That’s the author blurb I had to write for this novel project. The more casual version is this: I’ve always had a handful of projects going on at once, from businesses to parties to causes I’m rallying people around.

My winding string of projects began in 2008. As a budding wedding photographer, I decided to host a fake wedding as a way to advertise my photography business. We gathered wedding vendors (a DJ! a baker! a dress designer!) and invited engaged couples to attend as guests, and a married couple renewed their vows in what we called The NotWedding. I then spent the next decade of my life hosting fake weddings across the country (we rebranded to The Big Fake Wedding), growing a team and working with hundreds of wedding vendors and thousands of couples each year.

I sold that business in 2016 and spent the next few years supporting other founders via my work at Plywood People and The Knot’s (now Talkspace’s) marriage counseling app, Lasting. In 2019, I started taking on my own grassroots marketing clients, and I ended up joining one of those clients as a partner in his fractional HR business Same Page HR. This is now where I spend the bulk of my work hours, although I still occasionally take on a grassroots project (previously, King of Pops, South Dwntn, Georgia Pecans, and TrekAI).

I’ve had other endeavors throughout the years that I would consider projects, too: multiple house renovations, a neighborhood email called Young Norcross, a monthly small group discussion at our home, turning our dining room into the tacky Murray Christmas bar each December…

And my biggest project to date is in the works: a historical fiction novel I just wrote called The Brunswick. I’m in the beta reader phase with that now!

I tell you all of this because I wonder if you might be a project person too. Have you started businesses, side gigs, or life-giving endeavors? Are you constantly rallying people around your next thing? Here, I’m writing to you, sharing resources and stories from both my experience and that of other project persons I know.

I believe portfolio careers will soon replace corporate ladders, and if we are intentional in how we invest our talents and capacity, we can make both a living and an impact—and actually really enjoy the process.