Rise of Portfolio Woman

IT USED to be so easy. When people asked me what I did, I simply said I was a columnist on The Times. These days, I'm a bit stumped. Do I say "radio presenter" or "writer" or "non-executive director" or "internet entrepreneur"? There is only one phrase that sums it all up: "portfolio woman".

And I am by no means alone. Increasing numbers of women my age have given up working full-time for one employer to lead a life that is more varied and more flexible.

While men wait until their late fifties to diversify, women are as likely to do it in their late forties, so they can guide their secondary school-aged children through the rigours of public exams and romantic entanglements.

I had spent 19 years of my life commuting from west London to Wapping and back, and most weekdays I was also doing a round trip from Wapping to the West End for lunch with politicians. By giving that up, I have gained two-and-a-half hours a day at a stroke. If I want to go to a school event during working hours, I simply put it in my diary. And in August, when my family decamped to Wiltshire for the month, I could join them without any arguments about whether working from home was acceptable. Freedom!

With freedom, though, comes insecurity. Where is the money to come from? I immediately started to live a lot more frugally. I now go everywhere by bus or Tube and wouldn't dream of taking a taxi. Funnily enough, I quite enjoy the challenge of saving money and anyway, in these straitened times, I am hardly alone in doing it.

Most portfolio women find a core part-time role mine was going to be writing a book about the then current mood of Britain. Trouble was, the mood changed so dramatically as the recession hit that my thesis became horribly outdated. So for now the book is on hold, though other ventures have replaced it: a chance to present Newshour, the World Service's news and current affairs programme, and an invitation to join 11 other columnists to launch a new website, The Browser, which should be up and running soon.

Around the core, like satellites, the PW usually tries to win a couple of non-executive directorships, which take up less time and are pro rata more lucrative. Most require a monthly board meeting, plus membership of a sub-committee. Private-sector boards do, of course, require knowledge and experience of business and are filled by headhunters, so you have to do the rounds. You must have done a senior executive job in a company or equivalent in my case, I had been a City editor and a Lex columnist, which gave me an understanding of business and the ability to read a balance sheet.

Public-sector non-executive directorships are usually advertised. It is a slow process: a year on, I have one directorship and am still looking for another. You have to be thick-skinned enough to put up with rejection and blithe enough to cope with the undoubted insecurity that comes with portfolio working.

So it isn't for the faint-hearted. If you fall sick, no one will pay your wages. On the other hand, in these recessionary times, at least we aren't worrying about being laid off.

The great advantages are variety and flexibility. For the easily bored, it's as bracing as jumping into the sea. That fantastic tingle you feel afterwards is with me still, more than a year after I first took the plunge. My husband loves seeing more of me, as do my children.

When I was researching this piece, one very grand and successful PW on the board of a FTSE 100 company apologised that she couldn't speak to me. "I am in Scotland, trying to catch salmon," she explained by email. On a Tuesday, in October. Go, girl!

Top tips for portfolio working

* Put yourself about. Visit headhunters.
* Think hard about the time commitment — each part-time job takes longer than you think.
* Don't be too snotty about taking up offers, particularly in a new field.
* Find an office away from home.
* Invest in a BlackBerry.

Elizabeth Hurley, 43
Portfolio: mother of six-year-old, Damian; spokesmodel for Estée Lauder; actress; designer and founder of beachwear company, Elizabeth Hurley Beach; pig farmer and organic food producer.
Once the consummate London socialite — making headlines for her relationships and her plunging necklines — Liz Hurley recently escaped to a farm in the Gloucestershire countryside with her husband, IT businessman Arun Nayar. She continues to run her fashion business from her new home, with plans to expand into menswear, and will launch a range of organic, low-fat food, produced on site — with an accompanying cookbook. Additional projects include designing swimwear for high street chain Mango and modelling contracts for the likes of Monsoon, Patrick Cox and Lancel.

Sarah Beeny, 36
Portfolio: mother of three children; partner in property development and investment company; TV presenter; founder of dating website www.mysingle friend.com; founder of property sales agency Completing Chains.
With a flourishing property business at just 24, which she set up with her brother and her partner (now husband), Sarah Beeny was already a success when Channel 4 approached her to present their show Property Ladder. Since then she has added business ventures (and children) to her portfolio. Her latest, Completing Chains, aims to inject life into the housing market by allowing the entire chain of buyers and estate agents to negotiate price reductions.

Baroness Morgan, 49
Portfolio: mother of two teenage children; adviser to the board of educational charity, ARK; non-executive director of Carphone Warehouse; non-executive director of Southern Cross Healthcare; board member of Olympic Delivery Authority.
In 2005, Sally Morgan packed in her Downing Street job as director of government and political relations, saying she wanted to spend more time with her children. She sought out a portfolio life instead and now enjoys a much more varied career. On top of her formal roles, she advises health companies, is involved with educational charities and helps JP Morgan recruit women into senior roles — and she takes Fridays off.

www.maryannsieghart.com