The Portfolio Framework
Hey there,
Well, here it is. My first newsletter. Are you ready? Am I? Let's find out.
One thing that has become clear, especially over these past few months, is that I want to share more, and a newsletter is my way of staying accountable to that goal. Not that I'm an expert in anything. But rather through luck, and the occasional leap of faith, I've stumbled across a handful of ideas, people and experiences that I reckon are worth sharing with those near and dear i.e. you.
The first of which is the concept of a portfolio career. It came up a few times during our AGSM residential week and has been spreading on social media. Makes sense - who doesn't want to grow and diversify their income?
It was about 12-months ago that I started exploring this path and it has since led me to earning more and enjoying more flexibility than I could have ever imagined. 6-months ago my fiancé, Emma, took the same leap, with even better results (of course 🙄).
By no means is pivoting to a portfolio career easy. There are plenty of traps (just like a traditional career) but it also requires courage to challenge the status quo. However, with the right building blocks, it is manageable. There are many parts I’m still learning, but I'm confident in my strategies to date and enjoy sharing what has worked for me. I believe everyone can benefit from them, whether they choose to dive right into a portfolio career (though I wouldn't recommend making drastic changes immediately) or selectively incorporating specific concepts into their long-term plan (this I would recommend).
Whichever boat you're in, once you consider a portfolio career with an open mind, it will gnaw at you.
Zooming out for a minute, another benefit of exploring new career options is to address the widespread societal problem with our relationship to work. This is serious considering the outsized impact work has on our lives. For instance:
- 85% of people dislike their job
- Mass layoffs are becoming routine
- AI has totally dismantled any sense of career security
- Living expenses continue to rise
The data is showing that for many people, it's time to make a change, and if that change is toward a portfolio career, then fortunately trends like these have created more opportunity to grow and prosper. But more on that in future newsletters.
Now, down to business. Earlier I mentioned that a portfolio career depends on understanding and implementing a series of building blocks. Let's talk about the first building block - understanding the difference between selling time ❌ vs selling value ✅.
To tackle the first building block, I wrote a piece called Divorcing Time & Money - A mental model for selling time vs selling value. This was the first domino to fall in my thought process because of how simple it is and how no one ever teaches it. Till now.
So check out my post and then fill out a short survey to let me know your thoughts. I'll publish the results anonymously with the group.
If you find value, insight or inspiration in this content, I ask that you encourage at least 1 person in your network to subscribe. If I get to 500 subscribers by the end of the year, I’ll know there's an interested audience. Please use this link to share.
Cheers, Reed
Survey results
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