A portfolio career? What da heck is that? I just work all little bit here and there, like all the time. It’s all related though!
 
It turns out they’ve got a name for that. Go figure! I was asked to speak about Portfolio Careers for Artists and my new business venture, The Artist Office at  ASU’s p.a.v.e. arts entrepreneurship class. Thanks to it’s fearless leader, the brilliant professor Linda Essig, I was able to discover a new label for my varied career path. I was asked to speak with her class about my portfolio career which includes: my professional career as an actress, working full time in arts management for a premiere Broadway non-profit, working as an independent consultant in marketing, my private coaching, my entrepreneurship as creator of a performing arts business, my work as a video producer…ok I’m totally exhausted thinking about all of these things and probably should be getting back to work!
 
The truth is that while I’ve always been active, my transition to working professional in New York is what prompted me to diversify my options. The challenges of working as a single, broke, relatively unknown, minority actress in New York City has really been great motivation to get creative with my career. So far it has worked, and I like to imagine my success is more fulfilling than if I had be led down a straight and narrow path. My life is more interesting, and I am proud and never bored by the life that I lead. That’s a rule. Never be bored by what you do. You are far too talented! So for my presentation I tried to put together knowledge gained from this experience in a not so boring way.
 
Here are my Ten Not Boring Tips for Managing a Successful Portfolio Career in the Performing Arts:

1. Remember: you’ve got skillz.
Anyone remember that terrible Shaq song? Anyway. Assuming you are all ready to work professionally as a performing artist, having completed the necessary training and practical experience has already prepared you to work in many fields other than your own. If you can find one that supports you financially in a related area of the performing arts, even better. Consider taking well paid work in a related area which can allow you more flexibility in options for payment for the job you really want. You will make valuable connections and show your dedication to the craft, which impresses those who want to hire you. You are by definition multi-talented, so put some of them to work! As an actress, my scene study classes taught me how to relate and establish connections quickly with strangers. I’ve now got ten years of customer service experience with jobs I’ve landed using these skills. 

2. Be a little self centered.
The advantage of working a number of jobs is choosing the ones that work best for you, provide the best hours for you, that fit your beliefs, practices, routines, rehearsal schedules etc. When you have a successful portfolio career going, you are your primary boss. If any one job conflicts with your dream life in the performing arts, you won’t go for broke while you look for another one. Allow yourself to take a stand for your personal goals, since the only job you are truly passionate about is the one you pursing in the performing arts. Make your career you-centric, with your needs and desires at the helm. Simply, do what you love.

3. Relax.
Part of the difference between managing a portfolio career and simply working like a slave is finding balance. You’ve got to approach your work with a more laid back, hippie-like, free approach and love whatever you do. Practice constantly “putting things into the universe”, and eventually they will make their way back to you. For example, your succesful lead generation doesn’t need to come from applying tremendous pressure to make something happen off a single interaction or networking event. Instead, embrace your job search as a disciplined, steady approach, where you are always exploring opportunities; then you will never feel trapped by depending on just one.

4. Embrace the slash.
Not that Slash.
Ok seriously. So wait, wait—you are truly an actor/director/puppeteer/screenwriter? A dancer/model/composer? Guess what? It’s okay. It doesn’t mean you are lost or lacking direction if you have truly got the credits to back it u.. You are again, multi-talented and hopefully you have found a healthy balance where the skills complement each other. If you are seriously working at all of these, be proud of it. What this does mean however, is 3 to 4 times more work and more marketing materials. Of course, be cautious that you aren’t simply parading your hobbies to make up for lack of credits elsewhere. Here’s the test: try creating a separate resume for each—if you’ve got significant experience in each “slash”, then have each resume fully prepared for when opportunities may arise. If not, consider waiting until you build additional experience before considering that another full career in your portfolio and instead highlight that experience to support your main resume so it stands out amongst the crowd.

5. Carry a deck of cards.
No, not the kind you play “go fish” with. You should have a variety of portable promotional materials that showcase what you do for that chance meeting with a potential employer, and your business card is at the center of this. Promotional materials are all about making you feel more comfortable when presenting yourself, so if you have a multi-faceted career, why not be prepared with cards that represent all that you do? Simply creating a business card for your second or third interest transcends your various passions and hobbies into a full career pursuit. You’ll make an impression and be considered a serious potential hire to those who you meet. My card deck is a literal deck, containing acting cards, cards for my full time job, consulting services, and mini ones just to make an impression. Also, they don’t have to be perfect: (ok, you can play go-fish here) Use your cards as incentive to get the cards of others. 

6. www.allthatyoudo.com
Your website is the key to controlling the flow of information out there in the wilderness of the interweb about you, and in managing your own PR. It is also a place where you can organize your various pursuits and write your own narrative reflecting a full, successful career journey. There are no restricting rules for your website about bio length, structure or resume formatting, so present examples of the work that you are targeting up front, and then make it easy for employers to navigate through your other talents if they happen to seek them. Collect all the wonderful reviews, articles, videos, and other representations of you performing your dream job and post them here. Tell your story the way you want it told. Duplicate your “narrative of success” on all your social media sites, and be sure to use the same phrasing to help with SEO. Pretty soon you will be able to google yourself and see that the story that you want to tell is there for your employers to find.

7. Always be awesome.
AKA— Never suck. Pause—not every opportunity is right for you. You don’t need to start a profile on every new social media network. You don’t have to be at that workshop, party, networking happy hour, class, whatever right now. Now, if you have the time for it and you feel awesome while doing it, then do it. Otherwise, save face and do the things you enjoy doing the most, and leave good impressions everywhere. While networking is super important to creating a portfolio career; false, creepy and insincere interactions with future employers can cut you off and permanently blacklist you from endless future opportunities. 

8. Blur your focus.
Everyone and anyone, especially well meaning friends and family, who has heard how hard it is to make it in the performing arts will give you lots of “expert” advice on what it takes. Among it is always “stay focused”. And what they usually mean is to not do anything else but audition, rehearse, design, etc. Even excellent training programs are continuing to churn out performers with no other skills than those used onstage, and often as a result, we get highly trained professionals with very little personality, few quirks, business savvy or street smarts. Since when did being a professional become a synonym for being bland? Don’t be so focused that you are plain boring. The wild, eclectic, artist that you are is what is attractive to your potential buyers. Cultivating your other talents only makes you more valuable, unique and marketable. And you can keep bland uber-professional in your back pocket in case the role calls for it.

9. It’s a line dance, it ain’t a wedding march.
With a portfolio career, you are not simply marching down the aisle happily towards your destiny, but rather side stepping, bumping into people, picking up new moves and dancing until the music runs out. Don’t be afraid to side step to learn new skills along the way—consider yourself making small concentric circles around your ultimate goal, getting closer and closer to it, and as a result becoming more well rounded. Every small job that you acquire while waiting for the “big” one will provide you with skills that will serve you when you reach your career goal. Just make sure all of these “side steps” are dancing to the same tune.

10. Now put aside the portfolio.
One thing every artist hates is another label. If you are constantly working in the performing arts, you’ve got a career, plain and simple. A performing arts career will ultimately take a number of twists and turns and we will follow it willingly and excitedly, as we are oft more inspired by our dreams and intuitions than by facts and industry trends. So part of that is acceptance that ourcareers—made up by nature of a stream of part time jobs—are perfectly normal to our industry. The key to any form of financial success in our business is securing multiple roles/gigs, and the nature of the beast is that the path to booking them is about who you know and who knows you. Therefore any job that you do within in the industry is a part of marketing for your main focus. Celebrate your success in finding constant work!