Holiday Season Slowdown

Holiday parties signal the end-of-year slowdown.

In December, projects may wind down, emails slow to a trickle, and clients may quietly disappear as they head off for their own celebrations or take a year end vacation. For traditional workers, this can be a welcomed slowdown. However, for an independent workers who are not on salary, this lull can impact your budget.

What can you do to manage this potential downtime? What are the options?

Some independent workers take on a holiday side hustle, others save and some tighten their budgets.

Sara had a great hustle that reconnected her with friends. She worked as a contracted learning designer and, every year over the holidays, she swapped out her laptop to work in the retail rush to stave off the downturn in learning design work. “I work at Banana Republic to make extra money and buy my holiday gifts at a discount,” she told us. “Learning design can slow down during this time so I go back to my university job casually or part-time to help out with the holiday rush. I love reconnecting with my BR people, and helping customers buy beautiful gifts. There are several of us that have other jobs and we do this as our side hustle. It gives me a break from my desk work plus it helps carry me through to the end of January when projects pick up again.”

Jackie adopted a super saver mindset. As a contracted dental hygienist, she made a financial commitment to save each month for the slow December season. "I make an effort every month to put money away so that when December rolls around and work is slow, I'm not in a panic," she shared. “I don’t like to get behind in my bills because my income drops in December. Plus, I get to spend more time with my daughter because she’s out of school for two weeks and I don’t have to pay for childcare.” When the new year rolls in, new dental plans also kick in and she becomes busy again.

Kade tightened his budget. As a freelance social media marketer and videographer, he mastered the art of tightening his budget. "Basically, I bum off my parents at Christmas,” He added with a grin, “They don’t seem to notice.” Video production slows down for him during December, but he is able to manage his regular clients’ social media from a distance while he is on holidays. “Also, I don’t buy gifts. Instead, I video our family get togethers, compile and edit them into a mini-production and then I send it to everyone as my gift. They really like it and it saves me money.”

Depending on your industry or projects, the end of the year may be a slow month. It is important to plan ahead and prepare financially. Once you discover what works best for you, you will look forward to the holiday season and the new year that is just around the corner.

Make the Season Bright: How Independent Workers Can Beat Holiday Loneliness

The holiday season is upon us!

Twinkling lights and festive gatherings begin. But, for independent workers—freelancers, contractors, and consultants—this time of year can feel a bit lonely. While being self-employed has plenty of perks, without a traditional workplace to call home, you may find yourself on the outside of the workplace festivities and this can be isolating. However, with a little creativity and effort, you can flip the script and make this season a vibrant and joyful time, building connections and creating your own traditions.

Why can the holiday season feel lonely for independent workers?

For starters, you may not receive an invitation to workplace parties. This doesn’t mean your clients or the teams you work with don’t like you. It just means they’re keeping it simple and centered on their traditional workers. However, without a holiday party to attend, you may miss out on the camaraderie and celebratory buzz that comes with being part of an office team. This can make you feel a bit left out and you may find yourself pining for the days when you had a regular job and were part of company traditions.

Next, holiday parties signal the end-of-year slowdown. At this time of year, projects may wind down, emails slow to a trickle, and clients go quiet as they head off for their own celebrations. This lull can potentially leave you feeling unmoored, especially if you thrive on a busy schedule. Additionally, the year end slow down can also impact your budget which can be tough as you watch your family, friends or clients go on a year-end vacation.

Finally, networking looks much different. The holidays are a great time for traditional workers to naturally network and build relationships. They connect easily with their colleagues through office parties, trays of holiday goodies in the lunchroom, and conversations about new year plans by the coffee station.  On the other hand, freelancers, contractors and consultants must actively seek out their own social opportunities during the holidays to keep their networks going. This can feel less celebratory and more like a chore for independent workers.

 So, how can freelancers, contractors and consultants thrive during the holiday season?

Consider hosting your own gathering. Who says you need a workplace to have a holiday party? If you are extraverted, host a get-together for your network of fellow independent workers, clients, or friends. Whether it’s a potluck dinner, a virtual coffee chat, or a festive happy hour, creating your own event gives you something to look forward to and strengthens your connections.

Connect with independent workers in your co-working space. Many co-working spaces host holiday-themed events or provide a space buzzing with activity. You’ll meet other independent workers, enjoy some holiday cheer, and feel part of a community.

Think about volunteering your time. One of the best ways to combat loneliness is to give back. You could volunteer at a local food bank, animal shelter or lend a hand at a toy drive. Not only will you make a difference, but you may also meet like-minded people who share your generous spirit and this can widen your social or professional circle.

Consider creating your own traditions. Make the season special by starting a tradition just for you. This could be a decadent holiday coffee from your local coffee shop, a cozy movie night out with a friend, or a networking lunch at a local café. It’s always a good idea to embrace the freedom and flexibility that independent work offers and celebrate the end of the year in your own unique way.

Reflect and plan for the year ahead. Downtime during the holidays can be a gift for an independent worker. You can use this time to reflect on your yearly accomplishments, update your LinkedIn account, make plans for the coming year, and dream big about your next steps. You could pair your business planning with a Chestnut Praline latte (yes, this is a real drink), or a holiday playlist to make the process enjoyable.

Why does taking the reigns on the holiday season matter, you ask?

As independent workers, we have the flexibility to shape our work lives and cultivate connections that are meaningful to us. By taking the reigns with purpose and intention, we can find joy not just in the holidays themselves, but in the creativity it takes to make them special. So, deck the halls, reach out to your community, and let your festive entrepreneurial spirit shine. After all, independent workers know better than anyone how to be resilient and resourceful, and make something extraordinary out of the ordinary.

Here’s to a holiday season filled with joy, connection, and entrepreneurial sparkkle!

Happy Holidays!

Embracing a Portfolio Career: A Path to Future-Proofing Your Work Life

In Canada’s changing job market, the concept of a portfolio career is gaining momentum. Unlike a traditional career, where individuals typically climb the ladder, a portfolio career involves juggling multiple roles, projects, or part-time jobs simultaneously. This diversified approach to work is not only a viable option, but it is increasingly seen as a strategic way to manage and future-proof your career. As a team of portfolio careerists, with over 20 years of experience, we know the advantages of an income streaming portfolio career.

Here are our top 6 reasons why we believe embracing a portfolio career can be a game-changer.

1. Flexibility and Autonomy

One of the most appealing aspects of a portfolio career is the flexibility it offers. Instead of being tied to a 9-to-5 job, we can design our work schedules to fit our lifestyles or personal needs. This flexibility allows for better work-life balance, which is important for maintaining mental and physical well-being. Additionally, having control over our workload and hours fosters a sense of autonomy and empowerment that is often lacking in traditional employment. We are self-employed portfolio careerist who enjoy the autonomy that an entrepreneurial portfolio career offers.

2. Diverse Skill Development

Working in multiple roles across different industries enables us to develop a broad skill set. This diverse skill development has made us more marketable and adaptable in an ever-changing job landscape. For example, our freelance graphic designer who also manages social media can offer a comprehensive service package that is attractive to potential clients or employers. This blend of skills not only enhances her employability but also opens more opportunities for career growth and innovation.

3. Financial Resilience

A portfolio career can provide greater financial stability compared to relying on a single source of income. By diversifying income streams, we can mitigate risks associated with job loss or economic downturns. If one source of income disappears, other projects or roles can help us bridge the gap. This financial resilience is particularly beneficial in uncertain times, offering a safety net that a traditional single-income career might not provide. If we lose a job or project, we have other income streams we can potentially dial up and rely on.

4. Continuous Learning and Personal Growth

Engaging in a variety of projects keeps us intellectually stimulated and continuously learning. This constant exposure to new challenges and industries leads to personal and professional growth that may not happen in a single job. Additionally, a portfolio career encourages us to stay updated with industry trends and advancements, ensuring we remain relevant and competitive in the job market. We know that employability is the new job security.

5. Enhanced Networking Opportunities

Working in different roles and sectors expands our professional network. These diverse connections can lead to new opportunities, collaborations, and even mentorship. A robust network provides us with support, inspiration, and guidance, helping us navigate our career or entrepreneurial path more effectively. Additionally, being known across multiple industries has established us as a versatile and resourceful workers, further enhancing our reputation and the opportunities that come our way.

6. Aligning Passion with Profession

A portfolio career has allowed us to pursue our passions alongside other professional goals. This alignment can lead to greater job satisfaction and a more enjoyable work life. For instance, our instructional designer and our project manager are also passionate about theatre production and freelance play writing. This integration of their passion for the arts and their professional learning design work leads to a more motivated and engaged professional life as their creativity aligns and soars in all the work they do.

Finally, in a world where job security and industry demands are constantly evolving, a portfolio career offers a compelling alternative to a traditional career path. The flexibility, diverse skill development, financial resilience, continuous learning, enhanced networking opportunities, and the ability to align passion with profession make it an attractive option for many people. As we move towards a more interconnected and multifaceted job market, a portfolio career is not just a trendy concept but a smart, strategic choice for people looking to thrive in a modern workforce.

The Top 9 Workforce Terms You Need to Know

Over the last 10 years, the work world has been highly impacted by new workforce trends that have changed the way we work. These trends have shaped the language of the work world by giving us new terminology that reflects how employers are hiring and managing their workforce, and also describes how we are choosing to work. In order to effectively navigate your career, being well versed in terminology is necessary as you plan your next moves or search for new opportunities.

To help you get started, here are the top 7 terms you need to know and why.

Let's start with agile workforce.  

Today, an agile workforce is a talent pool that is nimble, flexible and responsive in a globally competitive market or in uncertain economic climates. It mixes full-time, part-time and independent workers, giving employers the opportunity to better respond to both customer demands and the next generation of workers who desire flexibility and lifestyle-driven work lives.

Additionally, an agile employer is a goal driven company that values collaboration, adapting to change, and trusting it's flexible workers. Pre-pandemic, employers were beginning to shift to an agile workforce. Post pandemic, after surviving one of the biggest disruptions of our time, employers realize the importance of being responsive to change and disruption. In a recent Randstad 2021 Talent Trends, 77% of employers said they planned to create more workforce agility. Workers who understand the agile mindset of employers will be better able to adapt and respond to employer needs.

Let's talk independent workforce.

An independent workforce is nothing new. For years, employers have hired an independent workforce of on-demand labour such as contractors, consultants, or freelancers. However, what has changed is the accelerated global growth of the independent workforce among highly skilled workers as companies learn how to respond to demands, disruption and competition through the use of technology.

Pre-pandemic, it was estimated by employer's in Randstad's Workforce 2025 report, that by 2025, 35% of the Canadian workforce would be made up of independent workers. In 2016, McKinsey Global Institute published one of the most comprehensive reports on the impact of an on-demand workforce across the globe called Independent Work: Choice, Necessity and the Gig Economy. At this time, it was estimated that 68M Americans were independent workers out of choice or necessity.

As businesses become more agile, they hire more independent workers. Workers who have the capacity to navigate both traditional and non-traditional opportunities will have an advantage because they will be adaptable, flexible and agile.

Let's look at the term independent worker.

An independent worker is a highly skilled worker who often specializes in a specific skill set or knowledge base allowing employers to tap into skills that are not present in their core workforce. Because they are self-employed and not on payroll, they are expected to take care of their taxes, benefits and pension. Their ability to network, build relationships with employers, and develop an entrepreneurial mindset is key to their success. The independent worker has also been called a contractor, consultant, freelancer or gig worker.

Professionals today need to know the difference between being an employee or an independent worker. In some cases, especially with more employees working remotely, on call, casually or seasonally, the lines can be blurry. Yet, it's important that professionals know the differences in order to ask the right questions in an interview, effectively negotiate an offer and also know how to do your taxes.

What’s the difference between traditional and non-traditional workers?

The traditional workforce is made up of permanent workers. This could be permanent part-time or permanent full-time workers who are often working on salary with benefits and have set hours. On the other hand, the non-traditional workforce is made up of on-demand workers whose hours will change depending on the needs of the employer. There are two groups of workers that make up the non-traditional workforce.

First, there are workers that are hired as employees and they work on-call, casually, seasonally, flexible part-time or full-time on contract. With this model in Canada, the employer takes off the workers pay tax, Employment Insurance and CPP. Secondly, there are workers that are hired as self-employed independent workers such as freelancers, contractors and consultants. Independent workers pay their own taxes and contribute to their own benefits.

The non-traditional workforce has grown because it allows employers the opportunity to dial up or dial down their workforce, hire workers with specific skills to work on certain projects or hire workers who want more freedom and flexibility in their work lives

What about the gig economy?

Over the years, the term "gig economy" has evolved globally and now includes subsections. It is now the umbrella term for on-demand labour and can be described as an economy of trading goods and services that supports temporary work as opposed to permanent work.

As already mentioned, the need for employers to dial up or dial down their talent pool to be responsive to disruption, consumer demands and to stay competitive in their industry has driven the growth in the gig economy (on-demand labour). Because of technology access and a globally talented workforce, solopreneurs, startup companies and established employers now have access to remote, independent workers from around the world through talent hubs such as Fiverr, Freelancer.com, HireMyMom and Upwork, to name a few. This creates the opportunity for workers from around the globe to create lucrative side hustles, become a digital nomad or work from anywhere in the world.

Which brings me to remote workers.

A remote worker is characterized by their lack of physical presence in the workplace. Consequently, the pandemic accelerated the growth in remote work and normalized it. A remote worker can now work from the top of Mt. Everest (depending on the Wifi connection) or can be minutes from the office working from home.  

Although the pandemic forced many of us into remote work, now that we are used to it, many employers and workers want to continue working either fully remote or in a hybrid model. Additionally, remote workers have realized they can move out of larger centers to smaller more affordable communities or take advantage of locations where the sun shines brighter and hotter.  The shift to a remote workforce isn't going to go away. From an employers perspective, it saves significant costs in housing workers. From the workers perspective, it saves precious time and the costs associated with a daily commute, a work wardrobe, lunches out, and parking.

We can’t forget side hustles.

A side hustle is a side income in addition to your full-time job. It can be a casual job, task-based gigs, freelance work, or an entrepreneurial venture. A side hustle job is a great way to get your foot in the door of a new industry or make extra income. A side hustle gig is a great way to build your skills or a portfolio of work. A side hustle business is a great way to flex your entrepreneurial muscles.

Over the last 10 years, side hustles have grown out of choice or necessity. Gig platforms have made it easier to pick up task-based side hustles. The growth in remote work has reduced commute time making it easier for workers to fit in a side hustle. As well, the desire for flexibility and autonomy have made many workers take an entrepreneurial risk and start a business based side hustle.

Side hustles also add extra income to our bank accounts as the cost of living increases making it a growing necessity for many families to have an extra source of income to add to their full-time salary.

Finally, what is a portfolio careerist?

Portfolio careerists are workers that income stream by combining full-time, part-time, freelance, contract, consulting, seasonal, project based or entrepreneurial ventures. (Typically, not all of the above simultaneously, but SOME of the above simultaneously). Someone who has a side hustle can also be classified as a portfolio careerist because they are streaming income from two sources, a full-time job and a side hustle income.

The portfolio career approach to work is nothing new. People have been income streaming for centuries. The farmer who worked off the farm, sold cattle, eggs and rented out a room in their home is an example of a portfolio careerist. However, the term portfolio careerist is a relatively new term in North America.  We have been called multi-trackers, slash careerists and, of course, the bad word of the 1950s, wait for it...MOONLIGHTER. Remember when you couldn't have that night time gig singing in seedy bars because it would look bad to your daytime employer? Well, those days are over. 

Prior to the pandemic, the trend towards a portfolio career was growing. Today, the growth in portfolio careers has coincided with the growth in gig work across North America. It also reflects the need for workers to be more flexible, able to adapt to workforce trends, labour market shifts, and pivot to meet their personal, career and financial needs.

The changing world of work has rapidly generated new opportunities. We now have a a talent pool of non-traditional workers and new terminology that workers need to know to effectively navigate their careers. This new vocabulary both shapes and reflects how employers are managing their workforce and how we are working.

Gail Kastning is a Certified Career Strategist and a portfolio careerist. She regularly interviews portfolio careerists and people with out of the box careers. She features them on her blog and in her speaking engagements.

How to Create a Portfolio Career - A growing career trend

More workers, who are able to work from a computer, are creating portfolio careers.

I was a portfolio Careerist before it was fashionable. For me, streaming income from different jobs or entrepreneurial ventures started as a survival tactic. I wasn’t trying to be trendy as I worked several jobs to put myself through university. I was attempting to pay bills and tuition. Five years later, when I graduated with my B.Ed. into a recession, my ability to juggle jobs became my strength. I pulled together substitute teaching jobs, a banking job and a job in a daycare to make ends meet and build experience. When I finally landed an interview, the school board was impressed with my ability to juggle multiple commitments. They believed my juggle act was a skill set much needed in a teaching position. As it turned out, they were right.  

Fast forward to today and I’m still a portfolio careerist streaming income from different directions. This style of work is nothing new. Creative types have been working this way for centuries.  Artists, musicians and writers have led the way, but streaming income was never the work style our parents promoted. They didn’t want us to end up poor like a “starving artist” so they told us to go out and get a “real” job.

But today, “real” jobs may be harder to find as some employers have shifted to hiring more independent workers. In addition, stagnant wages have changed the way we see the career ladder climb and has made streaming income from more than one source necessary. As well, it’s no longer as appealing as it once was to work in a 9 to 5 box that allows for little flexibility. Finally, the growth in remote work and technology innovations during the pandemic has made it easier for workers to juggle more than one income stream.

The trend towards portfolio careers is nothing new. In 2008, the Boston Globe wrote an article on the growing number of Portfolio Careerists in the U.S.  They interviewed Stephanie Creary, who at the time was a 31 year old speech pathologist, professional dancer, yoga instructor and Harvard Business School Researcher. She said she was a portfolio careerist because it was her strategy for dealing with multiple interests and she was glad someone finally put a name to something she had been doing for years.

One of the most intriguing aspect of the portfolio career movement is it’s no longer just attractive to creative types or people weathering recessions. Back in May of 2017, Harvard Business Review article, Michael Greenspan gives tips for executives who are thinking about making the leap from their full-time jobs to a portfolio style career. Greenspan admits “going plural” as he calls it is a challenge. Making the jump from full-time work to a portfolio career concept is not an easy feat, and requires mentorship as he explains in his article. And mentorship is beginning to happen.

A few years ago, I interviewed Brad Hussey from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada who left his full-time job with Sajak and Farki digital marketing company in Calgary to go freelance as a web designer and coder. As Brad told me, “…freelancing was up and down with inconsistent income.” He had to figure out how to create consistent streams so he went completely online and started teaching. He now has Code College, and is streaming the majority of his income online.  He teaches a globally based student body how to code and start their own freelance business so they too can quit their “real” jobs. He moved his portfolio career into a solopreneur business model.

Brad isn’t the only ones that have decided to steer away from a 9 to 5 lifestyle. This trend has become attractive to people from varying occupations, industries and socioeconomic backgrounds. Al and Denise pulled up stakes, quit their teaching jobs, sold their home outside of Calgary and moved to Mexico to work. They built a house in the province of Saskatchewan in Canada where they work in the summer and move to Mexico to work in the winter. They gave up a pension, stable work, and they haven’t regretted their choice. It wasn’t easy but in their experience, it was worth it. They have what they believe is the best of both worlds because they keep their toes in sand year round and never have to shovel snow.

Speaking of snow. From my experience meeting and interviewing portfolio careerists like me who have chosen not to climb the career ladder long term, no two are alike. However, our commonalities exist in our ability to adapt, create opportunity, meet needs and be open to customizing our work life. Consequently, we are often well positioned to adapt to the current shifts we are experiencing in the changing climate of work, and whether out of necessity or choice, we can pivot.

With an ever changing and evolving world of work, it appears the portfolio careers trend may continue to grow.

If you want to learn more about portfolio career strategy, Check out our Branch Out workshop series on our website.

Historical Reads

Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/survey/household/3701

Chin, Jessica (2017, December). Less Than Half of Canada's Prime-Age Workers Kept aFull-time Job for All of 2015. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/12/01less-than-half-of-canadas-prime-age-workers-kept-a-full-time-job-for-all-of2015_a_23294345/

Vomiero, Jessica (2017, April 19). Inside Canada's Flexible Work Economy. Who's the real winner here? Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/3385957/canada-flexible-gigeconomy-jobs/

Randstad's Workforce 2025 Report http://content.randstad.ca/hubfs/workforce2025/Workforce-2025-Randstad-Part1.pdf

Shulman, Michael (2017, January). Nearly Half of Canada's Workforce will be Self Employed by 2020. Retrieved from https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/nearly-half-ofcanadas-workforce-will-be-self-employed-by-2020-study-145943790.html

Jackson, Maggie (2008, January 27). Portfolio Careerists Revel in Change. Retrieved from http://archive.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2008/01/27/portfolio_careerists_revel_inchange/

Greenspan, Michael (2017, May 4). How to Launch a Successful Portfolio Career. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/05/how-to-launch-a-successful-portfolio-career

How to Personally Brand When You Have Multiple Income Streams

Should I throw down multiple business cards like a poker hand in Las Vegas?

That was Peter’s question when it came to managing his personal branding and his multiple income streams. When you're a professional engineer by day, a professional guitarist on the weekend and a landlord, should you have more than one resume, more than one business card and what should you call yourself?

The answer is as unique as each portfolio careerist because no two portfolio careerists are alike. However, there are some basic personal branding questions that you should ask yourself to determine how you choose to connect and communicate with potential employers, clients, or customers.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

Who do you want to help and what tools will you use to connect?

In each stream of income, you are helping someone. If you are searching for employment as one of your income streams, you want to communicate how you can meet your targeted employer's needs with your knowledge, skills and experiences. This is best done through a conversation, your modernized resume and a well-crafted LinkedIn profile highlighting your aligned knowledge, skills and experiences.

Next, if a branch of your income comes from self-employment as an independent contractor, consultant or freelancer, you want to communicate to your clients how you can make a difference in their business. The best way to do this is through conversations, possibly a website, a digital portfolio of your work, a LinkedIn profile or possibly another social media platform. It could be that all of the above is your strategy.

As well, if you're test driving a side hustle business, you want to connect with your customers. You might choose to do this through an in person marketplace, a digital marketplace or through social media platforms. You may need to do some research to find out which strategy connects best to your customers.

Next, what should you call yourself?

What you call yourself matters, but maybe not in the way you think. Many professionals think that their job title is their most marketable asset, but in reality, employers, clients and customers want to know if you align to their needs and can make a difference. They are more concerned with the transformation you are going to make for their business or in their lives.

For example, employers want to know how you plan to meet their needs and add value to their business as an employee. Clients want to know if you can solve their pain points as a contractor, consultant or freelancer. Customers want to know how your product solves their problems or adds value to their lives. Yes, your shiny business cards need to look professional, your brand colors are important, and your social media platforms should look pulled together. However, it's more about your message.

So...work on your message. This means taking time to drill down to how you make a difference, solve problems, increase, decrease, reduce or gain something of value for employers, clients and customers. What makes you unique and how do you stand out from your competition? How are you going to take the problems and issues that you see and make them better?

Finally, how can you be contacted?

Make it simple. Your contact tools should simply contain your well crafted message, a call to action and where to get a hold of you. Remember a deck of business cards doesn't replace a conversation or a more robust connecting strategy, so think through your connecting strategy carefully because business cards can fall into the black hole of someone's purse or end up on the floor of your client's car. You want to think through long-term connecting strategies that allow you to "stick" in the minds and hearts of the employers, clients and customers that you meet.

The reality is that portfolio careerist with multiple income streams may have multiple messages and multiple tools that they have curated for each income stream. The engineer above who is looking for a job, a gig and is managing a rental property will have to have a three pronged connecting approach. He will customize his resume for every job opportunity plus strategize how he can network and connect to employers in his industry to have conversations about how he can help them. At the same time, he may use YouTube to create a video portfolio strategy to connect to bands in his local music industry. Finally, he might use a well crafted Rent Faster profile for his rental property and also share his rental with his social media following to attract the type of renter he wants.

Personally branding across multiple income streams can be a challenge, but by identifying who you are helping, building relationships and creating a messaging and contacting strategy, you will create a cohesive and successful personal brand.

3 Reasons Why a Side Hustle is a Smart Career Strategy

You’re working full-time and have a part-time job on the side to save money to quench your thirst for travel. But, have you thought there may be more to a side hustle than just making some extra cash?

A side hustle is an extra income stream such as a casual or part-time job or an entrepreneurial venture that you do after working your full-time job.  Even though 70% of side hustlers say they are doing it for the money, I have three awesome reasons that prove money isn’t everything and side hustling can be a smart career strategy.

The Top 3 Reasons Why a Side Hustle is Smart

1.     Build skills that you possibly can’t build in your day job.

2.     Meet new people and create new connections.

3.     Scratch an entrepreneurial itch and test-drive your idea.

Building New Skills

One of the best reasons to take on a side hustle is the opportunity to build skills that you wouldn’t get to build in your day job. In some cases, this could be a specific professional skill that is related to your occupation and your long-term career growth. Several years ago, I worked full-time as an intercultural trainer and did some freelance consulting in my free time. I had specialized skills in the area of launching international student and second language programs and I had the opportunity to share my knowledge and expertise while I also built my consulting portfolio.  Today, I consult in a different area of expertise but I learned how to consult as a freelance side hustle earlier in my career.  

In other cases, your side hustle may be a personal interest that gets you up on your days off. Chris, a detective during the day, works with a carpenter on his days off. “I get to learn new skills that I apply to my own home,” he says. “I never need to hire contractors on my properties because of the skills I’ve built working on the side. I’ve saved myself a lot of money in renovations. And, as I see it, I’m getting paid to help out my friend.”

Making New Connections 

Side hustles can also be our opportunity to make connections with people we wouldn’t normally meet in our day job. When I decided to leave my teaching career, I worked .75 FTE as an international student coordinator, teacher and academic advisor. At the time, I was considering taking a leap out of working in a high school environment to working in the career development industry, but I didn’t know a lot of people. On my afternoons off, I took on a side hustle working as a vocational counsellor supporting injured workers in their work search. This helped me meet new people in the vocational rehabilitation and career development industry and allowed me the opportunity to test drive the two industries and talk to people to see if I really wanted to quit my day job and plunge into a new career.  

Scratching an Entrepreneurial Itch and Test-Driving the Waters

Since I was 14 years old, I’ve had an entrepreneurial itch that I have needed to repeatedly scratch throughout my lifetime in the form of entrepreneurial side hustles. These side hustles have helped build entrepreneurial knowledge and skills in safe ways before taking larger plunges.

One of my entrepreneurial side hustles developed while I was working full-time in Japan as an English Communication Instructor in a high school. There was a huge market for English tutors, so it was the perfect opportunity to run my own side business. I learned how to market my skills, create a fee structure, provide quality service and attract a clientele. It was my first real taste of running a small business.

In his Lendio blog post article, Do Side Hustles Lead to Legit Businesses, Grant Olsen writes, “Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak may have had jobs at Atari and Hewlett Packard, but they relentlessly hustled their computer-building idea.” Businesses are not started over night. In many instances, people are doing their day job and hustling on the side to get their business idea off the ground.  

Steve and his wife Chrisa, agriculture entrepreneurs from Saskatchewan, Canada, were both working full-time jobs while they simultaneously launched The Duck Foot, a farming implement that Steve invented. While they test-drove the waters and went to trade shows in Saskatchewan, Australia and the US, they kept their day jobs. When The Duck Foot gained momentum and they started to get busy, Chrisa quit her job to look after operations and customers. They have now launched their product line in Canada, Australia, German, Brazil and the U.S.

Whether it’s building new skills, making new connections, building entrepreneurial skills, or starting a legit business, side hustles have their value. And, if you just want to make some extra money to pay for that trip to Spain, that’s a good idea too.

If you want to learn more about portfolio career strategy, Check out our Branch Out workshop series on our website.

This is Why Contracting is a Great Idea

I’ve been an independent worker (contractor, consultant and freelancer) for several years, and I can tell you with certainty, contract work can be highly rewarding. Over the years, I’ve been given the opportunity to help more organizations and add value to their business by coming in on contract. It has been a great strategy during transition periods, and it has created better flexibility and balance in my work life.

Contract work grows in tough economic times when employers are uncertain about the economy. Labour market reports from the U.S., Japan and Canada, all show spikes in part-time and contract work after major recessions. Given these trends, we can most likely expect to see short-term employee contracts plus a growth in the demand for independent workers as we move into the future.

Whether we are graduating from post-secondary, are mid-career or are highly experienced individuals, during tough economic times, employers are tentative about making permanent promises. Job seekers must then adjust their expectations so we can connect with the expectations of employers and the opportunities they have.

Here are some of reasons why taking a contract is a great idea.

Get Our Foot in the Door

When I first graduated from university with a teaching degree, there was very little full-time permanent positions available for the hundreds of graduates. In order to get our foot in the door, we had to take a short-term contract. Typically, the contracts were anywhere from 4 months to one year. The benefit of contract work is that the company gets to test drive us and we get to test drive them. It’s kind of like dating and finding out whether or not you are a good fit for one another. If it’s a good match and the company needs more help down the road, contractors who are independent workers can be called back in on a regular basis so it’s possible to create a continued stream of income.

Build Experience and References

If we are a new graduate or we are entering a new occupation, new industry or even a new field within an industry, taking a short contract is an excellent way to share our talents, build some experience and get a reference to add to our resume. Job seekers are often very focused on the long game of getting a permanent, full-time position and I always have to remind them that the people in those positions are may have taken a short contract and landed that permanent role because they got experience with the organization, had a reference from inside the building or from within the industry.

Learn Different Processes and Systems

Contracting to different companies also gives us the opportunity to see how things are done differently from one company to the next. This can be highly advantageous in terms of really understanding the industry, how it functions, and how each company has a place within the economy of the industry. It starts to give us a bigger, broader picture which is extremely helpful in terms of giving us perspective on the challenges and the gaps in service. This makes for great opportunity in the future to help out by becoming a consultant, or to solve problems or fill in gaps by starting our own business.

Opportunity to Collaborate with Different People

This past year, I had three contracts and I LOVED all of them because the people were so great to work with. I really like working with others and if I can get a contract that allows me the opportunity to collaborate, it’s even better. What I especially liked about these contracts was that they were all very different and the way in which we worked together was very different in each contract. This builds collaboration skills in us that we may not otherwise use in one job with one organization. In addition, having the opportunity to work with people from other disciplines helps us grow and build rich knowledge transfer opportunities that we may not get in one job.

Opportunity to Build our Network

We have to KNOW someone to get a job. It doesn’t matter if we apply online or we have a warm lead for a job. In order to get work, we have to know someone, talk to someone and build a relationship either through meeting in a formal interview or in a networking situation. When we take a short-term contract, we have the opportunity to meet people. Contract work helps us build our network because we have the opportunity to use our talents, experience and skills to help a company, work with others and build relationships. We have the opportunity to get inside the building and add value to a business.

Provides a Broader Perspective of the Industry

Contracting to different companies also gives us the opportunity to see how things are done differently from one company to the next. Depending on our industry, we may be able to hold multiple contracts simultaneously. In other cases, it may not be possible to have multiple contracts with competing companies in the same industry. However, depending on our goals for taking a contract, it gives us the opportunity to understand how things are done. This can be highly advantageous in terms of really understanding the industry, how it functions, and how each company has a place within the economy of the industry. It starts to give us a bigger picture and a broader perspective on the challenges and the gaps in service. This makes for great opportunity in the future to become a consultant rather than an independent contractor, and it can also lead to some independent contractors taking the leap into becoming entrepreneurs and hiring people to help fill in gaps or solve problems in their industry.

Contract work can be more flexible

Flexibility has been highly important to me and my family over the last 10 years. I have found that contract work has created the work/life balance that many people dream about but have a hard time creating with a permanent, full-time position. In my design contracts, I have been able to work from home or a co-working space. With my facilitation contracts, I’ve been able to organize my facilitation days around challenging family schedules. As a result, we have rarely needed childcare which has not only saved us thousands of dollars over the years, but it has allowed me to do what I love - be present for my family. I’ve also been able to set my hours with some of my onsite workplace training contracts. This flexibility has been AMAZING, has created balance for us and has given me the opportunity to grow my career by continuing to help organizations but keep the balance that I’ve wanted.

These are 7 reasons why I have included contract work into my career strategy.

If you want to learn more about career management in a changing world of work, hop into Career Corner Toolkit on my home page. It’s FREE. Every month, we cover topics that will add long-term career management tips and strategy that help you build an agile and resilient career.

How the Messy Road to Entrepreneurship is Often Paved with a Portfolio Career

Steve with the Duck Foot Part Inc. at trade shows.

The road to entrepreneurship is often not a clear and linear ascent to success. Instead, it’s often paved with a messy income streaming, portfolio career. This was the case for Steve and Chrisa Kastning, the owners of Duck Foot Parts Inc., a startup company that was launched in 2017. In just 5 years, their company has expanded sales into Australia and the United States. However, prior to working full-time in their business, they had a portfolio career that included income streaming from part-time work, a seasonal job and a contract job in order to bridge the gap between quitting farming and launching their business.

Steve has always had an entrepreneurial, income streaming mindset.  From 2005-2016, he had numerous forms of employment including owning a grain elevator that cleaned and shipped organic grain, he managed a farm, rented and farmed his own land, custom farmed for a land investment company, plus worked with his dad in his dad’s plumbing business in the winter. “It’s just what I did,” he said. “When you’re a farmer you learn how to juggle and make money from diversifying your income. That’s just how we think.”

In 2014, Steve had two entrepreneurial ideas on the go. He and his friend, Kirby, had everything pulled together to start a semi-truck wash business outside of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Steve says, “I had the idea with Kirby to start a semi-truck wash. He and I travelled to the US to look at a state-of-the-art wash system.  Chrisa and I traveled to Norway and Sweden to meet with the company that builds the system to work on the building plans. We had a piece of land outside of Regina and we had investors lined up that were going to invest.”

He also had another idea brewing in the background that he shared with his wife, Chrisa. “We were fortunate to be in the farming business, so the idea happened organically,” Chrisa says. “I remember riding in the combine with Steve and he started to talk about how he had the vision to create a product that would feed crops better. He then started to play with the idea to get it to work better. At the time, we were both working full-time for the farm.”  

During this time, Steve and Chrisa had the mold made for the Duck Foot and started to work on patents. In 2016, they started selling to local farmers and continued with testing, but they were having problems with the product falling off. They stopped production and went to work on making the necessary changes to improve their product before taking it back to market.   

“I’ve thought about creating this product for years as I was working in the farming industry,” Steve adds. “There were products out there that I had used as a farmer, but they weren’t designed in an efficient way. I was growing lentils, which is a short crop and hard to clear the cutter bar, creating losses. I’ve always been someone who adapted, changed things and tried to make processes more efficient. I really felt I could improve on what was in the market.”

In the meantime, the semi-truck wash came to a sudden stop. Steve adds, “The GTH couldn’t get our land prepped so we decided to put it on the shelf until the land development was ready.” At this point, they realized they had to pivot. They were waiting for the truck wash, they had a product they were launching and they had another idea brewing.

They decided to quit farming. They were renting 90% of the land they farmed and buying the family farm wasn’t an option, so they transitioned away from farming, and decided to franchise Kirby’s ‘Suds Car Wash’ and open a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan location. Time ticked away and securing investors for the franchise was a lengthy process. Like most entrepreneurs who are waiting for investors or are launching a product line, Steve and Chrisa needed to make some money. They decided to tap into previous skills and experience to look for work.

Prior to meeting Steve, “Startup Entrepreneur” was not a job title on Chrisa’s resume. She began her career as a Family Worker at Onion Lake Family Services and, before marrying Steve, for 12 years she was an Adoption and Permanency Planning Worker for Alberta Children’s Services. However, following their engagement, she worked towards her resignation and moved, joining Steve to work on the farm. Wanting to keep her foot in the door of her 1st career, Chrisa took on a contract role as a SAFE Home Study Supervisor.  “I provide consultation and to the SAFE Home Study Writer through each step of the process including reviewing the final report”, she says.  Chrisa began her first portfolio career streaming income from working various jobs on the farm including driving a grain cart and reviewing home studies, a job she could do remotely. “After we quit farming, I kept that contract and then after we sold our house and moved to Saskatoon, I also got a job at the Saskatoon Public Library.”

The move to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to franchise the car wash meant Chrisa was living in Saskatoon while Steve spent weekdays in Regina working at Sud’s Car Wash, learning the ropes of running a cash wash business while they waited for the car wash franchise investors. “We were car washing and duck footing. It was a crazy time for us,” they add.

Chrisa and the Duck Foot Part Inc. at trade shows

“We were streaming income from all over the place,” Steve continues. “I took a contract in the oil field for a few months just to get some money in the bank, then I saw a job posting for a full-time Farm Supervisor for Winny Farms, I applied and got the job.”

Shortly after, in 2017, they had their big break on Twitter with their Duck Foot product.

“We didn’t have any social media platforms for Duck Foot yet and no twitter account,” Steve says. “But, my buddy, Jeromy Smith, from Nokomis, Saskatchewan had a Twitter account. He works for a farmer and they grow lentils. He tweeted about using our new and improved product. A farmer from Australia tweeted Jeromy and asked where he could get them. Peter from Australia then contacted us and we made our first sale internationally. It all grew from that point on.”

They worked on their sales funnels after that and started a Facebook account. They officially launched Duck Foot Parts Inc. as part of the Innovation Showcase at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in June 2018.  “We won a Sterling Innovation Award,” Chrisa adds, “and after that the product started to take off in Canada and internationally.”

Many portfolio careerists who are highly entrepreneurial and are using a portfolio career to leverage their expenses while building their business will tell you that there comes a time when you may have to pull the plug on some of your income streams to dedicate your time and energy into nurturing or scaling your business.

Chrisa was the first to shift to working full-time for Duck Foot Parts Inc. She quit her library job, but continued with her contract role reviewing home studies.  Steve continued to work for Winny Farms.  But, by the winter of 2019/20, Steve realized he had to take time away from his farm job to focus on the business.  That winter they exhibited at 7 trade shows, 6 in the USA and 1 in Canada.  Steve completed seeding for Winny Farms in 2020. He then also shifted to working full-time for Duck Foot Parts Inc.  It became evident he needed to be in the field doing demos, getting videos and testimonials in order to build the businesses growth capacity. 

While the Duck Foot Parts Inc. took off, Steve and Chrisa let go of the truck wash and car wash franchise focusing 100% on growing their business. In the beginning phase of launching a business, entrepreneurs work tirelessly. Steve says, “You have to have the work ethic. I’ve always wanted to work for myself and be in charge of my schedule. But, it’s hard work.”

Chrisa adds, “If you want to be an entrepreneur you think about it all day. I had a full-time job, and I had a pension and I certainly valued that, but I love the flexibility of this business. It drives us. You have to be prepared for that. You have to be ready to work 12-14 hours daily. You also talk about it all the time. Vacations aren’t going to happen. You are giving up a lot of your personal life for your business to start it up. You don’t have evenings and weekends like you do with a 9-5 job. If we are talking to Australia, it has to be in the evening.  Planning in the evenings, you’re doing the work during the day. You have to love it. You have to be passionate and love it. If you don’t, it won’t work.”

Steve adds, “The other thing is you have to realize is that you are financially tied to it. You have to be financially invested or you won’t do the work. All investors say you have to have skin in the game, and that’s why we worked a portfolio career. We had income streams so we could keep going.”

Duck Foot Parts Inc. now sells all over North America, Australia and is expanding into Germany with plans to reach other countries. They are continuing the learning curve, recently completing courses to help them create a strategic export plan. They also recently hired a consultant from an ag advisory company to take their sales to the next level getting into dealerships rather than doing direct sales. When asked what advice they would give during the growth spurts of a new business, Chrisa suggests, ““If we were to give people advice on growth, know your strengths.”

Steve continues, “I have knowledge of the product. I know farming, how the industry works and I know the product because I’ve been the consumer. Now I’m the innovator and I know the problem it solves and the benefits it offers, so we believe in the value it has for farmers. I can also talk farmer language.” He laughs.

Chrisa adds, “Know when to hire people to help you scale in the area of sales and business. Direct to farmer, we could manage, but scaling to the next level and shifting from B2C to B2B we needed support.  We have figured out how to do the farm shows and Steve is figuring out how to manufacture new versions of the Duck Foot.”

 When asked how she made the incredible leap from her full-time stable job, to a portfolio career, to full-time entrepreneurship Chrisa says, “I have no background in business or sales. I was a social worker, but I accessed free webinars all the time, and read to try to train myself and advance my knowledge and skill sets. We’ve met a lot of business owners through the farm trade shows and talking with one another and supporting each other has been really valuable. We text and call each other with questions. We are active in each other’s social media.”

“It has cost us a lot of unnecessary money because of what we didn’t know. Get mentors, connect to people in the industry who are slightly ahead of you as a business owner so you can connect to advice and also connect to entrepreneurial groups. Also, remember,” Steve adds, “It’s not going to happen over night. You’re going to have to work hard. It’s an absolute grind, so make sure you’re going to love it.”

Website:  www.duckfootparts.ca  

Facebook & Instagram: @duckfootpartsinc 

Twitter:  @duckfootparts

 Remember: Our first big sale came from social media!

Here are the Realities of Becoming a Freelancer

When it comes to being a freelancer, there are many advantages that make freelancing seem nothing short of a dream job. However, wherever there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. All of which I will be exploring throughout this post.

I am a freelancer who has been working alongside Purposeful Careers for the past six months. I graduated from high school in 2019, and I took a stab at News Broadcasting in the Fall. I decided it wasn’t for me, and so I took it upon myself to get a job working at a grocery store over the course of the holiday season. Then I got a part-time job working for a company called Jiva who had originally approached me because they wanted me to help them do video work. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit, and I got laid off. I didn’t want to have a huge gap in my work history so I approached Purposeful Careers, and asked them if they needed help. I have interest in social media, so we decided I would help create posts.

My job can be compared to that of a social media marketer because over the past several months, I have been working on a graphic design platform called Canva, creating and putting together content for both Instagram and Pinterest. In just six months, I’ve been promoted to taking a stab at writing a blog post. So, here I am.

Freelancing involves working independently for multiple people and/or companies on a contract basis. In other words, a freelancer is a self-employed individual who offers various services to their clients. I have learned over the last six months that being a self-employed freelancer has both advantages and disadvantages that everyone who is thinking about it, should know before they dive in.

Some of the Advantages

Being a freelancer means that you are your own boss, and that you have freedom to choose. You can choose your work hours. You can choose who you want to work for, and for how long you want to work for them. You can choose where to work, and you can choose when to call it a day. For example, I work part-time, three days a week from the comfort of my couch, but I don’t get to choose my hours. I start at 1:00 PM and end at 5:00 PM. During that period of time, I get a new assignment or I continue to work on the assignment from the previous day. I get to go to work in what I would call “picked-up-off-the-street” attire (basically whatever I want).

I also enjoy being able to work without having the commitment of the commute. Being able to wake up, and start work from the comfy cushions of a worn-out-couch is one of the joys of freelancing.  Being a freelancer means that you represent yourself, and your brand image, and the biggest advantages of being a freelancer is flexibility and freedom.

Another advantage is the fact that it’s been hard to find a traditional part-time or full-time job in this pandemic. Freelancing has given me the opportunity to learn new skills and get work experience that I wouldn’t normally be able to get. As well, because I don’t have a career direction chosen yet, I’ve been able to test drive social media content creation as a potential career.

Some of the Disadvantages

Keep in mind that as a freelancer, there’s bound to be disadvantages. You have your work cut out for you because it is your job to put yourself in the path of potential work, and find your own clients. As I mentioned, I approached Purposeful Careers after I got laid off. Purposeful Careers has now told other business owners about me so I could have potential clients in the future.

Your workload as a freelancer will vary, and you will not always have a steady stream of income. Not having a steady workload, and not being able to rely on a guaranteed stream of income can be a dealbreaker for some. In my experience, there will be days when my client suddenly decides that they don’t need me, and there will be days when my client is unorganized. For example, let's say I’m scheduled to work on Tuesday afternoon and on Tuesday morning my client says, “It’s okay. You don’t have to work today.” As you can see, being given short notice when it comes to when you work, and when you don’t work is something that freelancers have to deal with. Receiving short notice is a bummer, but in my eyes, it just means I can go back to bed. If you are the kind of person who needs consistency, and a steady income stream then freelancing is not for you.

Freelancing is a great opportunity to make money doing something that you want to, and already know how to do. Both the advantages and disadvantages are worth looking into if you are interested in becoming a freelancer. All in all, freelancing is a job that pretty much anybody can pursue, and if you were to give it a shot, you might find that it is a dream come true.

Do You Need Virtual Work Makeover? Here’s How to Make It Awesome

Covid19 has accelerated the virtual world of work. Remote work is growing. Virtual meetings are a reality. Virtual interviews are common. As a career coach, I have been working virtually for several years and training my clients for virtual interviews and remote work.

What I’ve learned?

• We want to look professional and “uniquely us” virtually.

• We want to feel confident in virtual interviews or meetings with our boss, co-workers and clients.

• We want to create a polished personal and company brand image.

Here are three steps to transform our “virtual scramble” into a purposeful, professional and polished virtual presence that we feel proud of.

STEPS #1 - CHOOSE YOUR EQUIPMENT

Choosing equipment can be a hard decision. There's so much on the market at varying degrees of price points. It can be daunting and overwhelming. I know because I've been there. We don't want to over purchase equipment and over spend. We want to have what we actually need.

Several years ago, one of my clients worked in a camera and video store, and he also had a background in video production. He helped me pick my equipment by asking me these 5 questions.

1. What is it you want to accomplish? What do you plan to do?

2. Where is your work space?

3. Will you be mobile?

4. What kind of equipment do you already have?

5. What's your budget? How much do you want to spend?

Evaluate your situation, your needs and be really honest with how much you want to spend. In addition, take stock of what you already have. You may have most of what you need and really just need to make some minor adjustments to create the perfect setup for your situation. You don't want to buy equipment if you don't have to. When it comes to choosing new equipment, you want to know that it will meet your needs before you make a purchase.

Here are the four pieces of equipment we need for virtual work: meetings, coaching, teaching, live streaming on social media or video production.

• Your device

• The camera

• The lighting

• The microphone

> Choose Your Device

In order to choose which device is best, we first have to decide what we will be doing and how we plan to work. Ask yourself these questions. It will help you determine what device to use.

1. Do you have a desktop computer, a laptop or a smart phone?

2. Will you be virtually coaching, training or teaching from your office, or conducting remote meetings?

3. Are you doing short video production?

4. Will you be working this way for a long length of time or is this a short and temporary situation?

5. Do you need to be mobile?

6. Can you effectively work from the space that you have in mind?

7. Are you going to live stream your coaching, teaching or training on social media?

8. What is your budget?

Before we go out and buy new equipment, we want to test drive the equipment we already have to see if it works for our needs. In addition, I always suggest conducting an information gathering session with people you know who are working virtually to see what others are using. I spend a lot of time talking to people and spending time on YouTube checking out equipment before I purchase. I’m really picky when it comes to purchasing equipment and I always have a budget in mind before I spend.

>Choose Your Lighting

Lighting is so important especially if you are going to virtually coach, virtually teach, do video production or live stream on a regular basis. Lighting options are vast and it really depends on your needs, but one thing is for certain, lighting is important. Here are some tips:

• Use natural light as a foundation.

• Use lamps from home.

• Use professional lighting.

Lighting is so important. In my course, How to Create a Professional Virtual Work Setup - From drab to fabulous in 3 easy steps, I go over the ins and outs of equipment and show you what I own from lighting to microphone. I also provide you with video examples of me on video so you can get a feeling for how to manage lighting.

>Choose Your Microphone

If the built in microphone on your webcam or laptop is good, you won’t have to add another microphone. However, if I teach a group of clients off Zoom or Google Meet, I use either a wireless microphone system or a USB Microphone. Microphones come in all shapes and sizes as well as price points.

STEP #2 - CREATE A STYLISH BACKGROUND

When it comes to what is behind us, we really want to create an appealing background but not so STYLISH that it somehow distracts from what we're saying. We want to strike a balance between being generic and PROFESSIONAL while also having PERSONALITY.

A bookshelf behind us can be a really great backdrop for our virtual coaching sessions or virtual meetings. Research shows that plants ground a room and add a sense of peace and calm. A picture and paintings can add personality to a virtual work space.

STEP #3 - SET YOURSELF UP ON CAMERA

When they say the camera adds 10 pounds, we don't have to worry if we are sitting down! When it comes to virtual coaching, remote meetings or video tutorials, we can just focus on the chest up.

> What to Wear

Fashion on camera can be tricky. When it comes to coaching, teaching, meetings and video tutorials, we want to look professional so choosing what we are going to wear is important.

> Wearing Makeup

When it comes to makeup, some is better than no makeup at all on camera. I don't wear a lot of makeup on a day to day basis, but I do wear some basic makeup. When it comes to the camera, I typically dial it up a notch.

> Frame Yourself Out

Before you turn on the camera, you want to frame yourself out, make sure there aren't any weird things in your background and make sure your face, hair and clothing look okay on camera. I’m always amazed by how much the camera picks up the lint on a black sweater and the wrinkles in that shirt we didn’t press. The camera has eagle eyes.

The other thing we want to do is frame ourselves out on camera and make sure we aren’t too close or too far away. We want to make sure we are sitting at the right height and angle. The camera on our computer should be at eye level. You may have to prop yourself up to be at the right height, or you may have to prop up your laptop (use cereal boxes).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Practice. Set up your background, pick out some clothes, put on some makeup and practice. The only way to really know how your equipment will perform, what you and your background will look like on camera is to practice. The more you practice and adjust yourself, you will develop a professional and polished look.

If you would like to learn more about how to create a professional and polished virtual presence, please check out my online course How to Create a Professional Virtual Work Setup. Our course takes you from drab to fab in 3 Easy Steps. This course is filled with video examples, checklists and infographics, visual examples of how to set up your background and dress on camera and links to tutorials and equipment reveiws.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO LEARN MORE.

How to Love Your Job and Keep Your Dreams Alive

Redouane’s love for his work permeates the small Moroccan restaurant in Byward Market in Ottawa’s city center. I stumbled across Casablanca by accident as I was on my way to a breakfast diner. I veered off course to shop for sourvenirs and was further led astray by the promising smells of something delicious. I’m glad I followed my nose.

I’ve never experienced Moroccan cuisine so as I read the menu with uncertainty, Redouane asked me if I needed help. I was relieved to leave it up to an expert. He chose lamb, root vegetables and coucous. It was significantly off the mark of the intended omelette I had originally set out to find, but I sat down in the cozy eatery with a plate of comfort food and took my first bite.

Do you know that moment when your taste buds collectively agree that you’ve discovered something amazing? The food was impeccable and although I’m not a foodie, I don’t watch the Food Channel, and I don’t know many famous chefs, I know good food when I taste it. I come from the farm in Canada where vegetables are freshly picked from backyard gardens and the meat on our plate is homegrown or freshly caught. I’ve also had the opportunity to live in Japan where great food is plentiful and presentation is exquisite so I knew this was exceptional food made with care and attention to detail both in presentation and flavour.

Coincidentally, I was in Ottawa for Cannexus, a three day international conference for Career Professionals so I had the topic of careers on my mind and, as I ate in silent joy, the career coach in me had a pile of questions. Was Redouane the owner of the restaurant? How did he learn how to cook like this? Does he love his job? Because it sure tasted like he did.

All of my question sparked the beginning of an inspiring career story starting in a home in Marrekesh, Morocco.

“I discovered my vocation for cooking at the heart of my small family who had a great mastery of typical Moroccan dishes,” Redouane kindly shared with me. “Then, in 2001, when I was 21, I joined the professional world of gastronomy as a kitchen clerk.” It was there that Redouane’s career would grow and lead him to the opening of the first Japanese restaurant called Kiotori in Fes in 2007. This is where our worlds slightly collide as we discuss the magical cuisine of a country that is very committed to exceptional food. As we compare our love of Japanese food, Redouane brings out his phone and begins to show me photos from his social media accounts of beautifully presented Japanese dishes. He then shows me a video of him on a radio show and then another video of him on The Master Chef Morocco. “You were on The Master Chef?” I blurt. Even I know that show. “Seriously?” He grins, nods and points to himself in the video walking onto the set of the show to teach a culinary class. I say to him, “What are you doing in Canada?” He laughs and jokingly says, “I don’t know.”

Teaching a class on the Master Chef Morocco

Redouane with the contestants on the Master Chef Morocco

Redouane is modest about his accomplishments but passionate about his work. I’m intrigued by how someone with his credentials isn’t working in one of the top restaurants in Ottawa and I want to know more. After I convince him that I like to write career stories of people who love what they do, he agrees to an interview and his career story further unfolds.

His culinary experiences are impressive. In 2008, a new opportunity would begin for him in the city of Casablanca at the Spasso restaurant. “I had the opportunity to touch on the management side of the restaurant business in addition to the kitchen. This is how the cooking profession instilled in me a managerial spirit. I was curious and passionate so I took up the challenge to manage the restaurant. It was during the festive summer season on a private beach in the North of Morocco with days of serving up to 1000 seats.” He did this work for four consecutive seasons. As I try to work out in my mind serving 1000 seats a day, he continues with his story.

In 2016, Redouane received yet another amazing opportunity. “I was chosen to take part in catering for COP22 which served about 15 thousand dishes a day.” COP22, a Sustainable Innovation Forum, held in Marrakech, was a global conference dedicated to climate action where countries converge to learn more about innovation, sustainable development and the green economy. In terms of catering to such a large, prestigious event, Redouane says, “I worked with the Rahal Group which is a large catering company in Africa. I have fond memories of this journey.”

As he shows me more pictures from his phone and social media accounts of his expansive and impressive career in Morocco, he tells me that he is new to Canada, having arrived in Ottawa in 2017 with the intention of working internationally. Redouane gives me the impression that his work goes beyond being a job. It’s like he was born to do what he is doing and the contagious passion that he has for his work transcends the trials of starting over in a new country.

COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco with Chef Rachid Maftouh

Just prior to coming to Canada, he had the opportunity in 2016 and 2017, to work on the Master Chef show with Chef Rachid Maftouh who he worked with at COP22. This is where collaboration and building relationships continued to bring him new opportunity. From his photos, I can also see that he brought to the show his former skill and knowledge from Kiotori in Fes as he teaches the contestants how to prepare Japanese cuisine.

Over the last two years, Redouane has learned that moving to a new country often means starting from the ground up. I empathize with this part of his story, having grown my career from scratch in Japan many years ago, I can relate to both the excitement of living in a new country and the challenge of starting over. He manages this transition by going back to Morocco to visit his family and friends. At the heart of his culture is the importance of staying well connected to family. Plus, his friends are always very happy to see him and learn about his Canadian adventures.

As we delve further into his plans for his future, Redouane tells me he is committed to building a career in Canada, but he has learned that there are required steps to get moving towards his goals. He consistently reminds himself there is a process. “I know I have to start step by step here. At this time, I’m waiting for my permanent residency card,” he tells me. In the meantime, he works hard in his friend’s restaurant, and also enjoys his life in Ottawa. He golfs, rides a Harley Davidson, and takes time to experience the city’s cuisine. “This is a beautiful city,” he says as he shares with me his hopes and dreams for his future. “And, I have to be patient to build my career here.”

As he shows me the picture of his Harley Davidson in Canada and the picture of him riding a camel in Morocco, I’m left with the juxtaposition of these two images. He gives the impression that he can effortlessly cross cultures. I realize that not only does he have a passion and love for what he does, he possesses that unique recipe of personality and soft skills necessary to succeed in a new culture: two cups of strong cultural adaptation skills, a cup of fearless but tactful communication skills, one spirit of adventure, and a heaping scoop of tenacity and determination. It’s a recipe for success in whatever he chooses to do.

It’s not a Harley Davidson but…it’s still pretty cool!