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.

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!

5 Steps Lorna Selig Took to Turn Her Passion into a Side Business

Lorna Selig works a full week. Between her full-time job with Children’s Link and her self-defense training business, she is a busy woman. But, she doesn’t feel busy.  “When you’re working in your passion,” she says, “It sounds cliché, but it doesn’t feel like work.” How did this former stay at home mom turn both her love of self-defense and her desire to help families with children with disabilities into a work life that she loves? The answer is, one step at a time. 

Step #1 – Getting Started  

Lorna’s passion for self-defense began early. “When I was just shy of my 17th birthday, I was attacked. This experience left an impression on me that later turned into a mission to help others.” As we unpacked her story in a coffee shop in Calgary, I was amazed by both her resiliency and her ability to turn a negative experience into a way to help others. For a variety of reasons, she didn’t tell anyone about the assault but the experience impacted how she saw the world. It was during this time she started to think about how she could give people the information they needed to stop the cycle of victimization.  “I spent a lot of time in that head space,” she says. “I wanted to help give information that makes people less of a target, builds confidence in them and helps them feel empowered.” 

It was during the time she was at home raising her children that she saw the Safe and Sound program at her children’s school. “It was like the structure of Safe and Sound matched what was going on inside my mind in terms of providing a service. I didn’t have a system for what I was thinking. I didn’t have a curriculum for how to teach it systematically, so when I saw this curriculum it fit with what I was wanting to do.”  

The Safe and Sound program had been in Calgary since the mid 1990s owned and operated by Debra deWaal. A friend connected Lorna and she reached out to Deb. “I believe I just phoned her and said I sat in on the class with my child, loved it and wanted to work for her. I cannot recall the conversation exactly but I think it went something like that. Based on my experience and work in the community with kids and teens, she saw the fit and it just all happened from there.”

Step #2 – Build Knowledge, Experience and Skills

Lorna began her career in self-defense and worked with Deb part-time. At the same time, she was also raising two children and working part-time providing parental support and supervision to women with disabilities raising their children. “When Deb needed someone, I would work with her. She had police officers and me teaching this program.” Over 10 years, Lorna juggled raising her children, working her part-time job and teaching self-defense. She also volunteered on parent council, did presentations for the MS Society and was also working on her Homeopathic Certification. Now that she looks back, it all seems a bit crazy but although she didn’t know it at the time, she was building valuable juggling skills that she would later hone as an entrepreneur.

Over the years, Lorna built a name for herself in the community of organizations helping adults with disabilities and families with children with disabilities. From application and long term planning support, to resourcing and speaking engagements, Lorna became the go-to-person. “In general, I’ve been there for families who are transitioning young adults who have disabilities. I think I’ve done this for so long that I’ve created a system within Children’s Link. I do webinars and sit on committees. I’ve been out there for a long time.  I’ve had 30 years in disabilities services in various roles and I’ve been with Children’s Link since 2009 for 10 years now.  I do a lot of speaking engagements and know the organization well and I know the resources and the help that’s out there for families.”

Being a “go-to-person” has been effortless for her and, over the years, she has built knowledge and skills in both her day job and her business. “In terms of my career development in both job and business, I have built great presentation skills. I’m called to do presentations all the time, in the community with my face in front of people for Children’s Link and I also do presentations for the business. Last week, the real estate association wanted me to come and do a presentation about self-defense. My presentation skills are active, lively and energetic.”

Lorna was also invited to speak at the Alberta Council for Disabilities Service ACDS annual conference about the need for safety awareness for people with disabilities. It’s moments like these when her two world’s come together and Lorna is able to marry both her knowledge of community service for persons with disabilities and her love of self-defense.  “Sometimes there’s a beautiful marrying of information and service,” she says. “For example, I was called by the disabilities association to do a presentation on self-defense. Also, an autistic family asked me to do self-defense class for their son and his classmates and, although I was there to help them with self-defense, because of my knowledge about family support for children with disabilities, I was able to point the family to additional services within the community and funding that could be used to help him further.”

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Photo by Guillaume de Germain on Unsplash

Step #3 – Take Action on Opportunities

Five years ago, Deb approached Lorna and asked her if she wanted to buy the curriculum part of the business. Lorna and her partner bought the company, rebranded to Safe4Life, changed some of the content and hired Calgary Police Service members and padded attackers. They built the business to host hundreds of classes a year, doing 15-20 classes a month all over the city of Calgary.

Even though Lorna had strong presentation skills and leadership skills from her job, moving to business ownership proved to be a challenge. “The learning curve was around the curriculum content and making it my own, learning the concepts for personal safety and building confidence and empowerment in order to respond to people’s unique questions,” she says. She also had to learn how to respond to people who had a personal situation and experience that was still raw for them.

Lorna’s clients have been as young as 3 years and her oldest client was 83. Even though she has a broad clientele who range in age, profession and background, Lorna has paid attention to her clients and why they want to learn self-defense. “The main reason why people are taking the classes is often because they’ve had an incident that has caused them fright or they know someone who has been victimized, or they want to take the pro-active approach and learn skills that build their awareness.” She has noticed that many moms who have kids between the ages of 7 and 17 have been interested in enrolling their kids. They want to equip their children for the future by giving them skill sets to use in a variety of different situations from learning how to minimize risk to understanding how to manage themselves in certain situations.

Lorna’s clients are also schools, corporations who want to equip their staff such as ATB Financial, Brookfield Property Management and not-for-profit organizations such as Boys and Girls Club, Girl Guides and Brownies, accessible housing organizations and sport groups. Understanding her client's needs and interests has helped her build the business and have a broader reach into the community. 

Step #4 – Learn How to Manage both a Business and a Job 

Managing a full-time job that she loves and a business she has a passion for can equal long hours for a sidepreneur, but Lorna has a superpower that is similar to Oprah Winfrey. She knows how to pull strong teams together. “If I’m going to keep this business going and work in my day job, I have to have an amazing team. I pick the most skilled instructors to teach the classes for me, I have two commissioned sales staff and an administrator and a social media person. I’m the front face of the organization. People do book the classes through me, but I have a team that gets the equipment ready. I love this work and it’s what makes my heart happy.”

In terms of operations, it is a mobile business. Lorna’s team loads the self-defense equipment into the van and delivers it to the instructors who unload it at the class location, run the program then re-load the van. Lorna hires instructors and a padded attacker on a contract basis as freelancers. It’s a good gig for the freelance instructors and attackers because Lorna believes in paying her staff well.  “I want my instructors to choose to work for me rather than work another security gig. You have to pay people really well if you want the good people and if you want them to stay. I want the cream of the crop and I want to pay them as if they are. As a result, I have amazing instructors and they stay.” With this smart hiring and retention strategy, Lorna reduces her workload by retaining her freelance workers.

She also has flexibility in her 40-hour job with Children’s Link. “It’s not a straight 9:00-5:00, 40 hours a week job. I have to work around the needs and the activities of the families I’m supporting so I have ultimate control to flex the hours to meet the needs of the family and the needs of Children’s Link. Sometimes, I have to put on events in the evenings or on weekends, and because I assist and support families who have youth who are moving into the adult services system, I’m often working my hours around their schedules.”

Working outside of traditional work hours often builds helpful time management skills suitable to juggling entrepreneurial ventures. Because Lorna is accustomed to a non-traditional work schedule, she doesn’t appear to compartmentalize work and play hours or be guarded about her personal time. When I asked Lorna what the downside is to juggling both a job and a business, she admitted, “I don’t have a lot of free time, but when you do something that you love and feel passionate about, it doesn’t feel like work. I love the message I’m putting out into the community; the staff, the speaking, the learning, presenting and I love learning more about this area. It’s not really work for me. When I do unplug, I golf and I go on holidays.”

Step #5 – Create Short and Long-term Goals

Clear short and long-term goals are needed if sidepreneurs are to avoid burn out as they work full-time and run a business. I asked Lorna, “What is your purpose? What are the goals you are trying to achieve working as hard as you do?”

“My long term goal? Continue to work at Children’s Link until I’m 60-ish. Also continue to do Safe4Life because that’s what makes my heart sing. My plan in retirement is to keep my valuable human resources in tact with Safe4Life and pay them well to manage the company because I see Safe4Life as being part of my retirement plan. There’s no pension in my day job so the business has become a retirement plan. I am the face of the organization so I don’t know that I won’t ever be directly part of my business, but maybe in another 10-15 years, I may back off it.  If I’m sitting on a beach in Costa Rica, I can still book classes and organize the staff from my laptop.” 

Two years ago when Lorna was in the UK, she realized the value of moving the business into her retirement when through a 15-minute phone call, she was able to book someone into a class. “Quite honestly, I can make an income in about a 15 minute phone call from the UK. For me, it’s about the message, but if I can make an income sharing the message, it’s a win/win as I move into my retirement.”

When it comes to the short term? “Most of the time, my business doesn’t feel like work but at times it is work. It’s the minute details of it that can feel like work. But, my partner and I make the best of the small details that are often hard like dropping the van off during my free time and not being able to watch Netflix. But, we make the best of it and go and grab a pizza.”

As we wrap us, I ask one final question. “How would you sum up your work life?”

“I guess I can say I have a passion for something that I’ve turned into a business or I can say I have a mission that I’ve turned into a money making adventure.”

Lorna Selig

Self-Defence Training

Safe4Life

How to Create a Portfolio Career You Love

Maureen McCann has a pragmatic and fearless approach to her unique career. Currently living in Victoria, BC, Canada, she has a career consulting boutique business called Promotion Career Solutions, owns and operates a vacation rental property with her husband and is a landlord for a property she owns in Ottawa. Her wise management of money, and her understanding of real estate has helped Maureen design a work life that she enjoys.  “Learn what works for you and play to your strengths,” she says as we converse over the phone about her portfolio career.

In her 20’s, Maureen started to read financial books about money management and property. “I read on my 20 minute commute to work. What I was reading made me realize that managing money better could make a huge difference in people’s lives. I considered becoming a financial advisor but changed my mind. I didn’t want to be someone who sold mutual funds."  Maureen developed a motto “run the numbers” and it has helped her create her work life. “I genuinely love what I do and I want other people to love what they do. When people run the numbers, they find out what they really need to live on. Then, they can make career decisions based on their true financial situation."

At this point in our conversations, we veer off slightly and discuss wise money management and Maureen shares a tip. Drive a beat up car. "“With the income from our cottage, we could’ve bought new stuff like a new car, but we didn’t.  We made sacrifices and drove an old 1998 Chevy Celebrity and we put our rental income back down on the mortgage to pay it off faster.” Now, her vacation rental property has almost become a passive income. "I have created systems that help me manage the emails and bookings, and the people who rent from us clean it themselves and do a really good job.”

Wise money management skills are essential skills for everyone and portfolio careerists managing multiple income streams need to learn how to manage their money wisely but it is not a skill that everyone innately develops. Maureen believes we have to be taught and she has spent hours combing over books trying to understand how to manage her money well. "When people don’t understand money," she says, "They often live in fear. You have to run the numbers in order to address the fear of not having enough because running your numbers helps you to see what is and isn’t enough." We discuss how fear often paralyses people and prevents them from changing careers.  "It’s a cop out to say I can’t change careers because of financial security. People have this underlying fear of how much they think they need so they don’t change anything. They stagnate and don't make any changes out of a fear of not having enough.”

Money, fear and careers. Maureen has made a career consulting business out of understanding some of our deepest fears around money and our jobs. She has also made some tough career choices herself. Three years after she and her husband bought their cottage in 2001, she got laid off from her job and it was a lesson in change and transition. “I started to volunteer in the career development field and shortly after, got offered my first paid job as a career professional.” Simultaneously, she got pregnant which was also a lesson in having tough conversations with a new boss. “It was a very hard conversation to have with a new employer and now that I understand that piece about our careers, I can help my clients with their tough conversations. Somehow, I felt like I had dishonoured my employer's trust because they had just hired me. But, from my experience, your boss will totally understand."

In 2005, she had her first child and went back to work six months later.  Then, in 2007, she decided to go in a different direction with her career as a career professional. "I officially walked away to start my second business. I always knew I wanted to work for myself. I thought I would be able to help more people if I could go out and do it on my own." As well, because Maureen’s husband works for the military, she knew he would eventually get posted somewhere else so entrepreneurship hit all of the criteria she needed for her career.  “I created a business plan and I showed a guy that worked at the entrepreneurship centre. He said my business plan was all good, gave me the thumbs up and it was like, 'Away you go’.”

She broke the news to her husband with a power point presentation when he was on a home leave from Afghanistan.  “I sat him down and I was at slide number two which was to run a business and stay home to take care of our daughter.” He stopped me and told me to go ahead and do it.” Maureen adds, “We have to have these conversations with our spouses.  A lot of couples don’t have these conversations and they stay in their jobs and aren’t happy.” It is often hard for people to break out of the work they are doing even when they are unhappy. Maureen adds, ”I firmly believe we are raised to think that we have to have a steady income but I think we are doing a disservice to ourselves. People approach their careers out of fear, fear of not having, and they sign up for misery, and in some cases, it's becomes like jail time. I’ve decided I’m going to make my own jail time and privately fund my pension.”

For Maureen, a portfolio career that allows her to income stream from different directions helps her create a work life she loves. "If someone asks me to do something and its fun, I'll do it. But if it isn’t fun, I won’t do it. When I first started my business, I said yes to everything but now I have built my life so that it wraps around my family life. When we lived in Europe, I worked enough but I was also able to travel. I can adjust my work life to match what I want. If I invest, I want a good outcome."

I ask her what advice she would give to someone thinking about a portfolio career. " They need to ask themselves what do they really need to make?” Maureen continues.  “Then, work for yourself. You are handing out the keys of your destiny to an employer and you don’t have to do it.  But, if you choose to work for someone else, either way, you don't have to hand them the keys. Your employer is not responsible for your happiness. If you are unhappy, do something about it. The next step is scary. However, we have to first work for ourselves by being wise with our money." 

What are the Benefits and Challenges of Being Entrepreneurial?

Self-employment seems to be in the air! I have recently been meeting former portfolio careerists who became solopreneurs or entrepreneurs, income streaming from various entrepreneurial ventures. I am so intrigued by their work lives that I have decided to spend the next few months covering self-employed solopreneurs like Kym Keith (recent June article) and Brad Hussey (future August article) who work on their own providing a service or selling a product without hiring staff. They are flying solo in their business and are streaming income from multiple directions.

Others like Ryan Corry (this month's July article) are entrepreneurs; the term used for self-employed individuals who hire staff to help them with their business. Entrepreneurs, like Ryan, who are also portfolio careerists may stream income from more than one entrepreneurial venture or they may run a business and possibly work in a salaried job or do contract work.

Whether they are flying solo or hiring staff, there are definite benefits to operating a branch on our portfolio tree that is completely donated to self-employment. Portfolio careerists who are opting for self-employment tend to like the freedom to create, innovate and control the work being done. They like the ability to take charge of marketing, networking and the growth of their venture. Their entrepreneurial project gives them an outlet for their creativity and business savvy, and also provides them with a sense of pride and ownership.

There are certainly advantages to having a self-employment branch to our portfolio tree. However, as I've said before nothing is perfect. The ability to start a small business that will make and not lose money is a difficult endeavour. It requires doing our homework, learning how to write a business plan and coming up with an idea that will be marketable. As mentioned by Kym Keith, she went through an intense business planning course to come up with a marketable plan.

A good business plan is just the beginning. Just like hard work without a plan can lead to business failure, a well-done business plan won't be executed without hard work. Launching and running a business is exceedingly time consuming and most business owners work long hours, which for some people may be a disadvantage. Another disadvantage is that many businesses don't make money right away and, hence, streaming income from other directions will be necessary. This is the juggling act that can become tiresome because there are only so many hours in a day.

However, I enjoy being a self-employed solopreneur who primarily works on contract. I have an incorporated career services business as part of my portfolio career and I like the freedom self-employment gives me to create my own work life. There are downsides. If I don't work, I don't get paid. I don't have paid vacation or benefits. I have to come up with my own retirement plan and I often have no idea how much money I will make in a month.

When I read the above paragraph, I realize self-employment is not for the faint of heart. I tend to have a higher than average risk and uncertainty tolerance, but being comfortable with risk isn't the key ingredient of a self-employed person. I have met people who have a lower tolerance for risk, yet they choose self-employment because they prefer to be in control of their work life rather than leave it up to someone else who has the power to lay them off, leaving them with no income at all. I have learned through meeting various entrepreneurial portfolio careerists that everyone is different. No two are alike in their approach and their level of risk.

In the articles to come, I will feature some of the inspiring people I have met who are streaming income from various self-employed ventures and are, in a sense, paving some interesting pathways that may change the way we all work in the future.

The following link solopreneurs has more information on the differences between the two self-employment approaches.

How to Always Have Your Toes in the Sand and Still Make a Living

Photographer - Michael Mims

Quit your stable job to live and work between Mexico and Canada. Sounds like a good idea? Ten years ago, Al and Denise did just that. They pulled up stakes, and sold their house close to Calgary, Alberta to live in Mazatlan, Mexico in the winter and Saskatchewan, Canada, for the summer. It sounds like the perfect retirement plan, but they weren’t even close to retirement.

Al and Denise were known for taking risks that involved significant life changes. They had moved to Japan several years before to work and income stream from a variety of teaching ventures in the city of Sapporo, Japan. They had a reputation among their friends for being hard working people who had learned how to work with intention. They would figure out a way to accommodate their desire for a waterside and golfing lifestyle.

The idea to change gears came to Denise in a workshop during a teacher’s convention. At the time, she was a principal of an elementary school. The workshop facilitator asked the participants where they saw themselves in five years, and the image that came to Denise's mind was not working in her current job. She saw herself in Mexico and not just on a beach for a short vacation. The facilitator then asked them to share their vision with three other people, and Denise was sitting at a table with co-workers. She confesses, “I felt I had to be honest with them. I didn’t see myself in the school I was working in. I honestly saw myself working in Mexico in five years.” She then adds, “Because I put it out there, from that point onward the steps that we took led us in that direction.”

Changing direction isn’t always easy and Denise admits she struggled with making the decision to quit her job. However, the following year, at the end of October, she knew she didn’t want to do it anymore. “I knew it was bad timing. The school year had just started. Although we had a great staff, and we enjoyed spending time together, I decided to resign in November. I still loved the job but I didn’t want to not like it anymore. I helped transition the new principal. Then, I started a small business course.”

Al and Denise were living outside of Calgary in the community of Redwood Meadows in the beautiful foothills of the Rocky Mountains. They had spent a great deal of time and energy getting their home just the way they wanted it, but their attachment to their home and community didn’t stop them from starting on a new adventure. During that school year, events converged in Al’s job as a vice principal to further solidify their desire to pack up and move to Mexico. They then heard about Judy. Judy was someone who was living and working in Mexico. After meeting her, seeing her pictures, and hearing about her lifestyle, Al and Denise were convinced they could do it. Al quit his job, they sold their house in June 2007 during a hot housing market, and the portfolio career adventure in Mexico began.

Their first goal was to get settled in Mazatlan. They bought a house, then sold it and bought another. They taught English to start out and Al got his real estate license and started selling real estate with Remax. Denise became Al’s assistant helping him show listings to buyers searching for a vacation or investment property. While helping Al, Denise noticed there was a need to help vacation and investment property owners manage their properties when they went back home. She started a property management business and also worked as Al’s assistant showing listings. Denise says, “I thought I would be starting a business having to do with education. But, when you see an opportunity, you jump on it.” She partnered with her Mexican friend who took care of business when Denise went back to Canada in the summer. For two years, they worked like this in Mexico.

Their first summer back in Canada, Al and Denise built a lake front property in the province of Saskatchewan with Al doing a lot of the work himself. Their lake home was in a good location with access to First Nation schools, rural school divisions, and schools within the nearest city. They immediately got on the substitute teacher lists putting to work the skill sets they had honed working in education. Denise also took courses that allowed her to work and substitute teach in the local correction's facility. To add to their potential income streams, Al’s cousin suggested he get into the crop insurance business. Al started taking courses to become a crop and hail adjuster in the agriculture industry. Between studying, substitute teaching and building their home, they were busy. Denise says, “It was a busy summer and Al was able to do a lot of work that we would’ve paid a contractor to do, so he didn’t work for a pay check but he saved us money by working on our house.”

Strangely enough, you would think that with all the moving back and forth between two countries that their multiple careers would become stagnant over the years, but they didn’t. In Canada, Al was willing to travel while they were home, so he quickly moved up the crop insurance ladder eventually becoming storm boss, managing groups of insurance adjusters. Because hail insurance is a seasonal job, it fit well with Al’s new lifestyle. In Mexico, he eventually went into partnership with another real estate agent. It became a running joke with their friends that Al had become like Chevy Chase in the movie Fletch, juggling multiple jobs and business cards.

Denise’s career in Canada also grew. She was offered a permanent position as a special program coordinator with a school board in conjunction with the local correction's facility to work with boys in corrections giving support to continue their education. She designed the program, developed the curriculum and taught. She worked in this program every summer, gaining seniority with the union, and taking a leave of absence in the winter to go back to her work in Mexico.

Back in Mexico, Al and Denise partnered with Shawn, another real estate agent, and expanded what they started with property management increasing Denise’s workload and turning Al and Shawn into “The Real Estate Guys” a name Denise jokingly called them. As a new company, there were all sorts of glitches selling new property, and eventually they did this for two years until the business became a lot of work. That's where their portfolio career story takes another turn, creating a Part II to their story.

Over the years, Al and Denise learned how to change gears and adapt their work life in order to do what they love and live where they want. They have designed a portfolio career in Mexico and Canada that is enviable in how they have been able to piece together work from two different counties in such a seamless way. Al and Denise are now on another adventure that includes an online business. So, we will see where their portfolio career takes them next.

If you want to learn more about how to work as portfolio careerist like Al and Denise, subscribe to Career Corner Toolkit for FREE monthly injections portfolio career tips, To subscribe to Career Corner Toolkit or to have a free consultation, go to my home page.

I would love to connect with you if you are thinking of starting an independent career or already have one and want to OPTIMIZE.