A portfolio career essentially means that you have several part-time jobs rather than one single job. If you enjoy variety in your work (aka getting bored easily), a freelance portfolio career could be for you.
A portfolio career can be anything you want it to be. It's about using your skills, passions and interests to make a freelance living. This can seem like the holy grail, but there are some things to consider…
The juggling act
A portfolio career can enable you to work flexibly to fit in around the kids. You can manage work commitments around those key school dates, which is not always so easy with the standard 25 days’ annual leave.
However, it is not without its demands and it can be hard work juggling and prioritising different pieces of work. It can also mean you don’t easily switch off, particularly when it's your own business you are passionate about.
Securing work
Key to a successful portfolio career is having the self-drive, determination and ambition to put yourself out there, win work and sell yourself. Work is not necessarily going to fall at your feet.
There is nothing to stop you from combining freelance work with a steady part-time job. This might ease you into a portfolio career. You might have been thinking about monetising a side hustle and this could enable you to try out a new path whilst having some guaranteed income.
Stability
If you like a fixed wage packet each month, this might not be for you. A portfolio career can mean you never know how much work you will take on in a month, One month can be busy and the next very quiet. The world has not quite caught up with modern working practices, for instance, banks like a consistent income and steady job for mortgages. However, there are often ways to address this and freelance work can often command a higher salary than the full-time equivalent. This is something you can investigate further as part of your research.
With a growing demand for flexible careers and better work-life balance, portfolio careers could be the way forward for many of us.
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