“Dance won’t pay well. You should choose a real job.”
“There aren’t many jobs in the dance world, and it’s really hard to get into. You should have a backup plan.”
And my personal favorite: after I shared with my high school counselor that I planned to dance as long as I could and then go to law school, she jokingly replied, “That’s just what the world needs—more dancing lawyers.”
This was the well-meaning advice I got from most of the adults in my life during my final years of high school. I was recently reflecting on that advice, now with the hindsight of more than 20 years of making a living doing things I love, and I realized where it fell short for me.
Now, who is to say whether my teenage brain would have listened or heeded their advice anyway? But as an adult, I look back at that dreamy-eyed ballerina hopeful and want to tell her this instead:
“There are many ways to make an income that will allow dance to be a large part of your life. Getting a ‘job’ in a dance company is just one of them. Learn how to teach, choreograph, judge competitions, run your own business, sell your curriculum, invest in real estate, and make dance films.”
She would probably stare at me blankly, but I would also tell her about podcasts, freelance writing, short-form video, online courses, and all the other ways people now turn skills and ideas into income. And perhaps most importantly, you don’t have to do them or learn them all right now. Build a little at a time.
You see, my high school counselors couldn’t really predict my career path 20 years in advance, and not simply because I was interested in a less traditional industry. Much of the work I eventually got paid to do didn’t even exist in the early 2000s.
I’m not alone. There is a term for the kind of eclectic working life I’ve stumbled into: a portfolio career. Although it was coined in the early ’90s, the term was mostly used for job transition for older professionals, until now. In recent years, there has been a recent increase in the use of this term as well as an increase in the number of young people following this path to build livelihoods. In fact, Gen Z is projected to work 18 jobs across 6 careers in their lifetime. In a portfolio career, rather than relying on one job, one employer, or even one profession, a person builds a livelihood from multiple skills, roles, businesses, clients, investments, and income streams.
In my own experience, very few of the things I’ve been paid to do have been traditional W-2 employment with a salary and benefits. And yet, I’ve been able to pay the bills, save, invest, and, most importantly to that teenage ballerina, do a lot of dancing.
Nobody suggested any of this to me in high school. The general consensus seemed to be that passions that couldn’t provide well-paying employment needed to remain hobbies, and that the safest path to financial security was a college degree followed by a good W-2 job.
I realize now that when educators told me dance wasn’t a good career, what they really meant was that dance wasn’t good employment, and those are not the same thing. If someone had explained that distinction to me, they might have encouraged me to learn about taxes and tax strategy, bookkeeping, business licenses and business structures, multiple income streams, investing, marketing, sales, and how to develop other skills that could also produce income.
They might have taught me how to build a livelihood instead of simply helping me choose a job. And that is something I think about a lot now as both an educator and a parent. Because if we couldn’t accurately predict the jobs that would exist 20 years from now when I was in high school, we have even less reason to believe that we can do it for today’s kids.
AI is changing the landscape even faster, so I’m increasingly convinced that career preparation should be about helping kids construct a livelihood rather than merely selecting a career path. That requires a different set of skills, so here are some things I plan to focus on.
1. Learn to create value.
Every business is ultimately selling a solution to a problem or helping someone get a job done. When we buy something, we are essentially outsourcing a job to that thing or person. People who can recognize problems and create useful solutions will always have opportunities. You might solve a problem for an employer, a single client, or a whole group of customers, but learn how to offer your skills to others.
2. Be adaptable, and develop a variety of skills.
We need to teach kids that a career may be selected but a livelihood is constructed. This means your work might change over the course of your life, your skills may be valuable in a variety of settings, and your income streams may (and probably should) come from a variety of sources. Rather than finding “the thing” you want to do forever, become someone who can learn, adapt, notice opportunities, and figure out different ways to apply your skills and knowledge.
3. Become financially literate.
We need to question the notion that bi-weekly large paychecks equate to financial security. Without some understanding of taxes, investing, retirement accounts, interest, debt, loans, business structures, insurance, and cash flow, kids can’t understand that a large salary doesn’t always lead to wealth. We need to help them see the trade-offs between a $100,000 job and a $100,000 business, or a $60,000 job without debt versus a $100,000 job with high debt and 60-hour workweeks. Check out some of the personal finance curriculum resources offered here at the Foundation for Economic Education.
4. Develop agency.
I want kids to grow up believing that when the path in front of them doesn’t exist, they can build one. If there isn’t a job for the thing you’re good at, can you create one? If the business you want doesn’t exist, can you start it? If you can’t find a customer, can you learn how to reach one? If technology changes your industry, can you learn something new?
This isn’t to argue that everyone needs to be an entrepreneur, either. But I would like kids to understand that traditional employment is only one way or one part of constructing a livelihood. They are the CEO of their skillset, and I want to empower them to use a variety of opportunities to build the life they want to live.
