What if career success didn’t mean climbing higher - but choosing how you spend your time?

In this episode of Play It by Your Rules, I sit down with Ani Filipova - former Citi COO turned portfolio career strategist - to unpack what it really means to step off the traditional career ladder and design a working life that fits your priorities.

Ani shares how she intentionally moved away from a single, full-time corporate role - not to work less, but to work differently: with more autonomy, flexibility, and control over where her time and energy go. For her, a portfolio career isn’t about chaos or juggling - it’s about choice.

We explore what portfolio careers look like in practice, who they’re for, and why they’re becoming a powerful alternative for experienced professionals who want freedom without starting from scratch.

• Why portfolio careers unlock freedom - especially around how, when, and with whom you work

• What Ani carried from corporate into her portfolio - and what she consciously left behind

• How she defines a portfolio career (and why it’s not just for entrepreneurs)

• Fractional work: what it is - and why it’s still emerging in places like Switzerland

• The mindset shift from “one role” to “multiple value streams”

• Why experimenting before quitting is smarter than making a clean break

• Audit how you spend your time - freedom starts with awareness

• Run small experiments (projects, advisory roles, fractional work) before committing

• Design your portfolio around energy and values, not just income streams

This episode is for anyone who feels successful on paper - but constrained in real life - and wants more freedom over their time without burning everything down.

🔗 Follow Ani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anifilipova/

🌱 Change Is Possible Community: https://changeispossible.co.uk/

🚀 Portfolio Career Accelerator: https://simplebooklet.com/portfolio_career_accelerator#page=1

🎧 Listen to Ani’s podcast: Change Is Possible Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ChangeIsPossiblePodcast

Your life. Your rules. For more freedom, flow, and fun.