Change of Direction...

All of us experience change of some sort during a 12 month period. Some unexpected, some saw it coming and some of us may have not yet felt the impact. I too, had a contract come to what felt an abrupt end when Covid appeared. Although I permitted myself some downtime, here’s 4 reasons why having a portfolio career, on balance made this past year quite fun.

1. Revenue/paid work opportunities can often be right under your nose

I suppose you could say that I’ve always been in the business of building relationships. A number of my clients/customer turn into friends and when I told a couple of them that I was no longer in the previous role, well a few other contact found out too. It wasn’t long before a previous business contact said they had some work on and for the bulk of the year they have been a client.

A more recent client is someone, who up to now, II would have deemed a very loose contact, however our arrangement came about simply by my asking ‘Would you like some help with that?’

1. Have a professional development hobby

We could call this lifelong learning. None of us know what the future holds, particular as we navigate our careers so ensuring a proportion of our time is invested in this capacity allows us to keep our knowledge sharp. 

I’ve made a conscious decision to really focus on growing my business this next year, although I’ve had it ticking along for 6 years and hence invested a proportion of my savings in a business accelerator program. This particular one I’d found out about through my networks and I’m already seeing the opportunity within this new network.

For almost 5 years, I’ve been a member of Toastmasters International - an organisation that gives me the opportunity to develop my communication and leadership skills through experiential learning.

1. Volunteer your skills

I first fell into not-for-profit work almost 10 years ago and this has been a facet of my portfolio ever since. From a medium sized charity, to a social enterprise to time on one of my business school’s Alumni committee, I’ve found this has allowed me to keep my existing skills sharp whilst also expanding my connections.

In May, I was elected to serve as Club Growth Director for Toastmasters in the South of the UK, becoming the youngest female to have held this office in the UK and Ireland to date. It’s been challenging but the transferable skills are priceless!

1. Slowing down to experience ‘home’ yields its own surprises!

I thoroughly enjoyed the summer. Green fingers in the garden and really slowing down to cook. We ate fresh mostly anyway, however taking the time to learn some more traditional, regional Indian food with my parents has been fantastic. 

Reconnecting with a friend that I made through networking a decade ago, led to messing around with pairing Indian food and sparkling wine and articles are now regularly featured about this in Glass of Bubbly Magazine


To sum up, a number of my friends of course checked in at the start and I loved catching up with a number of old connections who were pleasantly surprised at my attitude to all of this. I’m a firm believer in having a number of strings to your bow as long as you can manage them. Remember, your next big adventure is right under your nose!

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Author

Rupa Datta is Founder of Portfolio People, passionate about helping YOU build your portfolio career. Get in touch to find out more.
P.S. This article was written because a publication was looking for articles about change of direction as a result of the pandemic. This is more a pivot and we thought we'd publish it here anyway!