Guest blog by ​ Cinthya Quijano Ramos

This blog is well overdue, with all that’s happening in the UK, I feel that it is important to raise awareness and champion portfolio careers now more than ever. But more on that thought later... 

First let me tell you a bit about me. I've always had a portfolio career but didn't know that was the label. Since 2016 I have been managing an acting career in parallel to working in organisational change. I became aware of the term 'portfolio career' when I started my online network marketing business and started going out and networking. To be honest I can't remember who initially told me that's what I had but initially I was always reluctant to say I had more than one "job" out of fear for what people would say.

You see, we all grew up being told that we can't possibly have everything we want, that we must choose between our passions. The truth is this is just bull. In my thirties I discovered that it is possible to have your cake and eat it too! For me it has been more of a mindset journey than a skill journey to understand this.

When thinking about my three careers I realised that even though different from the outside they all have synergies that are far more important than their differences. This is particularly useful for describing my portfolio career to other people. Digging deeper I found that the best thing about being an actress, organisation development/employee engagement consultant and a network marketing professional was that at the core all three fulfil different parts of the meaning of my life and align well with my values. It took me a while to discover this, so don't worry if you are still feeling uneasy about either making the transition into a portfolio career or are early on one and not too confident about telling people. My purpose is "to make people's lives better" whether that is by creating more engaging, successful and purpose driven workplaces, helping an individual create time or financial freedom, or through the joy of acting, which can even be just for entertainment value, I have a powerful impact on people's lives.

So now to the meaty stuff...why do I think that now more than ever we need to showcase, talk, create awareness and champion portfolio careers?

• Well for one, I believe quite a few people like me have more than one passion that aligns with their core purpose or values. We should not have to choose and always feel slightly incomplete.
• The economy, my generation, the 'millennials', have lived through two recessions, and for those of us in or that come from a developing country we could probably add a few more to the count. This has contributed to the creation of flatter, slimmer companies which present all kinds of challenges.
• Many have cut costs, and although some salaries may have gone up in some places, usually when you take into account the percentage of inflation, most of us have been losing money every year. 
• The economy also means the end of jobs for life, which means no guarantees, so like investments it is less risky to have a diversified portfolio.
• Additional income... yes please! 
• Options, choices, and ownership. From Gen X to Z this is a topic that is taking on greater importance. 
• I know I've said economy but the other side of it is the saturated job market we compete in, with no clear retirement age and soon to be four generations sharing one workplace. Having a portfolio career makes you more adaptable and resilient to external changes such as politics, recessions, governmental decisions, geography, etc. 

My top tips for anyone considering a Portfolio Career:

1. Remember that it's more of a lifestyle than a "job". 
2. Find your personal "why"/ mission/ purpose and go from there. 
3. Keep open minded at networking events; you may go primarily with one hat in mind, but you'll be surprised how sometimes someone may be more interested in one of your other hats.
4. Find a great response to "what do you do?" that either encompasses your purpose or combines all your current careers. For example I generally say "I am an actress and own my own businesses", or "I have two businesses and I am also an actress". Of course sometimes I may need to specify one or target one, but I always mention I that have two other forms of income. Generally people are curious and will ask more.
5. Always remember the saying, if you do what you love you'll never work another day in your life. 

Thanks for reading and I would invite you all to share this blog if you found it interesting and continue the discussion below.

Where can you find me?

www.changedifferently.com (Consultancy – creating sustainable success through people by inspiring change in organisations where we engage employees in the change process)

@SustainableOD (Twitter for all things related to Organisational Change, Development and Employee Engagement)
@cinthyavquijano (Twitter for acting) or look for Cinthya Verenice Quijano on Facebook!
Instagram: @cinthyaq (Network Marketing)

​ Many thanks to our guest blogger Cinthya Quijano Ramos
​

Guest blog by Adrian Evans

How do you respond when you don’t receive the job offer you want?

I have recently observed the varying interpretation of feedback, by people when they have interviewed for a job.

Some react with:

​“It was a bit of a shock, just how much effort you have to put into the interview process. I was rejected from my ideal role but have now secured a position - not ideal but got a role. I will seek professional career advice when back on the job market.”

Others respond with:

“That was a wakeup call, my ability to be competent at the role is only part way to securing the position. I am not going to compromise, I will improve my interviewing skills and will invest in myself to achieve my ideal role.”

Essentially the first person is saying I won’t invest in myself now, I will take what is given and when another crisis in my career happens I will do something about it.

The second is saying I will improve. They are committed to honing in on their missing skills, a career planning process and have a vision of their ideal role.

Whom from these two people is most likely to have a fulfilling career and be appropriately rewarded for the value they add?
 
There is a business truism that a plan is often useless, but the planning process is vital. Champions in every field share this view - they have a vision for themselves and see daily planning and improvement as vital to their success. They see feedback as a vital part of their refinement and have it for breakfast.
 
​Steps that make the most effective use of feedback: 

• Determine what skills are holding back your career.
• Evaluate your skills with an honest audit.
• Commit to refining your skills - seek out the best source of people to learn from. 
• Improve your ability to ask - embrace a sense of humility and openness to receive these vital insights.
• Implement your new insights in the very next relevant conversation.
• The skills that will lead to your next promotion and higher earnings are likely to be those elusive, yet obvious softer skills. 
• Switch your mindset to ‘daily career progress’ and not perfection. 

Do you need help to improve your interviewing skills? Visit www.acceleratedresults.org to learn more about us or send an email directly to me on adrian@adrianevans.co.uk

Many thanks to our guest blogger:
​
Adrian Evans of Accelerated Career Results http://www.acceleratedresults.org 

First published on LinkedIn Pulse - Jul 14, 2016

Interested in this topic further? Check out this post - ​https://namastenourished.com/growth-mindset/

Guest blog by Adrian Evans

How are you responding to Brexit?

I have been speaking with a number of clients over the last week and the key message that seems to be coming through is: 

A significant amount of fear is influencing people’s current behaviour as a reaction to Brexit.

As a very proud Welshman, I am delighted with the progress and also the character of the Welsh football team. The manager Chris Coleman summed it up nicely as how to deal with fear:

“What is fear? Fear to me is put into people from outside influences and you spend so much time concentrating on what you don’t want to happen, rather than on exactly what you want to - believe in it and go and do it. If mistakes come they come. The message to our players has been no fear, express yourselves, enjoy it…”
 
That got me thinking about a well-known truism - people who react to the world are rarely in control of their careers, yet those who respond and adapt create opportunities and develop.
 
So are you reacting or responding to Brexit?
 
Tools that will help develop overcome fear and thrive post Brexit 

• Expand your existing comfort zone step by step. The process of developing greater self-confidence is achieved only when you actually do rather than think about doing. When you experience something new, irrespective of whether you succeed or fail, you will grow from the experience.  The opportunity to learn from the experience will allow you to realise that  you have achieved more than you previously thought.

This is how we learn throughout life, as children this is how we learnt to walk – lots of unsuccessful attempts first. 

• Remind yourself of your career successes to date. Once a quarter, review your successful business contributions and write them down in a journal. This is effective for a number of reasons; firstly it charts your progress and makes you feel good and secondly you are reminding yourself of how successful you have been. It provides a permanent reference point to refer back to when new challenges occur. 
• It is also useful to identify feelings of confidence you have previously experienced and bring those feelings back to assist you in a challenging situation. Ask yourself what you saw when you felt confident, what did you hear, and what did you say to yourself? So that when you are feeling unconfident, you can remind yourself of the experiences you felt at a time when you were confident.

These feelings will come back to you, you can then use these resources to maximise your chance of success in your new situation. 

Do you need help to define your post Brexit strategy to make your career even more successful?

​Contributed by Adrian Evans of Accelerated Career Results http://www.acceleratedresults.org First published on LinkedIn Pulse - Jul 06, 2016