đ usncan Note: The Benefits Of Building A Portfolio Career As An Entrepreneur
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Do you consider yourself a multipotentialite with diverse interests and skills? For many, a traditional career path can feel stifling. The idea of committing to a single trajectory and spending years climbing the conventional corporate ladder simply doesnât resonate. Instead, a growing number of professionals are drawn to pursuing multiple interests, even if it means juggling various side gigs rather than one steady job.
This type of non-traditional career path is also known as a portfolio career. While you might feel out of sync with the dominant culture, the good news is thereâs nothing wrong with pursuing an unconventional path. Former CEOs, dedicated individual contributors and entrepreneurs have all launched successful, fulfilling portfolio ventures. The benefits of going off the beaten path range from increased flexibility to diverse income streams, which you can explore in detail below.
More Flexibility
Most people are familiar with the nine-to-five grind. You work predetermined hours, focusing on projects your employer needs completed. While the general gist of your role may involve subjects youâre drawn to, you often donât get to define your responsibilities. Your employer shapes your position, usually limiting it to the execution of distinct skill sets.
The other aspect of having an employer dictate what you do is that it can change without your control. Leadership may decide to expand, constrict, transform or even eliminate your tasks. You might be part of the discussion, but you donât have the ultimate say.
With a portfolio career, youâre in charge. Youâre able to choose the projects you invest your time and expertise in, gaining greater flexibility in determining when and how you work. This also gives you room to experiment.
Itâs a clear advantage realized by Brianna Doe, Content Creator and Founder of Verbatim, an influencer marketing agency. In a blog post, Doe writes about what led her to start her marketing agency and how sheâs been able to mentor others in launching their own businesses outside of the standard nine-to-five job.
As a fellow career and startup mentor, I decided to reach out to Doe to learn more about the biggest advantages sheâs seen from launching her portfolio career. She says, âEmbracing a portfolio career gave me the space to explore, experiment and actually figure out what I wanted to build. Now, my work reflects me, not a rigid blueprint, not defined by anyone elseâs version of success or ambition.â Her response successfully exemplifies how building a portfolio career gives you the freedom to shape your work to fit your lifestyle and who you are.
It also serves as a helpful case study from which entrepreneurs could learn when starting their own portfolio careers. Also, based on the information she shared about her upcoming book titled The Unapologetic Professional, I learned that sheâs planning to cover additional portfolio career tips professionals could benefit from.
Diversified Income Sources
Working a single W-2 job offers a steady paycheck along with benefits. The illusion of security can be comforting because itâs predictable: Every two weeks, you get a direct deposit of around the same amount. Your insurance premiums and a portion of your retirement plan contributions are also paid for.
But what happens if youâre suddenly laid off? Immediately, the illusion of security vanishes. Youâre left without a paycheck, a convenient way to secure health insurance and 401(k) matches. If you think about it, conventional employment decreases your financial resilience, making you dependent on a company to provide a sole source of income in exchange for your time.
A portfolio career diverges from this line of thinking. Because you have multiple income streams, you become more financially resilient. If one client or line of work goes away, youâve got other irons in the fire. The risk of losing a paycheck isnât as great, since you have money from other projects coming in. Plus, you can pick up other work to replace what goes away.
Linda Le, Content Creator, who built a portfolio career, shares her career story in an interview, as well as how she decided to grow her influence and network outside of work. After reading Leâs responses in the interview, I was inspired by her story and reached out to her to learn more. She shared her key motivator behind having a portfolio career, saying, âI used to think stability only came from one job and one paycheck. But that one paycheck had me burnt out, anxious and constantly worried about what would happen if I lost it.â
Thus, her response highlights that a big advantage of having a portfolio career is knowing you can more easily adjust during uncertainty, which gives you financial freedom and peace of mind. Additionally, youâre less dependent when you create your own stability, allowing you to focus on your priorities.
Develop Diverse Capabilities
One of the reasons people change jobs is to broaden their skill sets. They crave experience in a different area or industry, hoping to grow and advance their careers. While traditional employment can provide these opportunities, the irony is that it usually comes with limitations.
You might discover you can only go so far within a single company. The role and organization could turn out to be completely different from what you initially hoped. Because you typically canât change a companyâs structure, its culture or how leadership defines a role, you may eventually find yourself unfulfilled. As you change as a person, you might also want to pursue different avenues that your current employer doesnât provide.
A portfolio career doesnât impose these types of restrictions. Itâs perfectly acceptable to be a social media manager and an IT tech if you desire. You could, for instance, be an independent contractor, managing various companiesâ social media calendars on the side. During other portions of your day, you troubleshoot computer problems for organizations.
On the surface, these two jobs seem completely unrelated. Yet, by working in diverse fields, youâll pick up hidden connections between them. Youâll develop broad, transferable skills you can apply to multiple industries. In the process, youâll make yourself more marketable to potential clients and be fully in charge of what experience and skill sets youâll develop.
Building A Portfolio Career
Disillusionment with conventional career paths is growing, particularly amongst younger generations. A survey of over 1,000 Gen Zers discovered that 50% want to become entrepreneurs instead of working for a traditional employer. They see the added flexibility and opportunity to pursue their passions as more advantageous than what a W-2 job can offer.
But you donât have to be a member of Gen Z to want to pursue a career off the mainstream path. Having varied interests and a desire for more control over your professional development can make a portfolio career especially appealing. The advantages you could gain add to your bottom line and offer a sense of fulfillment you canât put a price on. An entrepreneurial portfolio career may not be the most straightforward track, but itâs one you can truly make your own.
