I love this idea, Anna. So good and feels very relatable for me right now. I'm taking a "barbelled" approach to my career: applying to jobs as I experiment with a few business ideas. Thanks for sharing!
I guess based on all the possible elements you laid out, and the way it can evolve, I've had a portfolio career basically the whole time without realizing it! 😅 I think it seemed like something where you have to have fancy clients or a really specific goal/niche/sales-y strategy. Whereas my experience has been much less intentional and more organic, finding opportunities as they pop up while I'm aiming in one direction or another.
It’s funny, a lot of people have messaged me saying they already have a career like this but have never thought about it in this way! Sounds like that’s the same for you too 🥰. What was the book you just read? I’d love to read it!
Yes definitely me! I read The Multi-Hyphen Life by Emma Gannon - a nice nudge of encouragement but it never really got into the nitty gritty enough for me. Like, I want to know exactly how and why I can get moneeey within this delightful way of living and working 😂
This was so helpful, thank you! I love that you included pro bono and volunteer work. I naturally gravitate to this and it usually leads me to great opportunities. Sometimes I think that I should spend more time looking for work and feel guilty, but I think it’s important for my soul to mix things up in my portfolio ❤️
You're so welcome! What I love about portfolio careers is the flexibility and freedom to allocate your time however you like. Some of that will be to revenue generating activities, and some will be to do things just because they give you meaning. I spend SO much time writing my Substack (which generates me $0 directly) but I don't feel guilt about it because it's serving a purpose, albeit a different one 😊
Just came across this post and so glad I did. I’d also not heard this term before, but it’s what I’ve been doing for several years now. Thanks for sharing your experience!
I really enjoyed this post and it has helped me articulate my career path to myself. Sometimes I feel a lack of direction from pursuing a portfolio approach even though in my gut I know the trade offs and balance keep me going.
I am inspired to make my own pie charts - from full-time corporate employee to PhD student / part time founder to full time founder with various degrees of contract work on the side. Thank you for writing!
That’s how I felt in the beginning too, like I was a cop out if I wanted to do lots of things rather than focusing on one. But it’s so freeing when you realise that’s just a story, and creating a body of work and building a work structure on your terms is quite impressive really!
I guess I have a portfolio career! Wasn't necessarily my plan but I managed to work 2 part time jobs, freelance and sell digital products on various platforms. I like this route much more than being in 1 spot 40+ hours a week. Flexibility and change of pace keeps me feeling much more engaged.
Anna I don't know how I stumbled on your substack but it's definitely some Universe shit at play. As someone who is multi-passionate, good at a lot of things, and sees opportunity for earning in SO many areas it has been so hard for me to commit to just one thing. Thank you for putting this out there into the world. I feel like you've spoken directly to the part of me that needed to hear this exact message. Big love.
Having been here for 7 years now…I just hit that place where word of mouth and referrals stopped and now I need to market myself for the first time in years. Curious about your views of having to market yourself as a portfolio (aka generalist in a specialist world).
Yeah it’s an interesting one, marketing yourself as a generalist. I’ve found a couple of things have worked well for me:
- I’m a very active networker and am constantly meeting people (mainly virtually these days, either via an intro, LinkedIn or this newsletter). I try and meet people who I could see as potential future clients (eg. Founders and business owners), and when I catch up with them I always ask a ton of questions to uncover their biggest challenges, what they’re trying to solve within their business and what their future plans are. Then, I can pretty seamlessly sell back my skills according to what they’re looking for. For the most part only a generalist can do this, and I’ve landed a lot of contracting gigs and projects this way.
- A very simple tip: whenever I meet someone I ask who they think I should meet and/or who they know that could use my skills
- I post every week day on LinkedIn sharing projects I’m working on, how I’ve helped founders and clients, what I see as working within businesses and mistakes I see founders making. Even though I don’t directly share case studies, I’ll often get DMs on LinkedIn from people who’ve seen my posts asking if I’m available for work.
- This newsletter also generates a lot of interest from people interested in mentoring.
Hopefully that helps! If it’s useful I might write a post on this in a few weeks 😊
This post came to my life as a clear message from the Universe! This is exactly what I've been feeling I need and didn't know how to express it or structure it. Absolutely love this and thanks so much for sharing! Looking forward to reading the upcoming posts :)
I'd never heard this concept before! Puts words to something that I feel has been happening organically over the last 1-2 years of my life. Substack being a big part of that.
Love the idea of having a diverse portfolio that keeps each week diverse and interesting instead of just black and white 9-5 and live for the weekend. You've inspired me to step even more in this direction ;)
A lot of people have messaged saying this is the first time they’ve seen their work structure of “a bit of this and a bit of that” labelled. I certainly didn’t invent the phrase (I can’t remember where I heard it first!) but it fully resonated with me too. I also think once something has a label it makes it more tangible, and easier to build upon. So happy you enjoyed!
As a 9-5'er, this concept is so foreign to me. Even when I have started to dabble, I couldn't understand why I can't just have one business. But starting to get it now and I'm so glad I found you today!
This concept is GENIUS! I've felt pull that I should be breaking free from my freelancing day job to full time business owner, but when it's in a sustainable flow I really do love the energy my day job brings out of me. I just need to make sure it stays sustainable!
Might be a long shot, but how to pitch/offer workshops to corporate type clients. For example, I want to build out my guided journaling/mindful writing workshops to corporate clients.
"They help you construct a home for yourself so you stop looking for one in other places". That sentence is divine!
Thank you 🩷
I love this idea, Anna. So good and feels very relatable for me right now. I'm taking a "barbelled" approach to my career: applying to jobs as I experiment with a few business ideas. Thanks for sharing!
That’s a great strategy - doing both in parallel. Very keen to hear more about these business ideas?!
Umm this is the best breakdown of the portfolio career I've ever seen. Like, 10x better than the book I just read on this topic. 😂 Thank you!!
Haha thanks Jess! I’m curious - how did you define the portfolio career prior to reading this?
I guess based on all the possible elements you laid out, and the way it can evolve, I've had a portfolio career basically the whole time without realizing it! 😅 I think it seemed like something where you have to have fancy clients or a really specific goal/niche/sales-y strategy. Whereas my experience has been much less intentional and more organic, finding opportunities as they pop up while I'm aiming in one direction or another.
It’s funny, a lot of people have messaged me saying they already have a career like this but have never thought about it in this way! Sounds like that’s the same for you too 🥰. What was the book you just read? I’d love to read it!
Yes definitely me! I read The Multi-Hyphen Life by Emma Gannon - a nice nudge of encouragement but it never really got into the nitty gritty enough for me. Like, I want to know exactly how and why I can get moneeey within this delightful way of living and working 😂
This was so helpful, thank you! I love that you included pro bono and volunteer work. I naturally gravitate to this and it usually leads me to great opportunities. Sometimes I think that I should spend more time looking for work and feel guilty, but I think it’s important for my soul to mix things up in my portfolio ❤️
You're so welcome! What I love about portfolio careers is the flexibility and freedom to allocate your time however you like. Some of that will be to revenue generating activities, and some will be to do things just because they give you meaning. I spend SO much time writing my Substack (which generates me $0 directly) but I don't feel guilt about it because it's serving a purpose, albeit a different one 😊
Yes!
🥰
Just came across this post and so glad I did. I’d also not heard this term before, but it’s what I’ve been doing for several years now. Thanks for sharing your experience!
You’re so welcome ❤️
I really enjoyed this post and it has helped me articulate my career path to myself. Sometimes I feel a lack of direction from pursuing a portfolio approach even though in my gut I know the trade offs and balance keep me going.
I am inspired to make my own pie charts - from full-time corporate employee to PhD student / part time founder to full time founder with various degrees of contract work on the side. Thank you for writing!
That’s how I felt in the beginning too, like I was a cop out if I wanted to do lots of things rather than focusing on one. But it’s so freeing when you realise that’s just a story, and creating a body of work and building a work structure on your terms is quite impressive really!
Oh wow! What a novel approach to work!
I guess I have a portfolio career! Wasn't necessarily my plan but I managed to work 2 part time jobs, freelance and sell digital products on various platforms. I like this route much more than being in 1 spot 40+ hours a week. Flexibility and change of pace keeps me feeling much more engaged.
It definitely feels like this career type fits somewhere in between employee and founder, with the best bits from both 🥰
Anna I don't know how I stumbled on your substack but it's definitely some Universe shit at play. As someone who is multi-passionate, good at a lot of things, and sees opportunity for earning in SO many areas it has been so hard for me to commit to just one thing. Thank you for putting this out there into the world. I feel like you've spoken directly to the part of me that needed to hear this exact message. Big love.
Having been here for 7 years now…I just hit that place where word of mouth and referrals stopped and now I need to market myself for the first time in years. Curious about your views of having to market yourself as a portfolio (aka generalist in a specialist world).
Yeah it’s an interesting one, marketing yourself as a generalist. I’ve found a couple of things have worked well for me:
- I’m a very active networker and am constantly meeting people (mainly virtually these days, either via an intro, LinkedIn or this newsletter). I try and meet people who I could see as potential future clients (eg. Founders and business owners), and when I catch up with them I always ask a ton of questions to uncover their biggest challenges, what they’re trying to solve within their business and what their future plans are. Then, I can pretty seamlessly sell back my skills according to what they’re looking for. For the most part only a generalist can do this, and I’ve landed a lot of contracting gigs and projects this way.
- A very simple tip: whenever I meet someone I ask who they think I should meet and/or who they know that could use my skills
- I post every week day on LinkedIn sharing projects I’m working on, how I’ve helped founders and clients, what I see as working within businesses and mistakes I see founders making. Even though I don’t directly share case studies, I’ll often get DMs on LinkedIn from people who’ve seen my posts asking if I’m available for work.
- This newsletter also generates a lot of interest from people interested in mentoring.
Hopefully that helps! If it’s useful I might write a post on this in a few weeks 😊
This post came to my life as a clear message from the Universe! This is exactly what I've been feeling I need and didn't know how to express it or structure it. Absolutely love this and thanks so much for sharing! Looking forward to reading the upcoming posts :)
I'd never heard this concept before! Puts words to something that I feel has been happening organically over the last 1-2 years of my life. Substack being a big part of that.
Love the idea of having a diverse portfolio that keeps each week diverse and interesting instead of just black and white 9-5 and live for the weekend. You've inspired me to step even more in this direction ;)
A lot of people have messaged saying this is the first time they’ve seen their work structure of “a bit of this and a bit of that” labelled. I certainly didn’t invent the phrase (I can’t remember where I heard it first!) but it fully resonated with me too. I also think once something has a label it makes it more tangible, and easier to build upon. So happy you enjoyed!
As a 9-5'er, this concept is so foreign to me. Even when I have started to dabble, I couldn't understand why I can't just have one business. But starting to get it now and I'm so glad I found you today!
I’m glad we found each other!
This concept is GENIUS! I've felt pull that I should be breaking free from my freelancing day job to full time business owner, but when it's in a sustainable flow I really do love the energy my day job brings out of me. I just need to make sure it stays sustainable!
So happy it resonated ❤️
Looking forward to part 3!
Is there anything in particular you’d like to know? 👀
Might be a long shot, but how to pitch/offer workshops to corporate type clients. For example, I want to build out my guided journaling/mindful writing workshops to corporate clients.