The Pathway

A Portfolio Workstyle is not a single decision. It is six of them, and most people in this directory are somewhere in the middle.

Nobody in the directory has recorded which stage they are at yet — the imported profiles do not say, and it is not something we would guess on someone’s behalf. So the stages below describe the work rather than filter the directory. Once people claim their profiles and say where they are, you will be able to browse by stage from here.

1. 1

   Explore Your Options

   You know the full-time seat is not the rest of your career. You do not yet know what replaces it.

   Worth finding: People one or two stages on, in your function, who were exactly this uncertain and can tell you what actually changed their mind.

   Nobody has told us they are at this stage yet.

2. 2

   Consider Your Reasons

   Working out whether this is about freedom, money, boredom, or a boss — because the answer changes what you should build.

   Worth finding: People who made the move for the reason you are circling, and can say whether it delivered.

   Nobody has told us they are at this stage yet.

3. 3

   Discover What It Will Take

   The practical arithmetic. Rates, runway, how many clients, how long the first one takes to land.

   Worth finding: People at Launch Out or Grow in your sector, who remember the numbers because they only recently stopped worrying about them.

   Nobody has told us they are at this stage yet.

4. 4

   Prepare

   Positioning, pricing, the first conversations. Still employed, or nearly.

   Worth finding: People a single stage ahead. Close enough to remember the question, far enough to have an answer.

   Nobody has told us they are at this stage yet.

5. 5

   Launch Out

   First clients, real invoices, and the discovery that selling is now part of the job.

   Worth finding: Established portfolios in your function — and people at Prepare, who you are already qualified to help.

   Nobody has told us they are at this stage yet.

6. 6

   Grow

   A working practice. The problem is no longer finding work; it is choosing it, pricing it properly, and not quietly rebuilding a full-time job out of four part-time ones.

   Worth finding: Peers at the same stage for the choosing-and-pricing problems, and everyone earlier, who need what you know.

   Nobody has told us they are at this stage yet.