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And What Do You Do?: 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career Paperback – 15 Oct. 2009

by Barrie Hopson (Author), Katie Ledger (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 38 ratings
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Would you like to find work that uses all your skills and passions? That can help you experience a great work/life blend? And that is flexible enough so you can thrive in difficult economic times? If your answer is yes, we encourage you to consider a portfolio career - essentially, doing two or more jobs for different employers. It begins by reframing work around you and playing to your greatest strengths. Part-time, full-time, working for yourself and/or for an organisation, the choice is yours. In the UK, at least a million people are already experiencing the benefits of a portfolio career. In 10 practical steps, this book encourages you to explore another way to find health, happiness and fulfilment in your work. Advance praise for And What Do You Do? '...a practical, inspiring and necessary book...a must-read.' Steven D'Souza, author of Brilliant Networking and Executive Fellow, IE Business School
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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    A & C Black Publishers Ltd
  4. Publication date
    15 Oct. 2009
  5. Dimensions
    12.88 x 1.99 x 24.82 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    9781408116302
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1408116302
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

'A must-read for all career professionals and their customers who want a step by step guide to progress from earning an income from various sources in an apparent unstructured way, to creating a satisfying and enjoyable way to self-manage their career.' --Vivienne Brown, President, Institute of Careers Guidance

'Finally, a book that proves there's a new way of slicing the work pie and it's here to stay. As attention spans shrink and the world spins faster, portfolio careers mean diversity for older workers, excitement for younger workers and fulfilment for everyone. Why have one boring job-for-life when you can have several cool jobs-for-the-time-being?' --Tanya de Grunwald, author of Dude, Where's my Career? The Guide for Baffled Graduates

'Corporates have long known the benefits of having multiple suppliers, securing diverse revenue streams and building a portfolio of assets that play to their strategic strengths. This book is a must-read for people who want to apply these same principles to their personal lives for careers that are rewarding both financially and personally.' --Bruce Lynn, Director of Server Business Group, Microsoft UK

Review

`This workstyle will become all the more accessible and realisable for the host of readers that I'm sure will devour this gem of a book. Fulfilment beckons...'

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1408116308
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ A & C Black Publishers Ltd (15 Oct. 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781408116302
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1408116302
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.88 x 1.99 x 24.82 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 38 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Barrie Hopson

    Barrie Hopson

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Barrie is a psychologist specialising in career development and lifelong learning, and a serial entrepreneur. Beginning his paid work as a psychometrician working with the National Foundation for Educational Research, he soon moved to Leeds University as a researcher into vocational guidance. This was the beginning of a distinguished academic and commercial career in which he has authored 40 books and set up five successful organisations in the UK and one in the USA.

    Career highlights

    *Director, Vocational Guidance Research Unit, Leeds University

    *Founder and director, Counselling and Career Development Unit, Leeds University

    *Co-founder and Chairman, Lifeskills International

    *Co-Chairman of Hay-Lifeskills Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hay Group

    *Chairman, Axia Interactive Media

    *Non Executive Director Guidance Enterprises Group

    *Founder and non-executive director, 3 Albion Place, Leeds' leading private members club and conference and events venue

    Trustee of Disability Sport Yorkshire

    *Chair Quality in Careers Standard Consortium

    *Non Executive Director Aspire-Igen

    *Fellow of the British Psychological Society

    *Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

    *His 39 books cover personal and career development, quality service, transition and change management, generic training skills, marriage and Lifeskills teaching. In 2008 with Mike Scally he wrote the follow up book to Build Your Own Rainbow- The Rainbow Years: The Pluses of Being 50+, Middlesex University Press. He wrote "And What Do You Do? 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career', with Katie Ledger, A&C Black, October 2009, and published by Bloomsbury USA in May 2010.

    He has just launched www.five-a-dale.com to combat child obeslity.

    Barrie now enjoys a portfolio career as a consultant, author, blogger, mentor, presenter and entrepreneur. His passions remain lifelong learning, portfolio living and using new technology to further learning and development. These days there is a new focus - that of being 50+. Current projects include: writing web-enabled learning programmes for organisations such as learndirect, campaigning and blogging about the joys of being 50+, portfolio careers and living happier. He really enjoys patronising his local Wine Club. He has 2 children and 2 grandchildren and is highly motivated to impact the world in which they are growing up.

    He loves running and raises funds for the Sroke Association as his wife had a major stroke in 2010.

    He has devoted his life to helping people become architects of their own futures.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Katie Ledger

    Katie Ledger

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Katie Ledger - "Getting You Heard"

    I am a recovering TV news journalist. Instead of reporting and selling largely “bad” news, I now use those skills to help others sell “good” news about their products and services.

    So I help individuals and organisations to:

    Create more/new business by focussing on making the pitch or presentation relevant, clear and memorable.

    Communicate more effectively. Say more by saying less.

    Help A to say what B needs to hear rather than what A wants to say.

    Deliver compelling conferences. Producing and hosting on stage speakers and messages.

    Create a portfolio career. Co-authored “And what do you do? 10 steps to creating a portfolio career” (working more than one job at the same time).

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
38 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Simon Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars Now I know what I do, I can tell other people.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 November 2010
Verified Purchase
Like an earlier reviewer, I've increasingly struggled to answer the question "what do you do?". I say "increasingly" because, as I've gone through my career, I've done and continue to do more and more things - all of which have value to potential employers. I am no longer just an X, I'm a Y and a Z too. Now though, having read this book, I can at last capture all of what I do in a short sound bite. I have found what makes it all hang together for me.

I was already familiar with the general idea of a portfolio career, so what this book has done for me is codify that idea, and provide the confidence and tools to make this choice of career a real and active one, rather than a default "a bit of this and that".

Not all the chapters will be relevant to everyone, and I took the liberty of picking and choosing which of the various exercises I felt I'd get most out of. But I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in working in what will surely become an increasingly popular and pervasive style.
4 people found this helpful
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5.0 out of 5 stars The most valuable book I have read on career change in years
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 July 2020
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A close friend recommended that I read this book and it is really quite brilliant. Do read it in its entirety!
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Wrightaway_VU
3.0 out of 5 stars look like it might be
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 February 2015
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Makes the idea of creating several jobs at one time, from different sources, including freelancing and paid employment, look like it might be possible
One person found this helpful
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Stephen Green
4.0 out of 5 stars An answer to the savage question
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2012
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The world of work has become a tricky and difficult path to negotiate. On the whole the employer calls the shots. Never mind your transport, or childcare, or relative care, or partner circumstances or earning requirements. The employer may offer you overtime with little or no notice. You may have a zero hours or small hours contract which the employer varies at their whim, whilst expecting you to be available as and when they need you, with no consideration to any plans commitments and arrangements that you may have. Any refusal or quibble highlights you as being unreliable or inflexible. So how do you budget then with earnings fluctuating from zero to modest? How long before you exhaust the patience of your friends and family? Then to top it all, you are sat at the table with the brain surgeon, the rocket scientist, the olympic athlete, the mountaineer and the professor and its your turn to answer the dreaded question "and what do you do?". The cyanide pill would be an overreaction, so you curl up and die inside inside as you say " i'm just a....". As well as demonstrating how you build a pleasing and rewarding way of life for yourself, the book helps you to answer this question in a positive manner. It is actually a good checklist to make sure that you are doing something that makes sense to you. The answer that you are waiting tables or delivering pizzas to fund your way through university has long been acceptable. So should it be that you are cleaning toilets until your xyz business takes off, or that you are doing whatever work you can get to keep the family finances in the black. Portfolio career may for some be a bit to grand a title. You may simply be fitting in what you can when you can and making the most of difficult times and people should and do respect you for that. Keep it up and maybe you will settle into a pattern that is good for you mentally physically and financially. This book is a great tool to help you rationalise and negotiate your decisions with those that assist and support you or those who need to understand the rationale behind what you are doing. In particular, you need to form an understanding or how much money it will bring in and when. Lord Turner and others who write reports of say 1600 pages for governments and then bill hundreds of thousands at the end may not have to put in a few shifts with the pizzas to keep the cashflow going but the marketing consultant and entrepreneur Brad Burton most famously did. Although the book may seem a little bit middle class (all pottery and pilates) the principles are the same. An undertaker I know of ran a diy shop adjacent to the funeral parlour, so in between waiting for people to die and whipping up coffins to order, he would advise people on their diy dilemnas. This book is a great support in helping you to blend and experiment with the choices before you to find the perfect recipe for your circumstances that best balances all the needs and demands. Happy juggling.
6 people found this helpful
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MVGLiverpool
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 March 2019
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Interesting and informative book.
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KarenMac
5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, pragmatic, and very useful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 December 2011
What I liked about this book is that it takes you through a process of understanding what a portfolio career is, its pros and cons honestly laid out, to how you might do it yourself through a series of examples and practical exercises. It appeared to be very well researched and all the quotes were relevant. The chapters were not overly long and the points were made punchily (and with humanity) so scanners/creatives/non-analytical types should find it as easy to use as more steady analytical types. It covered all the questions one would ask without being patronising.

A very good book for anyone considering a portfolio career.
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Swampo1958
5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing and Timley Overview
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 December 2009
The book's strength is in its opening discussion about how work fits within our life choices. Although we've been discussing portfolio careers for two decades, Hopson and Ledger's refreshing overview is timely. Their various case studies quickly convey the excitement and risks of the portfolio life. As the book suggests, a portfolio career is not the same as holding down three bad jobs and wishing you had one. The authors bring out several important dimensions: portfolio working is more about cash flow than income, and unlike salaried work there are no upper barriers to earning. Lively and inspiring examples are offered - some eclectic mixtures of freelance and voluntary commitments, others grounded in conventional roles. The downside includes uncertainty, the risk of overwork or a lonely life of self-marketing. The upside is that you're more likely to be working in a way that matches your skills, values and motivation. This book challenges assumptions about the kind of people who might chose this option - not just the semi-retired, middle-aged and financially protected, but younger talent, too - case studies include several people under 30. Full of useful insights, and very much recommended.
23 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

annempryor
5.0 out of 5 stars And What Do You Do?
Reviewed in the United States on 28 November 2012
Verified Purchase
Dr. Barrie Hopson and Katie Ledger really capture the steps for creating a Portfolio Career life, from planning the financing to targeting opportunities. This is a must read for anyone who wants to create a multi-revenue stream life. I live my freedom plan portfolio career and I highly recommend this book. Be well, my friends, Anne Pryor
One person found this helpful
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Barb
5.0 out of 5 stars Glad to know other people like me are out there
Reviewed in the United States on 25 November 2013
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I really love this book. It was so good to find that people like me do exist. I have been "stacking" jobs for years, now I know I am creating a portfolio and have received some incredible tips on how to improve.
2 people found this helpful
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