Portfolio career

Funke Abimbola Guest blog – the sequel part 1

January 28, 2016 By // by DigitalJenIPC

In this 2 part guest blog, in part 1 Funke shares what has changed and how the change came about and the part 2, she shares the significance of the change and what next for 2016. This is part 1.

Funke is a practising solicitor and multi award-winning lawyer and diversity campaigner. She joined Roche as Managing Counsel in January 2012, leading the legal team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar and was also appointed as Data Protection Officer for the UK. She was promoted to General Counsel & Company Secretary in December 2015. Her career began in private practice before moving in-house. Outside of her role at Roche, Funke undertakes a lot of work to support diversity & inclusion in society as a whole and within the legal profession in particular, initiating and driving through a range of ground-breaking diversity initiatives. She has received national and European recognition for her diversity work, all of which is carried out in her spare time on a voluntary basis.

What has changed?

2015 was a ground-breaking year for me both in terms of my legal work at Roche and in terms of building upon the reach and impact of my voluntary diversity work.

With regards diversity, I started the year focusing on gender diversity – by the end of the year, as well as gender, I was also doing significant amounts of work around social mobility issues and in relation to ethnicity. Together with award winning journalist, Jon Robins, and Byfield Consultancy (a leading legal PR firm), I published a report on social mobility issues across the whole legal profession called “Opening up or shutting out” (http://www.byfieldconsultancy.com/wp-content/uploads/Opening-up-or-shutting-out_Social-mobility-in-the-legal-profession.pdf).

The report was very well received, resulting in an exclusive for “The Times” and several opportunities to write further articles for “The Times” and other leading publications. The visibility and success of this report has led to many other opportunities for me – for example, a roundtable discussion on social mobility for “The Law Society Gazette” http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/people/roundtable-social-mobility/5052584.fullarticle and me being a panellist at the 2015 PRIME conference, together with Sir Terry Leahy (former CEO of Tesco), the BBC’s Mishal Husain, Louise Ashley (the author of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s June 2015 report, “Non-educational barriers to the elite professions evaluation”, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-educational-barriers-to-the-elite-professions-evaluation) and ITV’s Barry Matthews. Approximately 200 law firm attendees were present. The visibility and impact of this event has, in turn, lead to additional opportunities for me to extend my diversity work even further in 2016.

Throughout 2015, I received an unprecedented number of speaking requests. In terms of sheer numbers, I spoke to audiences approaching 1,500 solicitors and other professionals including speaking at the BBC, the Law Society 3 times and at the 30% Club. Speaking engagements to school children was also very active last year – I spoke to almost 1,200 school children in 2015.

In terms of my legal career, I started 2015 as Managing Counsel for the UK & Ireland, leading the legal team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical business in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. By the end of 2015, I had been promoted to General Counsel & Company Secretary. I now lead a mixture of both lawyers and corporate compliance professionals and, as UK Corporate Compliance Officer, I have additional responsibilities in driving the site-wide corporate compliance agenda for the Roche UK pharmaceutical business. I lead the UK Corporate Compliance senior leadership team and am also a member of the UK Governance senior leadership team. So 2015 was an eventful year to say the least!

How did any change come about?

The changes came about due to my increased visibility, impact, hard work, determination and commitment to developing myself and my team. Despite a number of set-backs and challenges throughout the year, I continued to focus on my goals and remained tenacious and determined throughout. I networked extensively, both within Roche and outside Roche. I was constantly on the lookout for opportunities both for myself and for my team and encouraged my team members to make the most of every opportunity and to see challenges as opportunities for growth and development.

My work was recognised through a series of awards programmes last year and I was deeply honoured to win 4 awards last year – Career Woman of the Year (Women4Africa Awards), Positive Role Model Award for Gender (National Diversity Awards), Outstanding Woman in Professional Services (Precious Awards) and Inspiring Member of the Year (Inclusive Networks Awards). I was also recognised by Brummells’ magazine as being one of the UK’s top 30 women champions of diversity impacting on the City of London. By the end of 2015, I had been appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Royal Society of Arts for enriching society through ideas and action!

Read Funke’s original guest blogs from 2015:

Part 1
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/funke-abimbola-guest-blog-1/

Part 2
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/guest-blog-funke-abimbola-2/

What transferable skills do you possess that you could leverage in new and different ways? Download your FREE report now:
Changing careers report

Vanessa Vallely guest blog part 2

January 9, 2016 By // by DigitalJenIPC

Photo©John Cassidy The Headshot Guy®
www.theheadshotguy.co.uk
07768 401009

This is a 2 part guest blog by Vanessa Vallely. This is part 2 of 2.

Vanessa Vallely is the founder of leading women’s network, job board and web site WeAreTheCity and WeAreTheCity jobs. She also co-founded the UK wide diversity network The Network of Networks (TNON). Vanessa had an extensive 25 year career in banking and finance and is the winner of numerous awards.

In case you missed it, here is part 1:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/vanessa-vallely-guest-blog-part-1/

The rest of this blog is in Vanessa’s own words:

What are the challenges of having a portfolio career?
Obviously a lot of the work I do isn’t paid, so I need to balance my time in terms of what I do that pays the bills versus what I do because I am passionate about it. Other than that, there are no down sides at all.

Who or what helps you to manage your portfolio career?
My PA, I couldn’t live without her! She also challenges me to ensure that my time is balanced across my many different projects and ensures that I am not neglecting any of my commitment.

How do you approach marketing your portfolio career?
I don’t tend to market my career as one particular activity. It is made up of lots of different component parts, all of which compliment each other. A lot of my speaking work comes in via word of mouth. My charity positions tend to be for 2-3 year periods so they are fairly fixed. In terms of WeAreTheCity, my core business, this is actively marketed, as it is a business therefore needs the right level of marketing in order for it to be successful. Other than that I attribute the opportunities I am presented with through my networking activities and my social media presence (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn etc).

What advice would you give to someone considering a portfolio career?
To plan what they want to do before actually biting the bullet. To ensure that have the network and connections to support their aspirations. To make sure there is a balance in terms of commercial and voluntary activities.

What benefits do portfolio careers bring specifically to women and mothers, rather than to men?
I don’t see the difference. I expect if I still had very young children, the flexibility of a portfolio career may be of use, however I don’t see why it should be any different for either gender.

What next?
Visit Vanessa’s web site:
http://www.vanessavallely.com/

What transferable skills do you possess that could open up new avenues e.g. a second career or business? Download your FREE report now:
http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

Vanessa Vallely guest blog part 1

January 9, 2016 By // by DigitalJenIPC

Photo©John Cassidy The Headshot Guy®
www.theheadshotguy.co.uk
07768 401009

This is a 2 part guest blog by Vanessa Vallely. This is part 1 of 2.

The rest of this blog is in Vanessa’s own words:

What are the components of your portfolio career e.g. study, paid freelance work, part time job, volunteering etc.)?
Since leaving my corporate job in 2012, I have been building my portfolio career. This consists of running 2 businesses both here and in India, speaking at corporates and schools and sitting on charity boards. I also had a 3 year stint as a school governor at a local primary school.

How did your portfolio career come about?
I felt I wanted to do more than just one job. I also felt an inherent need to start giving back to my community and to apply my skills to a multitude of things.

How has your portfolio career changed over time?
I feel that one opportunity has led to others. For example, my first charity board position lead to a connection that led to the next. My experience on that charity board made it easier for me to transition on to the next. I evolved from my school governor position to actually working in schools as part of Future First & Inspiring the future.

When people ask you ‘what do you do?’ – what do you reply?
I wear many hats. Business, Community and charity. I have a portfolio career.

To what extent did your portfolio career happen by chance/luck and to what extent was it planned?
I always knew I wanted to do a variety of things when I eventually left my corporate role. I knew what I wanted to do, however the opportunities really came when I started to invest time in building my network.

What do you most love about having a portfolio career?
I like the variety more than anything. I can go from running my business to presenting to teenagers at a school. On another day, I can be contributing towards a charity’s strategy to travelling to India to volunteer. It is a dream to have a portfolio career as I get to choose what I get involved in and I feel like I am contributing in both business and to the community. I just wish I had more time to get involved in all the projects that come my way.

What next?

Visit Vanessa’s web site:
http://www.vanessavallely.com/

What transferable skills do you possess that could open up new avenues e.g. a second career or business? Download your FREE report now:
http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

Simon Strong’s portfolio career 6 of 6

December 31, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is the fifth in a series of 6 blog posts by Simon Strong about his portfolio career. Reading how people have created their own portfolio career can be useful to inspire you to create one yourself.

In case you missed them, here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Here is part 1:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-1/

Here is part 2:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-2/

Here is part 3:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-3/

Here is Part 4:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-4/

Here is part 5
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-5-of-6/

The rest of this blog is in Simon’s own words.

How do you approach marketing your portfolio career?
I’d really like to take advice on that one! I’ve come to realise that marketing and branding consultants suck at marketing themselves.

The café is much easier because I have a product and a place.

What if any, is the personal brand used for your portfolio career?
Human Zoo works nicely across different facets of my work. But I’ve found that it’s personal reputation that seems to be what unlocks the opportunities for me. Human Zoo is more for me than for clients. I suppose it fulfils the convention of being a company name. Maybe when some of the innovation projects take off it’ll serve a more important role.

What advice would you give to someone considering a portfolio career?
Good Lord! I’m not sure anyone should take advice from me! I’m happy to help people to create products, services, insights, culture, possible futures and even businesses. But I wouldn’t dare suggest anyone listen to advice I’d have to offer. Except that I suspect that whatever it is that you are thinking – it’s probably at least partially right.

I’m also a big fan of the minimum viable product idea – what is the least you can do to get your idea working. We’ve all done it – spent a fortune on a website, business cards, and marketing collateral in order to be ‘professional’. It’s a lot of wasted money for nothing. It could all have been done for free (a simple off-the-peg website, simple text only business cards etc.). For the most part all that stuff is just an expensive distraction (in terms of finance, energy and time) from doing the actual work.

When I opened the café I had an espresso machine. I could make coffee and tea. The espresso machine ran on bottled water, and I washed up in a bucket. The entire set up was temporary. It cost as little as I could get away with. But people loved it – rustic charm I called it! And they adored watching and being a part of this little business – watching it, and me, grow. My biggest insight from this is that my customers aren’t paying for the coffee I’ve just served – they are paying for me to be there tomorrow – they are investing in tomorrow’s cup of coffee!

Anything else you want to add?
It seems to me that the most secure occupation is the one you create for yourself. It’s unlikely you’ll find yourself such a terrible employee that you’ll fire yourself – I hope you’d be forgiving enough to give yourself another chance…!

This was the last in a 6 part guest blog series by Simon Strong.

View Simon Strong’s LinkedIn profile:
http://https//uk.linkedin.com/in/simonstrong

View the Human Zoo web site:
http://www.humanzoo.biz/

What could your portfolio career be made up of? Find out what your transferable skills are by downloading our free report:
http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

Simon Strong’s portfolio career 5 of 6

October 19, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

In case you missed them, here are parts 1, 2, 3 & 4:

Here is part 1:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-1/

Here is part 2:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-2/

Here is part 3:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-3/

Here is part 4:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-4/

The rest of this blog is in Simon’s own words.

What do you most love about having a portfolio career?
I’m always busy, stimulated, and being challenged. I find every project provides new insight and perspective on the other projects I have on the go.

What are the challenges of having a portfolio career?
I’ve no idea what I’m doing. I have so many balls in the air that whenever I stop to think I get terrified that I’m forgetting something important. I sometimes want to stop the bus so I can get off and take a moment to do nothing. But then, when I’ve got a moment to myself I have another idea which excites me and off I go again! I’ve got so many things that I want to do. I suppose my main challenge is myself.

I’ve begun to realise how important it is to surround yourself with great people. I couldn’t do this stuff on my own.

Commitment is the most under rated quality in people you want to work with. There are lots of flakes out there who will be happy to jump on the bandwagon once they know that something will be a success. But the really valuable people are the ones who are willing to put effort into something because it’s interesting before they know if it’ll work.

However, you’re the only one who can make it happen. Don’t expect anyone else to go out of their way to help you. It doesn’t matter how good your ideas are (contrary to popular myth, good ideas are really, really, really easy to come by, and you don’t have to be super smart to have them) – it’s your responsibility to make it work. If it fails – it’s your fault, and yours alone.

Who or what helps you to manage your portfolio career?
My wife. I always know when I’ve had a stinker of an idea – she ignores it. She gently nudges me towards the most fertile territories. She dissuades me from my worst excess, and is my number one cheerleader.

And my business partner Adam. We work really well together. We have very complimentary skill sets. We bounce off each other incredibly productively. He shoulders so much of the stuff that I’m not good at and lets me get on with what I am good at. I hope he thinks that I do the stuff he doesn’t like so he can get on with the stuff he’s good at…!

Part 6 of Simon’s 6 part guest blog series coming soon.

View Simon Strong’s LinkedIn profile:
http://https//uk.linkedin.com/in/simonstrong

View the Human Zoo web site:
http://www.humanzoo.biz/

What could your portfolio career be made up of? We help our clients create, market and manage their portfolio career.

Find out what your transferable skills are by downloading our free report:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

Guest blog – Funke Abimbola #2

August 27, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is part 2 of a 2 part guest blog by Funke Abimbola, Managing Counsel, Roche Products Ltd. UK & Ireland.

Funke is a practising solicitor and currently Managing Counsel at Roche UK, leading the legal team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. She is also Data Protection Officer for the UK. Her career began in private practice before moving in-house. Funke undertakes a lot of work to support diversity & inclusion in society as a whole and within the legal profession in particular. An award winning lawyer and diversity champion, she was most recently a finalist for ‘Diversity Champion of the Year’ at the inaugural 2015 Excellence in Diversity Awards and won the ‘Career Woman of the Year’ award at the 2015 Women4Africa awards.

The Food Judge guest blog part 3

August 27, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is part 3 of a 3 part guest blog by Nicky Richmond.

Nicky combines being a joint managing partner for Brecher with being a restaurant critic, and is a property and property finance lawyer with over 25 years’ experience. She is The Food Judge and writes a regular column for The Lawyer magazine. As a Foodie myself as you can see from our food themed LLClub web site, I am inspired!

In case you missed them, here are the links to part 1 & 2.

Part 1:
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/an-edible-portfolio-career-1/

Part 2
https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/the-food-judge-nicky-richmond-2/

The rest of this blog are in Nicky’s own words.

Who or what helps you to manage your portfolio career?

No-one helps me to manage my portfolio career, but having a supportive group of partners in my firm who appreciate the good publicity that can come with raising the profile of any individual partner whether by way of restaurant reviews, opinion pieces or being involved with charities.
Not having to go through endless layers of bureaucracy to get my pieces approved is also a help and being an owner of the business means that I have more leeway than lawyers in larger firms where they may not feel entirely comfortable with a lawyer actually having an opinion.

How do you approach marketing your portfolio career?

In terms of law, through the conventional channels, attending industry events and writing in the legal and professional press. For the restaurant side, Twitter has been a great source of networking and contacts.

What if any, is the personal brand used for your portfolio career?

The Food Judge is my brand for the food blog. In general, my approach is straightforward advice with a sense of humour, whether it be legal/restaurant/charity work

What skills/experience/qualities would you say lawyers possess which makes them well suited to having a portfolio career?

Lawyers can work to a deadline, they are task driven, self-motivated, and having an outside life, in my view, makes them better lawyers

What advice would you give to give to someone considering a portfolio career?

Choose to spend your time on something you love and which makes you feel good about yourself

Your top 5 tips about portfolio careers from having one yourself?

1. Don’t be scared of trying something new
2. Put your head above the parapet – it doesn’t matter if it fails
3. Don’t expect instant success
4. Ask for help
5. Believe in yourself

Also – don’t wait until you have been in the law 25 years, like me, try something new. I look back and regret all that time I spent in the office at weekends or until silly hours of the night. There are times when that is unavoidable but if I’m honest with myself, I am allowed the job to take over and if I had had other interests/commitments earlier on, I may not have committed so much time to it and I would have had a more balanced and no doubt more enjoyable life.

Very few law firms will tell you that you are working too hard – you need to decide what is too much and how much you are prepared to give to the day job, they certainly won’t decide for you.

Allow yourself to do something for yourself that you enjoy.

More about Nicky Richmond

Nicky Richmond, Joint Managing Partner, Brecher:
http://www.brecher.co.uk/people/nicky-richmond/

The Food Judge – never knowingly underfed.
http://thefoodjudge.com/

Blog – Not Entirely Legal
http://strictlylegal.me/author/nickyrichmond/

More about portfolio careers:

Could a portfolio career give you the variety you seek? Download our free report ‘Discover Portfolio Careers’ and find out:
http://www.llclub.org/discover-portfolio-careers/

Simon Strong’s portfolio career #4

May 22, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is the fourth in a series of 6 blog posts by Simon Strong about his portfolio career.

Reading how people have created their own portfolio career can be useful to inspire you to create one yourself.

In case you missed them, here are parts 1, 2 & 3

Here is part 1:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-1/

Here is part 2:

Post on LLClub

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-2/

Here is part 3:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-3/

The rest of this blog is in Simon’s own words.

To what extent did your portfolio career happen by chance/luck and to what extent was it planned?

Utterly by chance. But in retrospect, it seems totally planned. I was chatting to my mum and dad the other day, and they commented that they always knew I wouldn’t take an obvious route through life. They’ve never been able to predict what I would say or think on any subject on any given day! I’m contrary by nature and have an eclectic approach to my interests.

But I wonder what it must have been like to be the first lawyer. There must have been one. How would he have described himself at ancient networking events?! And even if you have a job title that people recognise, why should it define you? I remember meeting a marketing director (have you already got a picture of her – the archetype of a marketing director…?) who started her career as a wing walker in the Cadbury’s Chocolate Crunchie Flying Circus… Now then – what do you think of her as a marketing director? Or my first boss who was hard as nails – but who’d started her career as an underwear model for Lady magazine (you know that old trick of imagining people who make you nervous are in their underwear – that just made me more nervous with her!).

I’ve found that people really like to have you ‘in a box’. If I ever work with a client, they tend to think that whatever I did for them is the only thing I can do. They are surprised when I tell them all the other things I get up to. This sometimes leads to a perception that I must therefore do these things part time and therefore not as well as someone who does only the one thing. I think the diversity of my perspective makes me a more rounded thinker who brings more to each project and therefore makes me better…!

I remember I bumped into a couple of guys who were a couple of years below me at school. They were shocked that I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi at the time. ‘But you’re a meathead’ they said. Because I played rugby (I was a prop at school and played under 18 county level, before moving to the back row – and captained the English Advertising Agencies) they had me pegged as ‘an unthinking lump’. They couldn’t conceive of me as someone who had a rich intellectual life.

I think my own path has given me an appreciation of the diversity and possibility in the lives of others. I’m constantly fascinated by the incredible potential hidden within people– the kitchen porter who is learning German so he can study architecture in Berlin – the research chemist who teaches Zumba – the cashier in a Coop corner shop who brews honey mead – the learned academic who rocks a comedy set… And to see how these interests shape life. The kitchen porter is studying fine arts in parallel to his German and temp work so that he has the qualifications and skills to make the most of his studies in Germany, the chemist is now a full time fitness instructor after the pharma company closed down her research lab, the cashier now works at the best pub in the area (which also sells his honey mead), and the academic has a public speaking life opening up and is increasingly in demand for media appearances.

So I think that our lives follow the shape of our interests. And I guess it’s no accident that I have a portfolio career!

Part 5 of Simon’s 6 part guest blog series coming soon.

View Simon Strong’s LinkedIn profile:
http://https//uk.linkedin.com/in/simonstrong

View the Human Zoo web site:
http://www.humanzoo.biz/

What could your portfolio career be made up of? We help our clients create, market and manage their portfolio career.

Find out what your transferable skills are by downloading our free report:
http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

An edible portfolio career #1

May 16, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is part 1 of a 3 part guest blog by Nicky Richmond. Nicky combines being a joint managing partner for law firm Brecher with being a restaurant critic, and is a property and property finance lawyer with over 25 years’ experience. She is ‘The Food Judge’ and writes a regular column for The Lawyer magazine. As a Foodie, I think Nicky’s portfolio career is wonderful and I hope to accompany her soon to a restaurant……………!

The rest of this blog are in Nicky’s own words.

What are the components of your portfolio career e.g. study, paid freelance work, part time job, volunteering etc.?

My day job is as managing partner of a law firm, a role that I have undertaken for seven years. In my free time, I write weekly restaurant reviews for The Lawyer magazine and I have a restaurant review blog called The Food Judge. I also write articles for various publications and my other blog, Not Entirely Legal. I am also a trustee of a children’s charity, Kids Out and have recently become involved in Action Against Hunger which seems a good counterbalance to all that eating out.

How did your portfolio career come about?

I have always been a little bit obsessed about food and eating out; in fact I thought that I was going to be a lawyer for about 10 years then open my own restaurant. Real life got in the way. I started writing in a non-legal sense when I wanted to do some publicity for my firm and because I had only written like a lawyer for the previous 25 years.

I wanted a little bit of practice and to try and find my own writing voice, so I started writing restaurant reviews for myself. The Lawyer magazine tweeted that they were looking for restaurant reviews and it seemed like a gift. After a little bit of stop/start, I ended up being their weekly reviewer. The charity work came about because I have always had a strong interest in giving something back. I never quite found the right charity but then I think I never really looked properly, or hard enough. You have to find something that chimes with you and where you can really empathise.

How has your portfolio career changed over time?

For about 25 years I did very little other than law, partly because I was simply too busy and partly because I didn’t actually make the time to do anything different. When I started doing the restaurant reviews, I had no idea that they would take off in the way that they did, or that I would meet a whole new network of people through doing it. And whilst I always did pro bono work for charities, that was under the banner of a law firm and the charity work that I do now is nothing to do with the law firm although my legal/management expertise is useful.

Part 2 of this 3 part guest blog series coming soon.

Nicky Richmond, Joint Managing Partner, Brecher:
http://www.brecher.co.uk/people/nicky-richmond/

The Food Judge – Never Knowingly Underfed.
http://thefoodjudge.com/

Blog – Not Entirely Legal
http://strictlylegal.me/author/nickyrichmond/

Interested in a portfolio career and liberating more of your talent? Get in touch with Rachel Brushfield, Talent Liberator.

Rachel is doing a talk about Portfolio careers on 12 June 2015 at a Law Society Women Lawyers Division Portfolio Careers event in London.

Simon Strong’s portfolio career #3

May 4, 2015 By // by DigitalJenIPC

This is the third in a series of 6 blog posts by Simon Strong about his portfolio career. Reading how people have created their own portfolio career can be useful to inspire you to create one yourself.

In case you missed them, here is part 1:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-1/

Here is part 2:

https://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/simon-strongs-portfolio-career-2/

The rest of this blog is in Simon’s own words.

How did your portfolio career come about?

It certainly wasn’t intentional. In part it came about because I find it hard to say no. In part because I’m always having daft ideas (my outdoor cinema for the football world cup was an unmitigated disaster!). And partly because I started to give myself permission to do things if I thought they were interesting.

How has your portfolio career changed over time?

It started with a business focus underpinned by the arts. I left advertising and got involved in using improvisational comedy as a tool to facilitate creativity, professional development, culture change, and branding workshops. I discovered there was this world of amazing people who did extraordinary business work: horse whisperers who did leadership development, a poker player who taught risk assessment and decision making, a Tai Chi master who taught negotiation skills etc.

For a short time I drifted away from a business focus to a more arts based interest with a business underpinning, partly due to the impact of the recession when the budgets dried up and companies found it difficult to justify working with someone like me!

I have now come back towards the business world and seem to be finding a way to combine my interests in really productive ways. I feel creatively potent and productive at the moment.

When people ask you ‘what do you do?’ – what do you reply?

Ummmmm…

My mum is really happy about the coffee shop – it means that she actually has an answer! But it is something that I have struggled with and angst over. Probably unnecessarily. It has been especially difficult at networking events when I think I should have something smart and concise to say.

Really, it depends who asks. Sometimes I say I am a barista or that I run a coffee shop or cafe. Other times I say I run a creative consultancy. Mostly I laugh and say I do stuff, for people, for reasons!

Part 4 of Simon’s 6 part guest blog series coming soon.

View Simon Strong’s LinkedIn profile:
http://https//uk.linkedin.com/in/simonstrong

View the Human Zoo web site:
http://www.humanzoo.biz/

What could your portfolio career be made up of? Find out what your transferable skills are by downloading our free report:
http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/