Freelance, Freedom & Flexibility! Build a Mosaic Portfolio Career and ditch the 9-5 for good!!

Do you crave a flexible work life that enables you to pursue your passions?
Do you want to travel when you want to?
Do you want to be in charge of your own work life balance?

If the answer’s yes, then perhaps a Portfolio Career is for you.

What is a Portfolio Career?

A portfolio career simply means having multiple jobs and multiple income streams. It’s moving away from the notion of having one full time salaried position, to creating an eclectic mix of part-time income streams. There really are no rules. You might work within one field of expertise or across different fields, you may have a variety of freelance roles, self-employed roles, temporary contracts or project work. I like to think of it as a mosaic, each segment coming together to create a dynamic whole.

I work within one field, my background is teaching so my mosaic is made up of education related freelance work including online teaching and most recently as a presenter for interactive English course material. However, other portfolio careerists choose to work across fields of expertise, for example maybe you are an artist, landscape gardener and travel agent all at the same time – your skills are varied, but also complement each other.

The term portfolio career is relatively new, though of course juggling multiple jobs is nothing new and there are many in the world who juggle out of necessity especially in the arts where full time salaried positions are trickier to find. However, in recent years we are seeing a shift in how people value their work, with a greater emphasis on creating a balanced lifestyle which gives the freedom to travel, to develop personal interests and to spend quality time with loved ones. This has led to more and more people recognising the benefits of a portfolio career, and rather than regarding it as the poor cousin to full time employment, they are actively choosing to develop a career based around a myriad of jobs.

What are the benefits of a Portfolio Career?

Flexibility – creating a portfolio that has a range of jobs can lead to a flexible lifestyle. You are not bound by the 9-5 and x number of weeks holiday per year. You have the flexibility to be able to organise your own timetable and decide when you want to work. In my case, much of my work is seasonal, I am extremely busy throughout the spring and summer which then leaves the autumn and winter to follow my passion for travel.

Location independent – technology has opened the pathway to be location independent; therefore, if your aim is to lead a digital nomad lifestyle, building a portfolio made up of work that you can do remotely is ideal.

Variety is the spice of life – the awesome thing about working in this way is that you don’t get bored, there’s always something new happening and no two weeks are the same.

Develop multiple skills – having multiple jobs enables you to develop a wide range of skills, indeed you may develop skills you never imagined having! What’s more, you actually become better and quicker at learning. All you need to do is develop an attitude, of ‘yea I can do that’ rather than ‘well I don’t have those skills’, and your brain will find a way of learning the skills you need. And why wouldn’t it? It’s not hard wired into out DNA that we can only do one type of job!

Adaptable – it follows that if you have a range of skills and can learn quickly, that you are also adaptable. This is incredibly important in today’s job market where changes in trends and economic factors can dramatically influence employability. Gone are the days of guaranteed jobs for life based on a single set of skills. Your proficiency at adapting to changing circumstances is extremely valuable and will put you in good stead for maintaining workflow.

The current Covid-19 crisis is a stark reminder of this. I found myself in a situation, where all my planned work except my online teaching evaporated overnight. In a bid to secure some additional income to make up for the short fall, I successfully applied for a contract as a presenter for ESL interactive courseware. This was something totally out of my comfort zone and if you had told me 6 months ago that I would be being filmed in a studio I would have laughed very loudly but needs must! If there is one lesson that I have learnt through this work style is that you become highly adaptable and rise to any challenges.

When you embrace being a portfolio careerist, you embrace a more open mindset. You are no longer confined to the four walls of the traditional workplace, instead you can follow any path that takes your fancy…and the beauty of new paths is that you never know where they will take you.

Confidence and feeling great – if you take control of your own work, this leads very naturally to a deeper level of confidence in your own abilities.

When I had a permanent position, my confidence was constantly dangling around my knees because it didn’t matter how much effort I put in, it was always at the managers say so as to whether it was good enough. It wasn’t until I started working on my own terms that I began to realise I was pretty good at what I did and of course this leads to higher self-esteem.

However, confidence is much more than being good at something. Feeling great on the inside comes from living your life to the full. I don’t believe for one minute we are put on this planet to be a slave to our jobs. If you’re eager to follow a passion or live in a certain way, it doesn’t matter how hard you work or how good you are at your work it’s unlikely you’ll be fully satisfied. If you want to feel amazing, creating a well-rounded lifestyle that encompasses your heart felt passions this is the way forward.

How to start building a Portfolio Career?

Being a portfolio careerist is not a straight forward narrow path, you can’t apply for a job and that’s it you’re sorted, you have to work at creating this work style; but it’s worth it!

Here are few things to ponder to help you on your way:

Follow your bliss, your passion, your heart!! – woah Jenny, that doesn’t sound very practical!? What about money? What about planning? Wait, I’ll come to that, but first let’s start with your passion as that will drive you to succeed.

Several years ago, when I began thinking seriously about how I wanted to run my life, I came across the writing of Joseph Campbell and it influenced my thinking greatly. He wrote that if you follow your bliss, doors will open to carry you in the right direction. I decided it was time to change my attitude and rather than putting my passion for travelling secondary, as a reward for working hard in a job I didn’t like. I decided to put it first. Travel is my bliss. It’s my primary motivator so I put it at the forefront of my mind and heart. I began to envisage a life that revolved around the freedom to travel and a style of work that enabled me to be location independent.

I was determined and I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to happen, but I knew that it would. When I changed my focus to be bliss orientated, not only did I feel infinitely more positive, but opportunities started coming my way. They weren’t always opportunities that I felt fully skilled to do and maybe in the past I would have declined them, but with my focus on building a portfolio career, I immediately said yes and trusted myself to learn the missing skills.

I started following new paths and new doors started opening.

I’m not talking magic here, it’s simply a mindset. When you adopt a bliss orientated focus and take small risks you become more open to the opportunities around you. You begin to see a way forward. Your passion is what fills you with enthusiasm every morning to work hard and create the lifestyle you deserve. It makes sense that you let your passion lead you. Try it.

Ease in gently – going down the portfolio career route is usually a gradual process, unless you have a lot of savings to keep you afloat!

If you’re currently in a full-time permanent position and wanting to be a portfolio careerist, start gradually and ease yourself in gently. It might be that you have to start working on freelance projects in your spare time until you can drop a couple of days at work to focus purely on building your portfolio. Alternatively, perhaps you could reduce your monthly outgoings in order to drop a day or two straight away. I’m not saying that creating this style of work is easy! it’s not – it takes a lot of effort and discipline. It’s likely you will work far more hours than when you just had a full-time job, especially when you’re just getting going and you may have to cutback your spending! But, if you’re focused on gaining a lifestyle that is freedom rich, it’ll be worth it.

In my case, I had zero savings and I lived alone with my son. I gradually reduced my permanent salaried days as I built up my freelance. At the end, I was down to just two days and I was desperate to leave! One evening I was scouring the internet for ideas and I came across online teaching and this was the final string to my bow. It gave me the small amount of security that I needed to be a fully independent portfolio careerist.

Be proactive – unlike a regular job, you can’t take for granted that work will keep coming. You need to keep that ball rolling and be proactive. I’m always on the look out for opportunities and I never rest on my laurels. Yes, these days I have a steady flow of work with stable contracts, but I have others that are just one offs, so I am always seeking new openings. Rather than worrying about this, I enjoy the challenge. When you approach potential problems with enthusiasm, you will always find a way through.

‘Enthusiasm is the match that lights the candle of achievement.’

Talk to people – part of being proactive, is networking. It’s up to you to inform people that you are available for work; otherwise how will they know? I can think of several contracts that I have gained through casual chats over coffee at training events. I’m not a pushy person in the slightest and I’m quite introverted by nature so I don’t necessarily mean you need to get out there and sell, sell, sell yourself. Instead, just be yourself, let people know what you can do and that you’re available.

Periodically, I cast out feelers! I send emails to the various organisations I work for and tell them I’m available for work; some will come back empty but usually someone says ‘ that’s great Jenny, we have some writing come up. I’ll get back to you’. When I first started doing this, I felt awkward and I figured it must be irritating for the recipient! Now, I see it as part of my job and rather than thinking that I’m giving people annoying prod, I see it as a way to let companies know that I have valuable skills they will want to take advantage of. I’m doing them a favour by contacting them!

If you have valuable skills and if you make yourself available, you will gain work.

Be open – when you first start out, you’ll have in mind a particular area of expertise that you want to pursue but the trick is not to limit yourself. When you have that area going nicely and money is trickling in, consider how you could branch off and create another income stream. The more avenues of income you have, the more security you have. Therefore, ask yourself if the skills you are currently using can be utilised in another area? For example, are you a teacher? Could you write exam papers in your subject specialist? Could you mark exams? Could you write course books?

As you begin to branch out into new areas, you will find that each individual segment supports and overlaps; the skills used will be reinforced and enhanced as you learn to use them in this flexible manner.

Learn new skills – don’t be afraid to branch out from your comfort zone; one of the wonderful things about working in this flexible mosaic manner is that you have the option to learn new skills. The more you learn, the quicker and easier it becomes to take on board new information. Your brain thrives on learning new skills. Think of it as a muscle, the more you use it, the better it becomes.

Many portfolio careerists have a couple of income streams, whilst learning new skills in an area that interests them for example, perhaps you are an online teacher and in your spare time are learning how to blog.

However, don’t make the mistake of being ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. If you learn a new skill, take it seriously, commit to it. Half-baked attempts at learning a new skill usually fall by the wayside quite quickly.

We are in such a fortunate position, when has there ever been another time in history where so much free information is available to us? If you want to learn how to do something or gain knowledge in a specific field, you can.

Skill building should be regarded as a necessity, rather than a maybe. Gone are the days of a job for life. Market trends may render a job you trained for at 18 to disappear before you reach 30. We are all in this fantastic position, of being able to take advantage of learning multiple skills and using them across a variety of industries. Not only is this of benefit to your employment prospects, it’s of benefit to your brain health.

Commitment – without a doubt being a portfolio careerist means you have to be committed to what you do. If you’re not committed, you’ll not be proactive, and you won’t get work. Simple as.

Organised – you will have several plates spinning at once – yes, it’s exciting but wow do you have to be organised! In order to keep those plates spinning you’ve got to plan your diary and organise your time. You might be dealing with several companies, and you will have to keep them all happy!

Save money – one of the obvious downsides of this type of work is that income is not necessarily regular and it’s crucial to save money for lulls. I earn most of my money from March – July, thus saving and planning my outgoings is crucial.

Schedule time off – it’s really easy to just keep going when you’re a portfolio careerist. I love my work and I also love the buzz of seeking new work, but I also know how important it is to schedule days and take time out, so I don’t feel burnt out. It doesn’t matter how much you love doing something, you still need breaks.

Follow your bliss.
If you do follow your bliss
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.
When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.
I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn’t know they were going to be.
If you follow your bliss,
doors will open for you that wouldn’t have opened for anyone else.
Joseph Campbell