In partnership with

Welcome back to the Launch Key 🚀

This week’s reminder is that there is no perfect career path. But there are plenty of options to make your own career portfolio far more interesting.

Let's get into it.

• Gmail users may wish to read online since some parts may be clipped.

• Comment below and let me know if we’re on the right track.

Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

  • Dean Otto

  • Tom Hewitt

  • Chris Jones

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

We all have a career portfolio – whether we call it that or not.

More likely, we took steps along what we were told was a career path. And it probably had a lot more steps than we thought.

Experts predict that Gen Z will average 15 employers during their careers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that even late Boomers like me (born 1957-64) average 12 employers.

It’s how we blend that work experience together with our interests and talents that create real portfolio differentiation.

Experts share tips for building your portfolio and highlighting it in your job search. College counselors teach younger workers how to showcase theirs.

I say use your career portfolio to start something new.

Here are just 3 examples of Launch Key subscribers who have effectively colored outside the lines.

Dean Otto

Dean Otto is the rare exception who did have a defining moment.

And in the depths of his devastating accident, he defined forgiveness and grace that propelled him toward completely new audiences.

It started with three lives forever intertwined. Dean’s life changed in an unimaginable accident, with a 98% chance of permanent paralysis. But he handed it all to God and chose hope and forgiveness. The driver of the truck and the doctor who healed him became part of his remarkable journey.

Stryker - the medical technology company - was so moved by his story that they asked him to speak at a corporate meeting.

That led to a number of public speaking opportunities. What started as a way to raise funding for spinal cord injuries has become a full fledged calling.

Dean’s career portfolio today includes a book  and speaking engagements around the country sharing his story. In fact, his story has become the main character in his career portfolio as he quit his day job to inspire others.

No one wants their defining moment to be a 2% chance to walk again. But Dean Otto did exactly that.

And if your group needs a motivational speaker, you won’t find a more genuine one.

Belief beats the odds.

Tom Hewitt

Tom Hewitt : Leadership | Marketing | HR | Training & Development

Tom is a corporate marketing pro who leveraged his business acumen first into a completely different industry and later into a whole host of other corporate disciplines. In the past he led strategy and digital integration at some of Charlotte’s largest names: First Union, Duke Energy, Red Ventures, Wells Fargo and TIAA.

Then he took a turn no one but he saw coming – as Director of Marketing for Octapharma Plasma.

An industry not known for strategic marketing.

Tom’s insight as a business guy with marketing skills, has opened up all types of leadership roles for him because he’s competent - and it stands out to everyone in the company.

With success comes opportunity. And Tom’s portfolio has multiplied as a result.

Tom has worked his way into leadership of Marketing, Human Resources, Learning & Development, Recruiting and internal and external Communications. All for a $1.4b company with more than 6,500 US employees.

Pretty incredible career portfolio additions.

But it all started with the ability to see possibilities in an industry not known for them.

Chris Jones

Chris Jones spent two-and-a-half decades creating and implementing advertising, marketing, and digital strategies for some of the largest consumer brands in America; names like Baskin-Robbins, Coca-Cola, Dunkin’ Donuts, Ernst & Young, FedEx, Levi's, MTV, National Grid, PWC ,7-Eleven, Taco Bell, Tyco, and Wells Fargo. His ideas, designs, developments, and implementations created millions of dollars of value as digital customers interacted with his work.

But on the weekends, he sailed. On a 40+ foot sailboat out of Southport, NC. Nobody has a cooler hobby.

And it was out there that he built a better mousetrap. Chris didn’t love any of the available Bloody Mary mixes, so he tested recipes while he was on the boat. He wanted to create something easy drinking, lighter that worked in hot temperatures. His solution became the non-digital product – Shipyard Mary.

Friends who visited loved it. They asked for the recipe. They said they’d buy it. He edited and improved until he created his first small batch of bottles. And that recipe success, gave him a reason to use his skills to build the rest of the brand.

Chris created the story, messaging, and visual identity depicting the coastal elements he loved as a North Carolinian and a sailor. His eastern NC family tree crossed paths with legendary blockade running ships and that theme is strongly visible on the label.

Chris had his product recipe evaluated by NC State’s Agriculture Department, sought production process recommendations, and fine-tuned necessary activities. Earlier this year, Shipyard Mary was admitted into the GotToBeNC program, promoting North Carolina-based products. Now, he works with his local bottler to handle production needs, prebuild inventory levels, and prepare for future order scale.

Despite having a digital career, Chris focused on old school in-person sales effort to launch his new brand. He gave away hundreds of samples as he talked to potential customers. I caught up with him this summer at a weekly Southport waterfront market building local awareness. Everyone who tasted it loved it.

Chris worked down the coast, introducing the product one shop at a time. Customers loved the product, the brand story and his personal touch. Today Chris has a rapidly growing network of more than 20 locations selling Shipyard Mary in the Carolinas.

He also has a handful of restaurants from the coast to the North Carolina mountains starting to carry his mix. With direct-to-consumer sales growing, buyers can also purchase Shipyard Mary online or connect on Instagram and Meta.

There you have it.

3 completely different career portfolios - each unique to their owner.

What are the most interesting parts of your portfolio? And what could they turn into?

Now go launch something 🚀 

Invest right from your couch

Have you always been kind of interested in investing but found it too intimidating (or just plain boring)? Yeah, we get it. Luckily, today’s brokers are a little less Wall Street and much more accessible. Online stockbrokers provide a much more user-friendly experience to buy and sell stocks—right from your couch. Money.com put together a list of the Best Online Stock Brokers to help you open your first account. Check it out!

Start investing

Go from AI overwhelmed to AI savvy professional

AI will eliminate 300 million jobs in the next 5 years.

Yours doesn't have to be one of them.

Here's how to future-proof your career:

• Join the Superhuman AI newsletter - read by 1M+ professionals

• Learn AI skills in 3 mins a day

• Become the AI expert on your team

Start learning AI now

Recommendations

💼 Thriving Freelance - Gigs and Growth : Hundreds of job opportunities sent directly to your inbox each week, plus timely resources to support you as you grow and evolve.

📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

🗃️ Dealroom Business Success Uncovered : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business. Join a community of 2,000+ innovators.

🎓️ Daily MBA : Compound Your Knowledge. Join the free Daily MBA community to start receiving daily, 5 minute lessons in Strategy, Finance, Marketing and more.

Visual Crapshoot