5.1 million people in the UK. According to Judith Woods from the Telegraph thats how many people are choosing to work part time. After you have read the article – please read some of the comments. It gives you a flavour of how different people see this way of working. Some seem to think you only have to have one PT job or project. Lets think wider. If we can have Big Society surely we can all have Big Minds?

We have posted on this topic before and pointed you towards the wonderful Harvard University address by JK Rowling. Because portfolio workers are ‘putting themselves about a bit’ rather more than people with more traditional career patterns, being turned down for projects and work is not an uncommon experience. What we do know is how important it is to ask yourself what you can learn from the experience rather than assuming that you will fail each time you go for that kind of work. Enjoy the video.

There are an increasing number of sites in the UK and especially in the US that now post freelance opportunities for all kinds of workers. Most of these will of course be  portfolio workers. We have just come across one launched in August for freelance PR people so pass it on to you.

StartUp Britain is a new campaign which hopes to inspire people across Britain to start and grow a business.

( A note from Oli Barratt)

A group of 8 (me, Rajeeb Dey, Richard O’Connor, Emma Jones, Michael Hayman, Jamie Murray Wells, Lara Morgan and Duncan Cheatle sat down to think about what would be practical, useful and helpful  http://www.startupbritain.org/

• We started with the idea that there is a massive amount already going on, and that we should point the way to it.  So you’ll see hundreds of links to good stuff.

• We took the view that a major way for business to help business is by offering practical deals and discounts to save time, money or hassle.  So you’ll see over 50 offers at launch, from business cards to broadband, and from office space to suits!

Just as importantly, thousands of people aspire to start a business and yet don’t.  We hope that StartUp Britain might inspire them by celebrating some of the fantastic work going on all over the UK. Startup Britain has the full support of the Prime Minister David Cameron and HM Government.  We have worked with the team at Number 10 and at BIS to plan what we hope is something useful. This is an independent, private sector initiative, and is not funded by Government.  We have been inspired by the Startup America Partnership and are in touch with their team.

I’d love your feedback.  You can follow StartUp Britain on Twitter @StartUpBritain and check out the site here.

We keep on telling people that they should be as googleme is the new business card. And LinkedIn’s CEO Jeff Weiner just announced that the professional network has now reached 100 million users worldwide. We keep hearing stories about the value of this online networking system. There are other interesting possibilities about too and we will inform you of a new personal branding tool shortly which is free for anyone to use too. Watch this space.

Just to demonstrate that we really do not believe that a portfolio career is for everyone we thought you might be interested in seeing what Management Today came up with as the 8 ways to review your life and career. They interview a number of careers experts and is well worth a look. John Lees is quoted a great deal and John has the latest version of his new book out now which is even better than his previous editions not least of which because he addresses portfolio careers.

I particularly liked a technique quoted by Jessica Pryce-Jones, CEO of human asset management consultancy iOpener, and author of Happiness at Work.

“Identify differing pathways to your goal. The late professor of psychology CR Snyder recommended that in order to do something different, you need five different pathways to get you going. If one pathway fails, you just try another. For example, says Pryce-Jones, if your vision is to be CEO of a big company, your pathways might include: what CEOs can I talk to to find out how they got there? Who needs to know about me? How will I network? How will I act on any feedback? What additional experience might I need?

Evaluate your motivation. As well as pathways, you need ‘willways’ to succeed. Decide how willing you are to try each of your pathways. Ideally, your motivation should score about seven out of 10 before you even start. If it’s lower than that, come up with another pathway, or find a way to boost your motivation.”

As the freelancer which you now are – no matter how you are employed – your radar should always be alert to new beginnings and recognising when a phase has come to a natural conclusion.

A very happy new year to you all.

Hot on our posting of yesterday comes a new report from the Institute of Employment Services. Self-employment, freelancing and multiple contract working are key characteristics of the careers of creative graduates five to seven years after graduation, according to a new report published today.

Creative Career Stories provides a snapshot of the lives of arts, design and communication graduates five to seven years after graduation. The authors, from University of the Arts London and the Institute for Employment Studies, believe that the report offers vital information for universities and colleges as they prepare students for the careers they will enter.

For the majority of the graduates surveyed, the transition from education to employment was not as clear cut as can be the case in other sectors. At the start of their careers, creative graduates rarely find work through job advertisements and instead rely on word of mouth or contacts from student placements to begin paid employment.   Many of those surveyed reported that freelancing and contract work were the only types of work available to them at the early stages of their careers. However, the researchers found that as graduates establish themselves, they moved between employment and self-employment, with many building ‘portfolio careers’ that combine paid and unpaid work, creative practice, study and informal learning.

Graduates were aware of the likely complexities and challenges of their career choice from the start and were willing to accept them for the high level of job satisfaction they experience. However, many report that they would have liked more preparation during their education, including:

* built-in business skills and entrepreneurship on courses, such as the basics of freelance practice

* help to build contacts and understand the best methods of finding work

* work placements and industry experience through projects

* help to understand professional requirements and client needs.

Nearly half of them have portfolio careers. 25% of them had started a business.

‘Graduates appeared to be comfortable with testing themselves in different kinds of work,

often as a portfolio of activities, and there was some reticence about making a commitment

to a particular direction early on. There were frequent job changes and periods of unpaid

work to gain insights into different sectors, new experiences or develop new skills, sometimes

interspersed with travel.’

The study found that the four key drivers for portfolio working are:

■ creativity – maintaining a focus on creativity and control over its direction; blurring

distinctions between ‘own work’ and ‘other work’ with sometimes four or even five

activities revolving around creative practice

■ the contract economy – adapting to the opportunities available, with freelance work, parttime

work and self‐employment continuing to feature strongly

■ personal and creative development – a wish not to stand still but to gain new experiences,

develop new skills, often on the job or in unpaid/voluntary roles, and engage in

development activity and further study, both informal and formal

■ peers, contacts and collaborators – work opportunities will often come about through

contacts and networking; collaborations may be formed to build teams to meet the needs

of multi‐disciplinary contracts.

Many people sill feel that a portfolio career is something that will ‘make do’ until a ‘proper job’ comes along. This viewpoint overlooks what we keep finding which is that once people have tasted this career work style many of them like it and wish to continue with it.

Well not quite – as ours is not in it yet but I hope that will shortly be remedied! It is American so only details US books. My attention was brought to it by its compiler Katina Solomon. She presents  details of an inventory of books that she has listed around career decision making and development. Obviously these are all US books but it is a good list. Many of them  are available in the UK and you will certainly recognise some names from postings that we have done over the last year or so.

Indeed. You read that right. Instead of just writing about how to create a Portfolio Career, Nick Williams, Adrian Bourne and myself will all be offering up ideas to get you moving or at least thinking of finding work that you enjoy and get paid for.

Nick Williams runs Inspired Entrepreneurs and has written a best seller. Here I ask him about Portfolio Careers – what is his take on it ?

Adrian has co-authored Portfolio People and has designed the Portfolio Package coaching programme. His own portfolio includes Non-Executive Directorships, lecturing and working for charity.

makes you think ?