Cultivating a Portfolio Career for an Abundant Life

Last week, somebody asked me to elaborate more on what I meant by Portfolio Careers - specifically how to start one for yourself, and the pros and cons of pursuing the same. Since others seconded the request, I thought, why not write a piece about it for a more general audience.?

This is an educational piece, so keep a pen and notebook to note down your own points as you read along. Or give it a quick read now but do come back again to work on the questions. Only if you actually work on the exercises will this article be truly useful to you.?

The aim of writing this article is to help you?

STEP 1 -? get clear on whether you need a career at all at the current stage of life that you are in - perhaps you don’t ??. Perhaps your life is rich and abundant right now without needing a career.

STEP 2 -? examine whether a portfolio career will help you to experience more abundance at the current stage of life that you are in.

STEP 3 -? if yes, understand more about the portfolio careers - advantages, disadvantages, recommendations (suggested dos), and things to watch out for (suggested donts).?

A quick disclaimer from my side that I have written this article as? a ‘quickstart’? introduction to this topic only. There are obviously several more nuances to go into at each stage and more detailed exercises that we can do in longer coaching journeys and courses.

For now, consider this my quick DIY invitation if you have never thought about portfolio careers before.

Step 1 - Define your ‘Rich/ Abundant Life’?

As someone working in the career space for the last 15 years, I have rarely come across anyone who will think of their career without thinking of money. And rightfully so. Money is a key aspect and tool that we need to organize and maintain our lives, duties and relationships. What I have found however, is that most people have very ‘confused’ relationships with money. Untangling and healing our relationship with money is a whole journey in itself (here is a link to a two hour masterclass on MoneyEQ to help you with this https://www.drramya.com/product/3106838/money-eq-reinvent-your-relationship-with-mon ).?

However, for now, I would like you to just sit down and list what ‘living a rich life’ or ‘an abundant life’ means to you. Make a really long list - write down whatever comes to your mind and don't stop yourself. This step is critical, because otherwise you will fall into a trap of always feeling ‘poor’ simply because you have just never sat down and listed what ‘rich’ is for you at this stage in your life.?

For me a rich life is one where I have enough time for my personal sadhana activities, time and resources to take my family for outings and experiences that they value, access to nature, healthy fresh food, comfortable travel to places that I need to for my work and leisure, resources to employ the help and support that I would like at home and for my business, gadgets and software subscriptions that will bring more ease to my work, resources to create opportunities and reach that I need to do my life’s work, resources to create opportunities for continuous education for myself, my children and other adult family members. Ability to provide good medical and wellness support for myself and my family members - physical, mental, therapy, coaching, fitness, massages, vacations........there is more :-).?

But you get the idea. So make YOUR list now. Put aside any judgmental voices of ‘greedy’ , ‘needy’ etc. These voices perhaps belong to someone else, or your own childhood and younger selves. Nobody else gets to judge this for you. Not even your younger earlier self who might have been happy with much less. Just get clear on what an ultimate rich life will mean to YOU, right now in your life.?

There was a time in my life many years ago when a rich life or an abundant life just meant enough money for a backpack, shoes, rainclothes, food, and transport so I could trek whenever I wanted to go one :-). Even books, I would just borrow from public libraries.?

Now with children, family responsibilities, and an expanded (and ambitious) vision for my own life’s calling - a rich life includes much more for me.?

For example, I would like to hire and pay talented and committed people to help me with my vision. I need to travel much more to do my work in the way I am being called to.? I need significant money for that. Even little things in my personal life need more money now because of my expanded career vision. For example, I need to invest in clothing that will be appropriate for a corporate workshop or meeting. I can't wear my trekking clothes when I show up to coach a CEO. You get the picture? :-).

Exercise 1 - So make your list NOW! - What does a Rich and Abundant life look like to you at the stage you currently are in??

Question 1 - Are all your components of a Rich life being currently met with the money you have??

If yes, perhaps you don't even need a career at this stage. You can just invest your time in hobbies, pro bono engagements, and other activities that are meaningful and exciting to you.?

If no, then go over your list and make an estimate of the money that you would like to bring in (either per month or per year) through the sum total of all the work that you do in order to support your rich life. This sub step is really important because if you do not put down a figure, then there is a huge trap of feeling ‘poor’ no matter what you earn. Because there is always a possibility of more. I have worked with several clients and participants (across income brackets) who were trapped in the mindset of ‘I can't modify my career because I need the money’ - but when I ask them how much money they would like, they have never actually sat down and done the math.

Unless you are a billionaire, without doing the list + math, you will never get to a place of ‘feeling’ rich. You will be like a hamster running in a wheel for more - but feeling ‘poor’.

Optional add on exercise to do as part of step 1 - Tick off how far you are already along on each time in your ‘Rich Life List’ Acknowledge your achievements. If you feel inspired to then express gratitude to the people, systems, support, universe, who helped you create these. Acknowledge yourself for putting in the hard work, focus and creativity to create whatever you have created so far.?

We can create more joyfully and effectively when we take forward actions built on an acknowledgment of past achievements and blessings.?

Step 2 - Identify your desired ROTI factors (Returns on Time Invested at Work)

When you invest your money in a bank or financial instrument, it is obvious that you will look at what the return on your investment will be. However, when it comes to our time, we are not often quite so aware and conscious of what we could actually like as a return. Whenever you invest your time in any activity, you are doing it because you would like some kind of return. It can be explicit or implicit. And these desired returns (or portfolios of returns), will be unique to each one of us.?

For example, when you choose to go to see a movie you might want the returns of entertainment, popcorn, and samosa. You wouldn't mind going alone as long as the movie entertained you. Another person might never go alone for a movie, because for them the outing is more about company, friendly banter, or movie analysis. For yet another person, on a hot day in a different city, it might be just about finding a cool AC place with comfortable chairs to relax in where you will not be bothered.?

The more clear we are in our heads about our ‘real’ reasons for going to the movie, the better we can make our choice of the movie theatre and the more we can customize our visit so that it is joyful and satisfying to us. If you went for the AC and relaxing chair, it does not matter if the story was not that great. If you went with your friends to enjoy their company, you might not really mind a sub-standard samosa. You get the picture :-).?

Joy at work and true job satisfaction become more and more attainable when we first do the inner homework of asking ourselves, what do we really want from it. Only then can we actually do meaningful research on the job itself and choose intelligently. Only then can we have meaningful ongoing reviews with our boss, employer, clients, or ourselves to sculpt our job or contract to make it more enjoyable and more win-win than it previously was. Only then can we get through the tough and rough patches of the job and bring our best to it by remaining focused on our ‘why, or the reasons we are doing it in the first place.?

Your desired Return On Time Invested at Work (ROTI@Work) list will be very specific to you and to the stage that you are in your life. An optional precursor to the ROTI@Work exercise that I make participants do in a longer workshops is to build an awareness of the various stakeholders in thier lives - and disentangling their dreams, needs, agendas, desires,, fears and worries from yours. I have a recorded mini version of this exercise in a digital masterclass titled "Owning Your Life,"’ available here if you would like - https://www.drramya.com/product/425174/owning-your-life

But for now, you can just choose to intentionally tune into your dreams, your own intrinsic desires, the things that turn you on, the things that tug at your heart and make a list of each of these items. When you make your ROTI@Work list please don't get caught up in the logic of can all these things come in one job or one role? Such constraints are exactly what a portfolio approach is for. Please don't also get caught up in worries of will people pay me for ‘xyz’ or is there currently a market demand for my offering. These constraints are also resolvable through a portfolio approach. Finally, do not, get trapped in self judgment of ‘am I good enough to do xyz’, ‘do I have enough experience’, ‘enough certifications’ etc? Again - the portfolio approach will come to the rescue here.?

At this stage just close your eyes and focus on your dreams - the things you desire from life itself. Close your ears to all objections and reasons of why it's not possible to get something as a return from your work. And just make your list.?

Remember, money is already a given element in your ROTI - in the way we have framed the notion of a career versus a hobby. And you have already got a number for the money you would desire through your work in step 1. So now just open your heart and look at what else you would like to experience through your work.?

My ROTI@Work list currently includes the following

• Inviting every person who wants to work, to craft a joyful work experience for themselves.?
• De-villanizing ‘work’ as a construct in our society and in our internal mental conditioning
• Empowering people to own their power and embody the essence of their unique gifts in their work
• Enjoying myself and bringing my own gifts (and superpowers) to life when I work and run my business
• Interacting with people who are interesting, energizing and motivated (be it clients, students, colleagues, collaborators)
• Creating and experiencing deep and meaningful shared experiences through dialogues, group immersions, dance, art and play.?
• Learning, growing and continuously upgrading into more fearless and aligned versions of myself
• Spending more time in Nature and recognizing that my body is also an integral and connected part of the earth.
• Opportunities for self expression through writing and speaking?
• Facilitating myself and others to access and own the truth of our beings as infinite consciousness that flows and takes finite forms of our lives and roles.

When people come to me with an open question of ‘I cant decide whether to quit my job or not’, I always make them do the ROTI@Work exercise. They might do a few other exercises prior to this one like value clarification exercises and discovery of their strengths and superpowers. However, none of that alone will help them decide with clarity on whether to stay or go, unless they also do the ROTI@Work exercise. Only then, they can know with conviction, when it might be time to leave a certain job, change a role, or retire a project.?

For example, if the reason you chose to go to a movie theatre was mainly for the AC, and then the AC stopped working, would you still stay on? In a rare case you might, if you had found something else to stick on for. But even in this case, if you had do your ROTI@Work exercise, you can now make the choice to stay on with a renewed clarity of why you are staying on.?

Exercise 2 - Make your own ROTI@Work exercise. Do not censor it and do not try to make a well formed coherent list. You don't have to show it to anyone.?

‘If you could have anything you wanted from your work what would your list look like?’?

Question 2 - Go through your list and can you think of an existing career or job where at least 80 or 90 percent of these can be met? Can this particular job or career also give you your money requirements (the calculation you did in step 1)?

If the answer to both of these is yes, then just go for that one job. You need not adopt a portfolio career just because it is a fashionable thing, or because everyone is speaking about it these days. You can create hobbies or pro bono projects around the remaining 10 or 20 percent of your dreams. And you can accept these projects in your spare time and even choose to fund these dreams (should they require some funding) with what you earn from your main career.?

In the long run, what might also happen is that you can start to establish a name and standing for yourself in these other ‘hobby’ or "pro bono"’ areas of service. Sometimes, this can happen in unexpected ways as well. At that time, you can take a call and start building a portfolio career where you have enough experience and footing in this new area to be able to monetize it.

I worked as a full time faculty at IIM Banglaore for 10 years. At that time making youtube videos and writing blogs and articles based on my experience was just a hobby for me. Similarly, I used to go to give key note addresses and accept chief guest invitations at corporate events and educational institutions as my ‘probono work’. It was definitely not a part of my career, but I loved doing these activities in my spare time and they aligned fully with my ROTI@work. I just felt so grateful to get these opportunities to speak and share my experience and knowledge.?

Over time, I got better at giving talks and addresses, and today I can actually charge for my speaking engagements. In fact, corporate speaking engagements are currently one of the most profitable offerings in my current work portfolio.?

However, if you had asked me 10 years ago, I could not have imagined or predicted this. My own mental models of work, of speaking, and of my ability to charge for speaking would not have allowed me even to expect this as a career possibility. So the point is - keep some free time and bandwidth to do what you love even if it is just a hobby or unpaid activity. It might grow into a tangible part of your career and revenue stream in the future. And it is not always going to be possible to predict this with your current mental models, subjective reality and your current circumstances of life.?

Meanwhile, if your answer to Question 2 above is no, then you should definitely start looking at crafting a portfolio career for yourself. I have found that portfolio careers are actually extremely suited to grow your capabilities, potential, impact and wealth while also making sure you remain alert, alive, happy and growing. Further, this is the best time in our human history so far to explore a portfolio style of working (thanks to WFH during COVID). And if you look at the career trends, project based working which is core to creating portfolio careers is only going to get easier.

Step 3 - Balancing, Cashing and Strategizing your Portfolio Career

So what is a portfolio career, actually? Broadly, I would summarize it as crafting a professional journey where you engage in multiple projects, roles, or jobs simultaneously (or seasonally). You choose to intentionally diversify your work and income streams by combining part-time jobs, freelance work, consulting, entrepreneurship, and personal passion projects. The aim is to have a mix of activities that align with your interests, strengths, and values, while also providing flexibility, variety, and a potential for increased income (both short term and long term). This approach also allows for greater autonomy, creativity, risk taking and the ability to adapt to changing work trends and market demands.

Since the term "portfolio" is borrowed from the financial domain of investments and wealth creation, I am going to use that comparison to explain the key philosophy behind growing and nurturing portfolio careers.?

Both managing a financial portfolio and a portfolio career involve the concept of diversification. In a financial portfolio, diversification means spreading investments across different asset classes to reduce risk. In a portfolio career, diversification means having multiple income streams or projects across different areas to minimize dependence on a single source of income.?

The benefits of this are huge if you are someone like me who really values their own autonomy. With a portfolio approach you can literally wave bye bye to syndromes like ‘yes boss’, or ‘client is always right’. I observed that I was naturally starting to show up as a bolder version of myself when I realized that my eggs were distributed? in many different baskets. For example, I stood my ground against a very senior HR manager of a client organization, who wanted to sit in and listen during group coaching sessions of teams of executives. I clearly articulated my wish to adhere to the practice of holding a safe and confidential space for coachees. I risked losing the entire contract because I knew that even if one basket of eggs crashed, I had many other baskets to rely on.?

I am not someone who has an intrinsically high risk appetite. However, because of having different diversified projects and offerings, I am able to take bold risks in my work - one project at time (and enjoy the equivalent returns that come from taking those risks). In the case of the coaching project above, not only did I win the contract, I also won the HR manager's respect and cooperation and got more projects with the same organization. It was a risk that paid off. Not all risks might pay off, but when they do the rewards are worth it.?

I experimented and prototyped with different formats of online group programs and digitized masterclass recordings. Again, a very risky move with no guaranteed returns. But what made it possible to do it was the fact that I always had some other projects of a more tried and tested format as part of my portfolio. Like my teaching at IIM Bangalore and executive leadership coaching.?

So you can literally think of some of your projects being the equivalent of FDs (low risk and guaranteed returns), while with some others you can put on your entrepreneurial hat and take a risky chance (an equity equivalent). Remember, however that unlike financial instruments that will always belong to the same asset class, your individual projects can take turns in the functions they serve in your portfolio. For example, once a long duration 6 - month online group program got stabilized, I took greater risks with my corporate offerings. I started to boldly pitch more of my soul-fueled topics instead of going with the run of the mill topics that my corporate clients were typically approaching me for.?

In your financial portfolio, you need to track the performance of your investments, make necessary adjustments based on market conditions, and rebalance your portfolio periodically. Similarly, in a portfolio career, you will need to assess the performance and progress of your various roles or projects, make adjustments based on changing circumstances, and ensure they are meeting your career goals based on your rich life calculation as well as ROTI@work list.

So, when I take a risk in one project or area, the other projects hold secure ground for me and continue to bring in a stable cash flow. You can indeed hugely benefit from balancing the risk across your different projects in a portfolio career. By doing this, you can not only allow yourself to stretch, grow and experiment in your established areas of work but also boldly try out new risky ideas (and including the more dreamy aspects from your ROTI@work list) without putting your entire career at risk.

For example, till about 2 years ago, some of the dreamier aspects in my ROTI@Work list (like conducting experiential retreats in nature, creating deep meaningful art and dance based group immersions), used to feel more like fantasy and less like a possibility to me. I waited till my other income streams and projects stabilized to actually start creating these nature based retreats.?

It is key to remember that just like managing a financial portfolio, a portfolio career also requires flexibility and adaptability. In a financial portfolio, investors need to adjust their investment strategies based on market conditions and changing economic landscapes. In a portfolio career, you will need to be agile, embrace new opportunities, adapt to evolving industry trends, and also upgrade and acquire new skills as needed.

At the end of the day, portfolio careers are a choice - a very rich and fulfilling one, but one that can also lead to burnout if you do not manage it (and yourself) well. Here is a quick checklist of ‘recommendations’ and ‘watch-outs’ to flourish with a portfolio career.?

Recommendations (Dos)

1) Diversify your projects and income streams: Seek a variety of roles, projects, or clients that align with your interests and skills. Diversifying your portfolio career can provide stability and reduce reliance on a single source of income.

2) Set clear goals and priorities: Define your career goals and establish priorities to guide your decision-making. Determine what you want to achieve in each area of your portfolio and allocate your time and resources accordingly.

3) Maintain a strong professional network: Networking is crucial in a portfolio career. Cultivate relationships, attend industry events, and leverage online platforms to connect with professionals in your fields of interest. Your network can provide valuable opportunities, referrals, and support.

4) Invest in continuous learning: Stay updated with industry trends and invest in your professional development. Pursue training, courses, or certifications to enhance your skills and knowledge. This will help you stay competitive and expand your portfolio options.

5) Manage your time effectively: Develop strong time management skills to balance multiple roles and projects. Use tools and strategies to prioritize tasks, set deadlines, and maintain a clear schedule. Regularly assess your time allocation and adjust as necessary.

Watch Outs (Donts)

1) Don't overcommit or spread yourself too thin: While diversification is important, be mindful of taking on too many roles or projects. Overcommitment can lead to burnout and compromise the quality of your work. Assess your capacity realistically and know when to say no.

2) Don't neglect self-care and work-life balance: It's easy to become consumed by the demands of a portfolio career. Take care of your physical and mental well-being. Prioritize self-care, set boundaries, and maintain a healthy work-life balance to avoid exhaustion and maintain long-term sustainability.

3) Don't overlook literal financial planning: Financial stability is essential in managing a portfolio career. Regularly assess your income and expenses, create a budget, and set aside funds for taxes and emergencies. Consider working with a financial advisor or accountant to ensure you make informed decisions about your finances.

4) Don't forget to track your progress and assess performance: Regularly evaluate your performance and progress in each area of your portfolio. Assess the effectiveness of your strategies, review client feedback, and make necessary adjustments to improve your skills, services, or the balance within your portfolio.

5) Don't be afraid to adapt and evolve: Embrace change and be open to new opportunities. The job market and industries can evolve rapidly, so be flexible and willing to adapt your portfolio career accordingly. Stay informed about industry trends and be proactive in acquiring new skills to remain relevant.

Remember, growing a portfolio career requires continuous learning, adaptability, and self-awareness. It's an ongoing process that requires regular evaluation, adjustment, and maintaining a balance between your personal and professional goals.

Also remember that, just like financial portfolios, your career portfolio will also benefit from a long-term perspective. In a financial portfolio, investors typically focus on long-term investment strategies to achieve their financial goals. Similarly, with your portfolio career, look out for your long-term career aspirations and keep that focus as you continuously invest in your ongoing professional development.

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