How Portfolio Careers Are Replacing Single-Track Jobs
The safety of an established full-time,benefits-bearing job can sometimes be compromised if something much less predictable happens within the employer or its client base.
The solution to the dilemma is the portfolio career approach that allows professionals to spread their risks related to their income and minimize exposure to one industry or employer.
What It Is Portfolio Career?
Portfolio means diversifying the sources with which one earns a living so that no one stream reigns supreme. An accountant might leave the pressure of full-time working behind and do some freelance or consulting work on the side or run a small business for the sole purpose of providing extra income in case the day job is boring or constraining to the person.
This is a typical path chosen by professionals looking to escape the confines of a conventional corporate career. Many felt that working years in a single industry no longer matched their desires and goals about work-life balance.
This sometimes is caused by something like restructuring or downsizing, when suddenly a formerly secure paycheck becomes questionable with all the signs pointing toward a portfolio career.
Defining your motivations and goals constitutes the first step toward building a portfolio career. For example, what would be your idea of a perfect work mix? Do you want to build clients in different industries while serving at both non-profit and for-profit Boards? Perhaps focusing on these desired outputs would greatly facilitate the juggling of many work lives.
Why Do People Go into Portfolio Careers?
People choose portfolio careers for various reasons. Some want more freedom in their personal lives while spending less time at the office; others may be disenchanted with traditional corporate work and seeking increased earning power and flexibility. Establishing one as a portfolio professional requires planning, organisation and self-management skills. Before building one it is vitally important that one defines exactly what their ideal portfolio of work looks like: for example if they wish to become known as an international speaker who also offers consulting services at different day rates - ensure their marketing messages reflect this and set yourself apart from competitors in this market!
They can find a portfolio career as a potential solution to those wishing to balance multiple passions and interests with some degree of independence. For instance, a yoga instructor who offers classes, markets her business, edits video material, and provides consultancy all within her portfolio career.
Many portfolio solutions serve equally well for those who are in a full-time career that is less than professionally satisfying for them and financially dependable for their families. For the smooth running of your portfolio career, it is equally important to define the expected outcome while continuously re-evaluating these expectations based on the changing environment around you.
How Do Portfolio Careers Work?
Portfolio careers allow for increased flexibility, independence, and work-life balance. This may comprise working part-time in traditional employment, while on the other hand undertaking freelance project work; alternatively, a portfolio career could have a simultaneous engagement with varying task-oriented income streams. Additionally, those in portfolio careers are enabled to pursue different areas of interest, thereby subjecting themselves to give multiple talents or industries a deep exploration; thus aiding in diversifying income streams and reducing susceptibility to economic swings.
Consequently, one key ingredient of every successful portfolio career that stands is knowing one's motivations and map out a coherent strategy. To do this well, it is important for you to document what your ideal portfolio of work looks like: working with certain sizes of companies or certain industries; taking on board directorships that interest you particularly; or monetising your skills by way of consultancy services or training courses.
What Are The Benefits Of Portfolio Careers?
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have bedropped the conventional full-time job in favor of projects defined according to their individual interests, skills, and professional ambitions. Such projects can take the form of freelancing, consulting, short-term contracts, or serving on boards or advisory bodies, among other forms of project-by-project engagements.
Portfolio careers provide an array of different advantages, depending on their kind. Increased control and agility in work life, different passion projects that broaden the skill set of individuals, might increases their attractiveness on the market very much.
Financial security is an advantage attached to a portfolio career. Single track jobs may offer limited provisions for exit, portfolio career set-ups vastly tilt the balance toward greater security so that in transitions between sectors or jobs.
Portfolio careers do provide meaning in people's lives. By allowing people to dabble in passion projects, they gain the distinctive experience from the various professional functions undertaken, resulting in an increasing sense of fulfillment. It is pertinent to be aware of the fact that straddling with different portfolios can make balance a little hard to find.
