A portfolio career is a great future proof career options, giving flexibility, variety and fulfillment, and mitigating risk.
Ruth Farenga runs Farenga Ltd as a workshop facilitator, Mindfulness teacher and project manager specialising in corporate partnerships, education, gender diversity and Mindfulness theory and practice. Ruth has consistently trained people in new skills, starting in the corporate education sector with Pearson and Intel Corporation and then transitioning over to ‘e-skills UK’ in the third sector. She now runs her own business and as part of that, the ‘People Like Me’ girls into STEM project for the WISE Campaign (Women in Science, Engineering and Technology).
You can read part 1 of her blog here
The rest of this blog are in Ruth’s own words.
Who or what helps you to manage your portfolio career?
My dog! My dog Juno is fantastic for getting me out every day and keeping me company. I also find planning a rough schedule of when to focus on what in the week does help. If I leave it to chance, I don’t find I use my time as effectively so a loose plan is a good idea.
I’ve also found not writing huge intimidating lists a good idea! I’ve separated my projects out on OneNote (app and desktop) so I can add things I need to do for each project. This means I don’t forget things when they pop into my head. For any given day, I find a smaller more achievable list is better – it’s useful to ask yourself, what has to get done today to take the pressure off doing it all at once.
How do you approach marketing your portfolio career?
Particularly for the Mindfulness teaching, I use social media, the Mindful Pathway website and local networking. For the great causes work, I use LinkedIn and some networking, but I could definitely do more!
What if any, is the personal brand used for your portfolio career?
I do see myself as a champion for others, someone who can help enable causes and people.
What skills/experience/qualities does someone need to have a portfolio career?
I think to have a portfolio career, you need to be quite versatile, you need to enjoy variety. I think often you are passionate about a cause and a way of life and want to find lots of ways of fulfilling it.
What advice would you give to someone considering a portfolio career?
Firstly, I would say – hooray! Great that you’re considering it J I would encourage them to think about how they would balance their time, how they would look after themselves and how they would connect with others.
I would encourage them to think about what ties it all together. Even if in themselves, the elements seem quite separate, there is often a golden thread that can be seen. If you can articulate that, you’ll sound like you have a varied and cool life but also meaning behind it all.
What are your top 5 tips to successfully manage a portfolio career?
- Plan – with lots of pots on the boil, it’s good to plan and allow space for your different projects in your week.
- Connect – find groups or individuals with whom you can network and share, particularly where you can build long term relationships
- Collaborate – if you like working with others, see where you can join up and run something together to share skills and motivate each other
- Take care of yourself – whether it be meditation, yoga, running, the gym or something else, allow time to focus on you too
- Pull the pieces together – to tell a story about what motivates you and why you do this variety of things. Show your passion when you tell it and you’ll be inspiring lots of people with your work and lifestyle
Thanks to Ruth for making the time to do a guest blog about her portfolio career for Energise.
More about Ruth Farenga
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthfarenga
Mindful Pathway:
http://www.mindfulpathway.co.uk/
Next course begins October 2016:
http://www.mindfulpathway.co.uk/mindfulness-courses/
Follow Ruth on Twitter: