When I left my corporate product marketing job, I thought I was done with marketing. I pivoted into planning events and retreats, launched my first cohort to help women start their pivot, and took on new coaching clients.

I think I was jaded from the seemingly endless reviews, decks I created to align on a decision, and politics of trying to please the people in power.

But as I ventured into building my portfolio career, I realized that what I really missed was the creative part, where I could come up with ideas, experiment, and see what happened.

A year+ into building my portfolio career, I wanted to share a breakdown (ever-changing!), including how I spend my time, where my leads are coming from, and how my view on marketing has changed from a year ago.

Fractional Client Work: ~15 hours/week
I’m working as a fractional marketer with an AI startup. It’s a mix of meetings and heads down work, like product messaging, competitive research, campaign planning, and more.

Coaching Client Work: ~8 hours/month
I have 1:1 clients I meet with bi-weekly, and I also use voice notes/text to keep momentum or share updates between sessions. I intentionally only want to have a few clients at a time, so I can over deliver and figure out what’s resonating.

Marketing & Content: ~10-15 hours/week
This is where I spend a majority of my time. Most of the time is centered around my weekly newsletter and the rest is spent on creating content on LinkedIn or reviewing my Virtual Assistant’s posts that are repurposed from my newsletter.

Usually LinkedIn posts take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to write, depending on how in-depth I’m going and how perfectionist I’m being 😆

Sometimes I am working on additional pieces of content, e.g. a free workshop, so this can vary from week to week.

Sales & Networking: ~10 hours/month:
This includes virtual and IRL networking through coffee chats or Sales calls. Depending on my capacity, I’ll agree to more coffee chats but when I’m busier, I’ll either schedule these out farther or share a link to my career strategy call, if applicable.

Learning: ~5 hours/week
I’m currently undergoing a coaching certification with iPEC, and it includes a mix of weekly webinars and hands-on coaching training where I coach others. This has been taking up more time that I originally thought!

Admin: ~20 hours/month
This is my catch all for anything else I need to do. This includes tracking my receipts, managing my calendar, responding to messages/emails, and anything else!

As you can see, about 50% of my leads come from LinkedIn. This makes sense as it’s my priority channel and where I spend my time creating top-of-funnel content.

The second biggest bucket is people from my existing network: mutual connections, people I went to high school or college with, former colleagues. What surprised me is how many of them reached out because something I shared online resonated with them. It wasn't the relationship alone—it was because I was sharing consistently.

During my first year, I didn’t really have a marketing strategy. I was experimenting and trying new things. I talked about whatever I wanted and leaned into authenticity and transparency through personal storytelling.

And, I actually recommend doing this when you’re first starting out.

Now, I’m starting to think more strategically about who I’m trying to reach and what I have to say. While I’ll always share transparent content (like this newsletter), I’ve also started to share my POV (like this and this).

In 2024, I was at level 0—hardly posting and nervous about what other people would think. Now, I’m finally getting into Level 3. While I know I can improve, I’ve established a good rhythm and what I need to focus on each week.

Level 0: Invisible
You haven't really started yet. Maybe you're waiting to feel ready, waiting until your website is perfect, or waiting for some sign that it's time. Your marketing exists mostly in your head.

Level 1: Experimenting
You're posting here and there. Trying things. Some weeks you're on it, other weeks you go totally quiet. You haven't committed to a channel yet because you're not sure which one is "right."

Level 2: Building
You've found 1-2 channels that feel natural and you're showing up more consistently. You're starting to get traction—people are reaching out, referrals are trickling in. But it still feels effortful, and you're not totally sure what's working or why. You're doing the thing, but you don't have a system yet.

Level 3: Flowing
You have a simple rhythm that fits your life, leads come to you, and the clients you attract are already aligned before you even get on a call. You're not everywhere. You're just really present in the right places.

You don't need a perfect strategy. You need to pick something, pay attention, and keep going long enough to learn what works for you. Marketing, like building a portfolio career, requires a step-by-step approach. Once you feel confident in one area, then you can tackle the next.

What marketing “level” are you at right now? Where would you like to be 6 months from now? Hit reply and tell me! I read every single one.

P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, I’m sharing more behind-the-scenes examples of my marketing strategy during my free workshop with Maven this week. Sign up here →

Last week in London, this week in Mexico City! 🇲🇽

When I travel, I like to live like a local and keep a fairly similar routine to what I do at home. This means working from home occasionally, heading into a coffee shop on some days, and attending events!

I went to a networking event I found on Luma on Friday, and I was so nervous because I don’t speak Spanish fluently. I decided to go anyways (because why not!) and felt proud that I was able to understand most of the presentation but more so because I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone.

If you’ve got this far, I encourage you to try something this week that pushes you out of your comfort zone too 🙂

Nos vemos pronto,
Maggie

Reimagine 1:1 Coaching
Reimagine is a highly personalized 1:1 coaching program for multi-passionate women ready to build their portfolio career. Book a free career strategy call with me to learn more.

Unblock Strategy Sprint
Get 60 minutes of strategic support on Zoom, personalized strengths mapping with an Enneagram assessment, and 2 weeks of async support to help unblock your goals and come up with a concrete action plan.