbed in your subject and flowing with creative energy, contact me for the ‘Discover Work that Sets You Alight’ workbook.
3. How have your experience and achievements led you to this option? Knowing that you have relevant expertise and a record of success will boost your confidence and provide credibility for potential future clients.
This is a key part of the Quickstep Career Change Programme, which is designed to map everything you need for career fulfillment and then design a transition strategy to achieve it.
4. What kind of life are you aiming for? Will a portfolio career make this more or less likely? Think about the results you can achieve through each strand and whether the whole can deliver the lifestyle you truly want.
5. How does a portfolio career enable you to express your real purpose? You might not feel very clear about your purpose in life, but this is an important topic my career change programme and provides a key to your version of meaningful work.
Purpose is the opposite of the myth of ‘one true calling’ as it can be expressed in many different ways throughout life.
A good starting point is my guide to exploring your career history for clues – you can request ‘Joining the Dots in your Career Transitions’ here.
So how are you feeling about a portfolio career? Could it work for you? Let me know in the comments or get in touch for your free 30-minute career call and we can get those first steps in place.
You may still be wondering how you will make a portfolio career work….
Once you have created a portfolio career, how can you set yourself up for success?
I’ve recently created a guide and workbook to help you avoid potential pitfalls and adopt an approach in which you can flourish. In it, I outline 7 important steps to thriving in your multi-strand career.
Just drop me a message and I’ll send your copy straight across.
