The Portfolio Career: Finally a Name for What We've Been Saying All Along

Let me be honest with you — I have been telling people to diversify their income for years. Multiple streams of income. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Build something on the side. You've heard it. I've said it. Probably too many times to count.
 
But here's what was always missing: a name for it.
 
That changed when I came across a blog post by Morgan DeBaun — founder of Blavity, Travel Noire, AfroTech, and a handful of other ventures — where she talked about something called a portfolio career. And I'll be honest, my first reaction was “what the heck is that?” So, I did what any curious person does: I kept reading.
 
Turns out, a portfolio career is exactly what I've been talking about all along. It just finally has a label.
 
What Is a Portfolio Career, exactly?
 
A portfolio career is when you intentionally build multiple streams of income rather than depending on one source to carry you. Think of it the way a financial advisor thinks about an investment portfolio — you don't put everything into one stock. You spread it out so that if one thing dips, the others hold you up.
 
In practice, a portfolio career might look like this: you have your main job — your salary or hourly income — and on the side, you're running a business or a hustle. You've got some investments generating dividends. Maybe you're an affiliate for a brand you actually use and believe in, pulling in some passive income there. Perhaps you're a brand ambassador for a company in your industry. Each of these things, stacked together, makes up your financial picture.
 
Morgan DeBaun reportedly has nine income streams. Nine. So, if one dries up — a business underperforms, a contract ends, a market shifts — she still has eight other sources keeping her afloat. That's not luck. That's architecture. She built herself an insurance policy, and the portfolio career is the blueprint.
 
Isn't That Just Having a Bunch of Side Hustles?
 
I knew someone was going to say that, because someone actually did when I responded to their post on portfolio careers. A young woman pushed back on the whole portfolio career concept, arguing it was really just glorified side-hustle culture — and therefore not something she could get behind.
 
I hear that. And honestly? She's not entirely wrong. Multiple side hustles can be part of a portfolio career. A serial entrepreneur juggling three different ventures is technically living that portfolio life. But I don't think that's the whole picture.
 
The more evolved version of a portfolio career is a smart mix of active and passive income. Not just grinding at five different jobs simultaneously but building income streams that don't all require the same amount of your time and energy. Passive income — dividends, affiliates, royalties — can work while you sleep. That's the part that makes the portfolio career genuinely sustainable, not just exhausting.
 
That said, I want to be clear about something: there is nothing wrong with having multiple side hustles if that's what works for you. Some people are wired for it. They have the energy, the passion, the drive to be doing three things at once and loving every minute of it. I'm not here to tell those people they're doing it wrong.
 
We have to stop acting like there's only one path to success. There isn't. Two things can be true at once: you can thrive with multiple hustles, and you can thrive with one focused income stream. Both are valid. What matters is that you are not depleted, not overstretched, and not one bad month away from financial disaster.
 
You Don't Have to Leave Your Lane
 
Here's what I find most exciting about the portfolio career concept — and what I think gets overlooked in the conversation: you don't have to abandon your industry to diversify your income within it.

Take a photographer. You shoot weddings, birthday parties, corporate events. That's your bread and butter. But what else can you do inside that same lane? You could coach aspiring photographers who want to start their own business. You could consult. You could partner with a camera equipment brand and become their ambassador — earning income by talking about tools you already use anyway. That's not spreading yourself thin across random industries. That's working smarter within the world you already know.
 
I went through this same evolution in my own publishing business. For a long time, I was solely focused on selling books. I'm published, I'm an author, that's the plan. But then I realized I'd gotten good enough at book publishing that I could teach it. So, I added self-publishing coaching. Now I'm building out blogging coaching for authors who want to grow an audience before their book drops. Same industry. Multiple revenue lines.
 
That's the move. Ask yourself: what else can I offer inside the thing I'm already good at?
 
The Economy Isn't Giving Us a Choice
 
I'll be direct here. In this economic climate, relying on a single stream of income is a risk most of us can't afford to take. The market is unstable. AI is reshaping industries faster than people can pivot. Companies are downsizing. Demand for skills that seemed ironclad five years ago is evaporating.
 
The people who are going to be okay are the ones who didn't wait for a disruption to force their hand. They're the ones who built a second door — or a third — before they ever needed to use it.
 
We're back in a Renaissance era, in a way. The idea of being one thing and only one thing is starting to feel less like focus and more like fragility. Being a photographer who also consults, coaches, and does brand partnerships isn't scattered — it's resilient.
 
And yes, if you start dipping into three or four completely different industries with no overlap, that can lead to burnout. I've seen it. But staying in your wheelhouse while expanding what you offer within it? That's not overextending. That's just smart.
 
What If You Need to Build a New Skill First?
 
Sometimes building a portfolio career means you need to grow before you can diversify. And that growth doesn't always have to come from going back to school.
 
I'll be transparent: I'm personally exploring getting a doctorate right now. I'm choosing a field where I know the credential will open doors and create real opportunities — including the possibility of being a free agent in my industry. A doctorate, in the right field, is its own income-diversifying move.
 
But I also know that not everyone wants — or can afford — to take on more student loan debt. And that's a completely reasonable position. School doesn't come with a guarantee. You can spend years and tens of thousands of dollars and still find yourself in a market that doesn't reward what you studied.
 
That's where mentorship becomes a serious alternative worth considering. Not as a lesser option, but as a different one. Mentorship is essentially private tutoring — instead of sitting in a classroom with 30 other people, you're getting focused, one-on-one guidance from someone who has already walked the road you're trying to walk. They help you get to the finish line faster, with less wasted time and money. In some fields, like medical coding, you don't need a degree at all — but having a mentor who's been through the process can shave significant time off your certification journey and get you earning sooner.
 
 The Bottom Line
 
Portfolio careers aren't a trend or a buzzword. They're a long-overdue framework for something savvy people have been doing quietly for decades. The name just makes it easier to talk about, easier to plan for, and easier to commit to.
 
The question isn't really is a portfolio career a good or bad thing? It just depends on the person, as most things do. The better question is what would your version of a portfolio career look like?
 
What can you add — inside your existing field, inside your existing expertise — that creates another door? What partnerships make sense? What skills do you have that someone else would pay to learn from you?
 
Start there. The architecture builds itself once you ask the right questions.

This is an AI generated blog post from our live on Substack.