Creating your own portfolio career for greater flexibility (Ep16)

Pia Turcinov has been managing the juggle for over 20 years. Her career journey has led her to managing a portfolio career, through which she has several roles across different industries. Pia joins us today to share her reflections on her journey and give us her insights as to how we can go about establishing a portfolio career for ourselves.   Pia describes a portfolio career as “using a variety of very interconnected skillsets to service a multitude of different projects.”  Her own portfolio career enables her to keep her “creative juices” flowing while also giving her the flexibility to choose how she spends her time. Pia’s most important advice for anyone wishing to create a portfolio career is to “skill, re-skill and upskill constantly”, advice that she says should flow on to our children as we should educate them to think more about their skills and less about what they want to be “when they grow up”.  On the home front, Pia talks candidly about the importance of clear communication with her spouse and the misnomer that is ‘work life balance’. She also shares her view that balanced parental responsibility comes not from “luck” but rather from honest conversations about what each partner wants and needs out of life. In order to turn these plans into reality Pia shares her key practical tips including:  Having a shared family calendar so that all people in the family, spouse and kids, know what each other is doing at all times (within reason of course!);  The need to educate our children that it is not just mum who makes the decisions for the family, and that it is OK for them to ask questions of the other “parental unit”;  The need to have whole family conversations about important matters so that children are included and engaged, and respectful of your desire/need to work;  Learning to let go and realise that you aren’t going to be the “perfect mum” and that is OK.  You can find out more about Pia’s new business venture, Build In Common on Facebook and Instagram and Women In Technology WA on their website. If you haven’t already, make sure you join our Facebook community full of like-minded women who are managing their own juggle.