Stop waiting to be discovered: How to position yourself as the expert you already are

Your weekly guide to building a pro-passion, anti-hustle portfolio career

⏰ 60-SECOND TAKEAWAY

• One year post-corporate: How I survived the identity crisis that nearly broke me

• The positioning paralysis keeping you invisible (and the VOICE framework that fixes it)

• Why expecting to replace your corporate salary instantly is sabotaging your success

• Stop using ChatGPT like Google: Build your own GPTs instead

• This week's Human Design Q&A: MG struggling with "always on" LinkedIn pressure

• Announcement: I have opened up 2 spots for private mentorship in June / July, if you’re interested, book a call here

"I traded my fancy corporate title for a portfolio career. Terrifying? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely. Your corporate experience isn't baggage—it's your secret weapon."

💭 WHAT’S ON MY MIND

It's been a year since I left my Chief Product & Marketing Officer role at a UK startup to go all-in on my portfolio career. London to Melbourne, corporate to self-employed – a leap that still leaves my head spinning.

The truth is I've lost count of the times I've thought, "What the f*ck are you doing, Julie? Just get a 'real' job."

My identity was so wrapped up in my fancy title that without it, I felt naked. At networking events, "What do you do?" became my nemesis – suddenly, I was a 9-year-old pretending to belong among adults.

Despite running my business on the side since 2020, going full-time felt like cliff-diving into unknown waters. My worst fear was failing at something I loved and crawling back to corporate with my ego shattered.

Those first six months were a mindf*ck. I obsessively checked my bank account, compared myself to every similar-looking business owner, and flinched each time LinkedIn suggested jobs I could easily do. The universe kept asking, "How badly do you want this, girlfriend?"

There was no dramatic turning point – just daily micro-commitments to clients I loved serving. These tiny decisions compounded into a magical Q1 where I've built a community that my younger self would cry at in disbelief.

If you're still in your corporate job, hear this: You don't need the entire journey mapped out. Your corporate experience isn't baggage to escape – it's your secret weapon, your unfair advantage in building what's next.

That restless feeling inside is not wrong or ungrateful. It's your sacral center – your body's wisdom – telling you it's finally time to respond to what truly lights you up.

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🫣 INSIDE THE PORTFOLIO CAREER CLUB

Positioning yourself in the market: Why "closed mouths don't get fed" is a cliche for a reason.

During this week's Portfolio Career Club, we tackled strategic positioning – a challenge many members face despite their impressive corporate and entrepreneurial backgrounds.

The Paradox: While these portfolio careerists had masterfully positioned themselves within corporations, they froze when marketing themselves independently.

Key Positioning Blocks:

• Feeling pressured to maintain presence across ALL social platforms

• Taking an unfocused, scattered approach to visibility

• Underselling achievements in pitch opportunities

• Passive waiting vs. active self-promotion (yes, you can do this with integrity)

• Imposter syndrome in their expertise

The VOICE Method for Building Authority:

I've faced every one of these positioning blocks myself. When I first launched my portfolio career, industry 'experts' gave me a single piece of advice: create endless content and post constantly to get noticed. That didn’t work for me.

So I did what I always do, I tested and iterated different ways I could position myself and developed a framework that worked:

The V.O.I.C.E framework – a strategic approach that goes beyond content creation to establish genuine industry expertise.

1. Visibility: Focus on two key platforms with strategic content mix:

   • 50% expertise

   • 30% experience

   • 20% personal stories

2. Opportunities: Develop and pitch your signature talk

3. Industry Recognition: Actively pursue awards and recognition (use platforms like HARO, Qwoted, or use Perplexity to find podcasts where you could pitch to be a guest)

4. Content Systems: Create content systems that maximise reach

5. Expert Features: Craft an irresistible press kit

A Personal Note: In the corporate world, speaking opportunities often come through company reputation rather than personal brand. When I stepped out solo, I quickly learned that waiting for invitations wasn't a strategy – it was wishful thinking. The saying "closed mouths don't get fed" hit home. If I wanted opportunities, I had to actively create them. Now, I dedicate 2-5 hours weekly to strategic positioning, which has transformed my visibility and impact.

Your Turn: What expertise are you hiding while waiting for external validation?

Vulnerable share to my LinkedIn Community

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🤬 UNPOPULAR OPINION

Most portfolio careerists expect to immediately replace their multi-6-figure corporate salary the moment they make the leap, but this instant-success mindset is actually sabotaging their long-term financial potential.

Here's what the data shows:

According to LinkedIn, only 27% of professionals who left corporate roles replaced their salary within the first year. The Kauffman Foundation found the average new business takes 2-3 years to become profitable. Yet everyone's chasing "I left corporate and made $500K in my first year" stories, creating unrealistic pressure.

My personal experience:

My journey wasn't an overnight success – it was strategic preparation. For four years while still in my corporate role, I consistently built my personal brand, refined my services, and tested my messaging. This groundwork meant I had warm leads ready when I finally made the leap.

The first six months solo weren't easy. Despite my preparation, I questioned everything. But as I improved my delivery and scaled my offerings, growth accelerated. Now, a few years in, I've matched my corporate income, right on track with industry data.

Those years of relationship-building and proving expertise before the big exit helped me have a soft landing.

Why we're getting this wrong:

I feel like sometimes we forget that in corporate, we had entire marketing and sales teams bringing us opportunities. As a portfolio careerist, you are the marketing and sales department. Plus, we're treating corporate like a safety net instead of a launching pad for building our future audience.

Let’s get strategic:

• Start your personal brand 12-18 months before you leave - build thought leadership while financially secure

• Create your first income stream while employed - test your market

• Build relationships, not just followers - engage with future customers

Real results: One of my clients is a former retail executive who masterfully planned her exit. Before accepting her exit package, she built a robust pipeline of potential clients. The result? Within eight weeks of leaving, she landed her ideal client. Now she's just signed her second, all through strategic personal branding and relationship nurturing.

The unpopular truth: Your success isn't determined by how quickly you replace corporate income - it's determined by how strategically you build the foundation while you still have the safety net to do it right.

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🤖 AI TOOL SPOTLIGHT

Ensuring Women Portfolio Careerists Lead in AI Adoption

Each week, I'll share an AI tool, tip, or strategy specifically designed for portfolio careerists. This isn't just about tech, it's about ensuring women claim their rightful place in the AI revolution.

“61% of men report that generative AI substantially boosts their productivity in professional settings, only 41% of women feel the same benefit. This 20-point gap isn't just a statistic, it's an opportunity for us to change the narrative.”

This Week’s Insight:

Custom GPTs: The extension of YOU

While most of us use ChatGPT for generic queries, there's a much better use case: training AI on your specific business expertise. This creates a digital extension of your knowledge that works around the clock.

Why It Matters

As a portfolio careerist, your value lies in your unique expertise. Generic AI gives generic answers. But a custom GPT trained on your frameworks and success stories becomes a powerful clone of your knowledge.

Real-World Impact

My GPT Human Design Support Coach, trained on my 6P Framework and Human Design methodology, gives clients 24/7 access to personalised guidance. This frees our one-on-one sessions for high-value strategy work instead of basic concept reviews.

Quick Implementation Guide:

1. Collect your best content and frameworks

2. Document your communication style

3. Create your custom GPT (upload your docs, give examples and workflows, provide examples, FAQ’s, and client scenarios)

4. Develop specific use-case prompts

Key Benefit

A well-trained GPT maintains your authentic voice across different income streams and audiences, ensuring consistency while you focus on growth.

Resources:

• GPT Prompt Creator

• Build Your Custom GPT For Beginners

• Anything from BlazingZebra is amazing

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🙋🏻‍♀️ ANSWERING YOUR PORTFOLIO CAREER DESIGN QUESTIONS

Each week, I'll answer a Human Design question from a reader. Submit yours by replying to this email with "HD Question" in the subject line.

This week's question: "I'm a Manifesting Generator with a 2/4 profile working as a product manager with seed-stage startups. Everyone says I need to be constantly posting on LinkedIn to build my personal brand, but it feels exhausting and inauthentic. How can I build a strong personal brand without selling my soul to LinkedIn?"

My response: The "always on" LinkedIn approach isn't just draining for you - it's working against your 2/4 design.

Here's what's happening: As an MG, you're built to respond to what excites you and move quickly when something lights you up. But forced daily posting kills that natural responsiveness. Your Line 2 needs space to develop your natural product instincts, while your Line 4 thrives on genuine relationships, not broadcasting to everyone.

You're trying to initiate content instead of responding to your excitement about product challenges.

Try this instead:

Follow your MG energy. When you see a startup's product challenge that genuinely excites you, respond immediately with your insights. That natural enthusiasm will come through authentically.

Build when inspired. Use tools like Lovable's no-code app builder when you're excited about demonstrating a product concept. Your MG speed and multi-passionate nature make you perfect for rapid prototyping.

Inform as you go. As an MG, inform your network about what you're working on without asking permission. "Building a quick prototype to test this user onboarding theory" - that's content that flows from your natural process.

A quick note: Your 2/4 profile means you're meant to be found by the right founders when they need product help, not visible to everyone daily.

Your personal brand builds through following your genuine excitement about product problems and sharing that energy authentically.

This sustainable approach is exactly what my new course, Personal Brand Beyond The 9-5, will launch on July 1! Respond to this email if you want to be one of the first to know about the pre-sale!

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🤳🏼 THIS WEEK’S MEME

A meme from Neda Sahebelm's newsletter (a fellow Portfolio Careerist I admire) perfectly captures my entrepreneurial journey this year: soaring highs followed by crushing lows. But as we all know, this rollercoaster is simply part of building something meaningful. As my mentors say, it's the price of doing what you love.

Do you have a meme or image about work/careers that you love? Respond to this email, and I will share it in the next newsletter.

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⚡️ WHAT'S LIGHTING ME UP THIS WEEK

📚 Reading: “The God of the Woods” by Miz Moore. While I typically stick to educational non-fiction, I've switched to fiction for bedtime reading to help quiet my mind. Unfortunately, this thriller, though excellent, is doing anything but putting me to sleep!

🎙️ Listening: Music for writing, study, flow, and focus playlist by Zoe Foster Blake is perfect when I am getting into my deep work sprints, and I want something in the background that will not distract me.

🌀 Practice: Open Emotional centre decision delays – I've implemented a "24-hour rule" for any business decision that comes with an emotional charge. My open Emotional centre in Human Design amplifies other people's excitement, fear, or urgency around opportunities, making everything feel like an emergency. When someone presents a "limited time" offer or partnership, I now automatically respond: "This sounds interesting, let me sit with it overnight." Then I ask: "How do I feel about this when I'm alone and the emotional field has cleared?"

🧵Threads worth reading: I really loved this post by one of my fave online voices, Daisy Morris, in this thread she talks about why going offline is the thing to do this year for your mental health and how IRL is coming back! I wrote about this in last week’s newsletter.

💭 Question I'm sitting with: "What if professional networking was less about collecting contacts and more about finding your creative conspirators?" (This is reshaping how I think about community building vs audience building – curious how you approach connection!)

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And if you are looking for support to kickstart your portfolio career in 2025, here are some ways to work together:

• I have opened up 2 spots for private mentorship in June & July. Book a call here if you are interested.

• Register Your Interest for the September Portfolio Career Club Intake

• Get your Hyper-Personalised Human Design Career Insights Report: Personalised analysis revealing your innate work style and leadership potential, blending Human Design with strategic frameworks

• Check out my Portfolio Career Mentorship: Corporately-honed, consciously-led 1:1 portfolio career mentorship for visionary women (taking interest for June, 2 spots available)

• FREE Download: Guide on how to Kickstart Your Portfolio Career using Human Design, download here

• FREE Quiz: Find out your Portfolio Career Archetype here