Fractional / portfolio 1 year in - my emoji scorecard…

👎

• I miss the 3Bs: base, benefits, bonus

• I miss paid time off.

• I miss paid sick days.

😬

• Building in enough time to: sell the work, do the work, project & account manage the work, invoice for the work, find new work

• Finding the right balance of AI to power my lil engine, but not overtake my brain/discernment/creativity (these are my differentiators!)

• Do I start my own company or just stay solo/collective??

• Less time to do pro bono mentoring, every hour is truly opportunity cost for me now: do I make money or do I enjoy family/life?

😃

• I am seeing and making SO many new connections in my mind and life. FTE can be pond water at times; this is a rushing river with lots of tributaries.

• Unthinkable amounts of having to / getting to experiment with everything (tools, work hours, offers, offering, where I work/live, what I need to thrive)

• An excuse to / time to codify -while evolving- 20+ years of frameworks, axioms, principles, ways of working/thinking.

• Staying flexible and empathetic across industries / work environments.

• High autonomy.

• Less responsibility (accountable to deliverables, but rarely the whole thing)

• No direct report admin; but miss mentoring/growing more junior talent (😔). Working at very senior levels at all times.

🤓

• Front seat to AI playing out for teams and leaders working in energy / infrastructure, pharma, creative services, tech, hospitality, business intelligence, advertising, peace, et al.

• Joining collectives of others “like me” to share tools and opportunities

😌

• Professional resilience in the face of deep uncertainty - I did it, I am doing it, I am capable.

• Getting creative about providing for my family.

• Living the life I’ve always wanted, but never imagined.

• Accepting that FTE roles will be more limited in the future - and that my “portfolio management” skills will pay off in the 2030s, 2040s, and 2050s.

• I am learning from and sharing what I know with others; we are creating resilience in our lives, our communities, our families.

• My daughter will likely have a career shaped more like this, good to understand it firsthand a bit myself.

—

All that said… how’s the unbundling of the white collar job going for you?