Is a Portfolio Career Right for You? With Steve Preston [Podcast]

Episode 39 – Steve Preston describes the aspects and traits of portfolio careers, including how to know if you would enjoy earning income through multiple activities.

Description:

Steve Preston is Marc’s expert guest in this episode. Recognized as The Career Catalyst, Steve has transformed the lives and careers of thousands of people. Following a successful management career, Steve turned the opportunity of ‘redundancy’ (British for layoff), into a springboard, to achieve a very different working life. By exercising choice, Steve has become what he calls the architect of his own future, pursuing a successful portfolio career. Now, an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and leading career coach, Steve is passionate about helping unlock and fulfill people’s potential. He especially enjoys helping people change their working lifestyle and develop portfolio careers to work for passion, pleasure, and profit.

Marc and Steve start the discussion with an introduction to Steve and his passions. Steve’s foremost passion is making a difference for others. He defines the portfolio career, what it is good for, and who it suits best. He talks about choice and flexibility. He shares examples of portfolio careerists from his book, Portfolio Career: How to Work for Passion, Pleasure, & Profit. Finally, he explains some of the aspects that people have who are attracted to a portfolio career.

Listen in to learn about working for passion, pleasure & profit, with multiple earnings streams.

Key Takeaways:

[3:22] Steve introduces himself and his passions. He is a family man, empty nester, world traveler, tennis player, music-lover, and guitar player. He loves craft beer and is especially passionate about making a difference to the lives of others.

[6:38] A portfolio career derives income from a number of different sources. It’s a different mindset from having a one-income job, or a self-employed career doing one type of work. It uses any combination of activity, interests, skills, talents, and passions to create the working lifestyle you want, working for passion, pleasure, and profit.
[7:44] In Marc’s online community, the one thing everyone wants is freedom. Steve shares a couple of examples of people of people from a recent visit to the U.S. Many people have portfolio careers without knowing what one is, exactly. Steve features many samples in his book. Freedom is what most of them enjoy.
[11:29] Steve clears up some myths about portfolio careers. Two widely-held conflicting concepts are: you never make money from your passion, vs., if you do what you love, the money will automatically follow. It all depends on your stage of life, and what the passion is. You might just be focused on earning enough. Take positive action.
[14:23] A portfolio career does not make you Jack of all trades and master of none. Steve offers examples of Jacks of all trades, and masters of many. In general, those with portfolio careers are very good at what they enjoy, or why do it?
[15:27] Some people who are transitioning ask, How do you expect me to get multiple jobs when I’m struggling to get one? A full-time job is not the point of a portfolio career. You want income from multiple strands of activities. There can be a mixture of employed and self-employed.
[16:40] There is not any one type of person who wants a portfolio career. There are examples from around the world in Steven’s book. But they have in common that they are open to challenging the way they work and earn, and challenging the conventional job mindset. They mix and match their ways to earn. They want choice.
[19:08] Steven shares stories from the book. One came from a Turkish family farming background and worked in the corporate world for awhile, but now earns multiple income streams in multiple currencies, as an internet entrepreneur. He also is involved in crypto currency. He failed his way forward. It has taken him 10 years to succeed.
[21:58] Another example was in local government, and laid off in his fifties. He unleashed his latent creativity. He now works with neuro linguistic programming, writing, blogging, and copy editing. He copy edited Steven’s books. He creates presentations.
[23:33] A lot of the examples are like Marc’s clients, who fit into the corporate world until they couldn’t take it any longer. Steven shares another example, of a lady who daydreamed her way out of a corporate job, into becoming a digital nomad in Malaysia. It’s essential to have a support group, spouse, or fan club to pick you up when you fall.
[25:53] Key aspects of a portfolio career: mindset, resilience, and finding your anchor. One thing that will cover most of your earnings. Then you build up other streams besides that. If you get overloaded, then prioritize, and collaborate with other people.
[28:19] Self Marketing is fundamental. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and so on are integral to your brand. Say the right things about yourself that will interest the right people. Steven’s book lists the top ten aspects that make the difference for portfolio careerists.
[30:22] Marc’s final words: Marc would like you to pick up Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide to the Second half of Life, at Amazon or other online retailers. When you complete reading the book, Marc would appreciate an honest review on Amazon.com. Marc is working on a CareerPivot.com membership community.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Careerpivot.com/episode-39

Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the Second Half of Life, by Marc Miller and Susan Lahey (Now available online)

Contact Marc, and ask questions at: Careerpivot.com/contact-me

Call Marc at 512-693-9132 and leave a message and email address.

Portfolio Careers: How to Work for Passion, Pleasure & Profit, by Steve Preston

StevePrestonTheCareerCatalyst.com

Amazon.com/Steve-Preston

Twitter: @SteveMPreston

LinkedIn: Steve Preston

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