3 Reasons Why You Need to Build A Portfolio Career
I love sushi, but I'd be pretty miserable if I could only eat sushi for the rest of my life. The same applies to your work.
In his book The Empty Raincoat, Charles Handy described a portfolio career as a combination of paid and unpaid roles, rather than one full-time job.
When asked "What do you do for work?", many people have a simple answer. "I'm a high school teacher," one might say. In contrast, people with high job satisfaction tend to have a more complex answer because they don't just do one thing.
Here are 3 compelling reasons why you need to build a portfolio career:
1) Pursue Creative Passions
Sometimes, our passions don't pay the bills or are understood by the masses. Here, we are forced to make a choice:
Stable office worker OR creative artist
Financial stability OR creative expression.
Office workers lament the repetitive nature of their work. Seeing a travel vlogger, one might fantasize about creative expression, freedom, and being their own boss.
In contrast, a full-time YouTuber is stressed about constant change and unstable finances, wondering if they should quit and get a stable office job.
Alas, you can only choose one... Right??
By building a portfolio career, we can build stable work that pays the bills while pursuing creative passion projects.
If you're an office worker, start a passion project and pursue it seriously; if you're an artist, find a stable job and create art for joy, not money.
2) Live Your Legacy NOW
The societal norm is to work a full-time job for 30 years, retire, then pursue meaningful endeavors such as volunteering, a deep dive into a hobby, or pro bono work. In short, make money for 30 years, then spend the next 30 giving it away.
But why wait to pursue meaningful endeavors until after retirement?
Because we all want financial stability and working our main full-time job is the fastest way to make money. However, no amount of money will make you feel completely safe financially.
You might say that not everyone has the financial flexibility to scale back their main job, and that's true. But it's also true that many people could work less and still be okay financially.
Build a portfolio career that allows you to live your legacy right now.
3) Complex Web of Interests and Passions
If your life's calling is your full-time job that pays well, then you are very lucky.
For the rest of us, however, one full-time job cannot satisfy our complex web of interests and passions. Our diverse passions may have nothing in common with one another, making it difficult to combine them into one perfect job.
Take, for example, the portfolio career of an optometry colleague, Dr. Riyad Khamis. He practices routine optometry, but he also works with professional hockey teams. In addition, Dr. Khamis treats concussion patients and delivers talks on contact lenses as a B&L consultant.
Like Dr. Khamis, we can lean into our diverse interests by building a portfolio of different works, and in doing so, discover a career we feel deeply passionate about.
Last year, I quit my full-time job to build an unconventional career. I still practice routine optometry, but I also provide much-needed eyecare to rural Manitoba and publish articles on the well-being of knowledge workers. Building a portfolio career has been transformative for my work and life satisfaction.
Jeff Goins
A deep dive into "portfolio career"
Find Your Calling
Humans are hardwired to work on a handful of activities. We crave change and variety. Combining a few key activities will produce the best work satisfaction.
You are not just an optometrist, a tech enthusiast, or an amateur runner – you are all those things. Don't limit yourself and start building your portfolio career! 🙌
Do you feel like there's a big gap between your ideal and current life? That's how I felt for years until I took action. Since leaving my full-time job, I've built a career I feel deeply passionate about, made more time for my loved ones, and began pursuing passion projects (like this blog!).
I created a practical guide filled with actionable, research-backed ideas to help you build the life you want – many of which helped me on my own journey.
The guide is free for members—and signing up is free! Join now to get your copy.
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