We explored the pros and cons of a portfolio career in an earlier blog.
For professionals working in traditional cultures in the corporate world, the pros of freedom, autonomy and flexibility are very motivating and create energy to tackle any cons.
Many people are typically naturally modest, worry, tend to focus on other people’s needs and dislike self marketing. They find it hard to see what makes them great and marketable, and it can be hard to be creative in identifying how else they can use their skills.
In order to create and have a successful portfolio career over time, you need to be good at finding clients, identifying your niche, defining your brand, establishing and maintaining your reputation, identifying new insights for your competitive advantage, managing your time and yourself, finding and being active in suitable networks, understanding social media, and translating trends into opportunities.
Many people, especially working mothers, have busy work and home lives and it can be hard to get started. We have listed typical perceived blocks to progress below. The good news is that we can help you to tackle all of these potential blocks and overcome any additional obstacles as they arise.
Common perceived blocks:
- lack of time to think, research and plan;
- lack of clarity or confidence to make the right decision;
- risk aversion – you are a lawyer, so it is not surprising;
- large financial commitments;
- overwhelm about what needs to be done;
- no strategy or process to evaluate options and make a decision;
- perfectionism – wanting to get everything right before making a change;
- over thinking/‘analysis paralysis’ – focusing on what might go wrong instead of taking action, learning and evaluating as you go;
- feeling unclear about your transferable skills and what else you could do;
- dislike of self-marketing;
- listening to other people’s fears instead of following your instinct;
- putting other people’s needs before your own, such as concern about disappointing others, eg your parents who paid for your education.
Research by Executive Appointments with portfolio careerists showed that two-thirds of them were quite or very satisfied with their success in establishing a portfolio career. The most motivating factors from the research about having a portfolio career are shown below.
| Factor | % agreeing |
| Ability to control own activities | 27 |
| Variety and unpredictability | 29 |
| Freedom from corporate politics | 21 |
Creating a clear goal and plan and identifying fears and actual/perceived blocks is essential for success, as well as creating a strategy to market and manage yourself. Our Energise career e course helps you to evaluate your career to date in depth, to identify your blocks and fears and to create strategies to overcome each. It also helps you to create a career goal and plan to achieve it