How to build a portfolio career by investing in relationship currency

How Julia Lynch Eckstein pivoted from consulting to career strategist, content creator, and the connector who knows everyone

Hi, I’m Hannah! Welcome to Nonlinear News, where I write for smart ambitious people forging nonlinear paths.

---

Julia Lynch Eckstein is the kind of person who, if you told her you were thinking about leaving consulting to do something that doesn’t map cleanly to a job title, would pull out her phone and connect you with three people before you finished your thought.

Julia and I met through following each other’s content on Instagram, and she was one of the first people who introduced me to the idea of a portfolio career.

She spent years in strategy consulting while building a career and personal branding strategy practice and a content platform with 160K+ followers. She left her consulting job in August 2024 to go all-in on her portfolio career.

Funny enough, we’re both (unofficially and officially) part of the Wharton community. Julia’s husband graduated with his MBA from Wharton a year ahead of me. Julia (who was very much part of Wharton student community during her two years in Philly) and I immediately bonded over how the cut-and-dry “MBA —> high-earning career success” path no longer exists. We both strongly believe that MBA programs need to catch up to the market—and not only teach students how to get a job, but build a portfolio career.

We got into how her career transition materialized, why she doesn’t call herself a coach, her concept of “relationship currency,” and what high achievers get wrong when they’re stuck.

If you’re thinking about building something on the side, curious about a portfolio career, looking to pivot, or just want to get better at networking — I think you’ll get a lot out of our conversation.

Following the herd (and realizing it wasn’t working)

Hannah: You went to NYU and then Kellogg, and then into strategy consulting. What were you initially looking for when you jumped into that path?

Julia: I was following the herd, honestly. I graduated from NYU and worked abroad in Asia for a year. I come from a family of lawyers. I’m actually the only non-lawyer in my family. The expected path was that Julia’s going to work abroad for a year and then go to law school.

I took the LSAT, scored well, but I just thought the content was so boring. I’ve always been really entrepreneurial, so I decided to go to business school and become a management consultant. You get so much business experience as a consultant, and it’s a great way to learn about businesses.

I ended up doing a Master of Management program at Kellogg. For any undergrad who’s not sure what they want to do and has a liberal arts degree, I highly recommend a program like this. The Kellogg program is now only open to current Northwestern students, but there are similar programs at Duke Fuqua and Michigan Ross. My undergrad was media, culture, and communication, so I needed some of that foundational business acumen. Coming out of the program, people either took the consulting path or the investment banking path. I figured slide decks were more aligned to my skillset than sitting in front of Excel all day. I never took calculus. Math was not my thing.

But from the beginning, consulting wasn’t aligned with my skill set. I felt like a paper pusher. I always felt like my strengths were really in brand strategy, people, communication. I was always the person people went to for career advice. Even when I was living in Asia, I was doing a little bit of that work with people who were much more senior to me.

What the pandemic changed

Hannah: When did you first start thinking about doing something beyond your day job?

Julia: During the pandemic, I was living in my parents’ basement like everyone. I was 27, single, coming home from work, watching Bravo, going on horrible dates. I just thought, I don’t think this is what your 20s should be like. I think I have more to give, and I don’t think consulting is for me.

So I started sharing on social media. Things I liked. I’m a big reader, I love listening to podcasts. I didn’t show my face at first, and I was just speaking to things I enjoyed. I had maybe 200 followers.

Then Covid hit and I said, this is an opportunity to give back. I was only working about 20 hours a week in consulting, so I had the bandwidth. I put it out to my 200 followers: if you’ve been laid off due to Covid, I will help you. I’ll do your resume. I’ll connect you to recruiters I know.

That turned into recruiting 65 volunteers. We were on national news. And then people started coming to me saying, “You’re really good at this. I’ve worked with executive coaches and career coaches before, but I want to pay you.”

It really turned from an act of service into a business, which is not the typical trajectory.

Balancing the day job with the thing you’re actually excited about

Hannah: There was quite a gap between when you started doing this on the side and when you went full time. How did you balance that?

Julia: Because I had a full-time job, there were natural limits on my time. But knowing there was something greater ahead of me, and feeling like day to day at my day job I was just kind of not over-performing, I got really excited about what I was doing for individuals and what I was sharing on social media.

I also felt that in consulting, I was no longer learning. And I think that’s the point where a lot of people feel like something needs to change. My advice would be: don’t let that feeling of “I’m not learning” persist for a long time, because your career is only so long and things accelerate very quickly. It’s easy to get trapped in patterns where you’re just clocking in and clocking out.

I’m not a parent, and I know you’re not either. I personally feel like these precious years before you have kids, you should be going to bed exhausted. I’m in this data collection year, speaking to people who run businesses or are really successful women in my network who do have kids. And you have natural limits on your time once that happens. So if you’re reading this and you don’t have kids, this should be your time to be exploring, doing, thinking before you have those limits.

Hannah: I really like that perspective. It’s stepping out from your day-to-day and looking at it with a different lens.

Building the portfolio career (and not picking one lane)

Hannah: You started posting on social media initially to feed your curiosity and share things you were learning. Then during Covid it evolved to career coaching. Now you also do personal brand strategy. Did all of those things develop naturally?

Julia: All the things I do dovetail really naturally together. Each pillar of my portfolio career informs the others and makes me better at each one.

Instagram and social media, yes, it’s a way for me to reach people I might not ever interact with one to one. But it’s also allowed me to build a network and friendships with people who I’m naturally aligned with and intellectually curious about. I was really looking for that when I started posting, because all of my friends were in relationships and my social life changed overnight. I almost created my own friendship circle from Instagram.

I have people I’ve met through Instagram that I’ve never met in person, who I consider dear friends, who we’ve helped each other immensely with our businesses. So if someone is looking to start a content presence, I’d say it’s not only for the views. It’s for the depth of relationships you’re going to get out of it. Relationship currency is core to everything I do, and it’s something people don’t talk about enough as a creator.

Your network is your job insurance

Hannah: I love that term, relationship currency. How do you define that?

Julia: I really believe your network is your job insurance. We have medical insurance, right? If I got hit by a car tomorrow, I’d have the fallback that my hospital bills would be covered. But a lot of people don’t think about their network the same way. It’s just, “Oh, this is something I have to do if I’m laid off or want to change careers.”

It should always be an undercurrent to what you’re doing. Layoffs are uncertain. AI is changing the way we work. Thinking of relationship currency, I really think of it as: if my business went away tomorrow, God forbid, would I have relationships and people who trust my expertise, where I could start from zero? Whether you’re an entrepreneur or in corporate, that same mindset should apply.

Letting go of prestige

Hannah: You went from management consultant to career coach, personal branding, content creation. Consulting is something a lot of people really aspire to. How did you step out of that prestigious position?

Julia: It was something I really struggled with. Even meeting some of my husband’s Wharton classmates, many of them didn’t know I had this business. Because those spaces are very much about your McKinsey, your Bain, your BCG. Those are the measures.

But ultimately I had to get over it and realize I was bored. I was never going to be a top 1% management consultant. Your career should be about optimizing for your God-given natural abilities. Mine are not sitting in front of decks, moving something 1 millimeter to the right, sitting in front of Excel.

A lot of people are wedded to “this is the path that should make me a lot of money.” But if you take a step back and think about what skills you have, you might not have that title, but you’re going to have more financial stability, more money, everything. A lot of career stuff is about perception. “I don’t want to move to this startup because I’ve had five amazing brands on my resume.” Well, ultimately, you’re the architect of that. If you want to live a specific life, you kind of have to let go of what people think of you.

I’ve talked to partners in consulting and managing directors in investment banking who wish they took risks earlier. That small AI startup, a completely different industry, entrepreneurship through acquisition. But they didn’t because they were wedded to that perception.

Not your typical career coach

Hannah: What drew you to career coaching specifically? I think something interesting about your branding is that you’re a very different type of coach - most people in consulting and finance don’t have the best perception of career coaches. How did you think about that when you started?

Julia: I don’t even like calling myself a coach because it’s kind of schlocky. It’s the same kind of label as “recruiter.” What I find in the career coaching space is that a lot of coaches operate more like therapists. My mom is a therapist, and of course there is a time and place for that. But there’s a missing piece: who are the individuals who can understand your skill set, map out your life goals, figure out where you operate in the top 1%, and help you activate your own network and social capital?

I call myself a career and personal brand strategist, because when you’re thinking about the next stage of your career, your personal brand is embedded in that.

My approach to clients is networking and storytelling. I won’t take on a client if I’m not comfortable introducing them to someone in my network and saying, “Hannah, this individual is going to add value to you. This person would be a value add for the role your startup is hiring for.” That’s very different from coaches who work with people in isolation.

A lot of my clients have gotten jobs through connections I’ve made for them. I don’t sell myself as a recruiter. But I say that when you exit our relationship, you’re not only going to have a stronger approach to networking and storytelling, you’re going to have core relationships you can bring into this next chapter. No one else really takes that approach.

What people get wrong about networking

Hannah: For a lot of people, when they hear networking, they think it’s gross and transactional. What do you think they’re getting wrong?

Julia: Networking is not always going to be an even value exchange. You might be a student trying to network with someone three levels senior. What’s a piece of value you can bring? Look at their LinkedIn. Maybe they’re into sports. Maybe they’re a restaurant fan. Recommend a restaurant you went to. Say, “I just graduated from college. Are you doing any research around Gen Z?” There are creative ways to position yourself as someone of value versus just thinking, “I’m not on the same plane as this person, so I’m intimidated.”

The other thing is follow-up and follow-through. I’ve talked to many senior leaders who have this “great little black book” but only reach out when they need something. They’re not making those relationships personal. They’re not following up and adding value at every turn.

If you can give something without the expectation of receiving, that’s when things come back to you. That’s how your career really grows.

On the 2026 job market and being “risk on”

Hannah: You work with a lot of high-achieving people. What would you say is the most important thing people need to understand about the job market right now?

Julia: Number one: be visible. I’m not saying become a content creator. But post on LinkedIn once a month. Go to a networking event. Meet individuals. Get some fresh blood in your life. Foster relationships externally as well as internally.

Also, the levers of wealth building are changing. The traditional consulting and investment banking paths, those are still paths to wealth, but have those salaries kept up with inflation? Absolutely not. So think about where people are earning a lot and whether you’re okay taking a risk.

In your career, with great risk comes great reward. If someone is 27, doesn’t have kids, and wants to make a big career shift, that’s the time to take a bet on a startup where they can really supercharge their skill set. That’s the time to move to a different city or do a boot camp in a new industry with growth potential.

Think of your career like an investment portfolio. At our age, we’re risk on. When we’re 60, we’re going to have the most boring portfolio of all time. If you think of yourself as a product and align your career the same way, you’re going to achieve success.

If you’re stuck and not sure what’s next

Hannah: For someone who’s a high achiever, willing to be risk on, but feeling stuck and not even sure what that next step would be, what would be your advice?

Julia: Do an accounting of your expenses. What does it take you to live? What is your lowest operating cost?

Then think about who in your life is thriving. Approach them and be vulnerable about your career ambitions and how they got to where they are. Applying for jobs is one thing, but collecting data from people who already trust you and know your skill set is ultimately going to open doors. Network with your close circle first, then expand to people outside of that who are willing to take a bet on your social currency and have a conversation with you.

---

Subscribe to Career Confessionals

If you’re curious about high-paying, non-conventional careers, Julia recently launched a Substack series called Career Confessionals. It spotlights professionals under 45 earning $250K+ in niche careers…and gives you a roadmap to replicate that same path for yourself. It is one of the few Substacks I pay for (and it’s worth every penny of the $5/month). I LOVED the first one about a meth addict turned millionaire 👀

Connect with Julia on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn!

• Director, Operations Strategy – Create (Consumer Health & Wellness, Startup, NY)

• BizOps – Salient (Fintech, Series A, SF)

• Analyst/Associate – Equal Ventures (Venture Capital, Early Stage, NY)

• Content Engineer – Virio (Technology, Startup, SF)

• Senior Strategy & Operations Associate, Growth Strategy – Lyra Health (Mental Health, Growth Stage, Remote)

• Chief of Staff – Superpower (Healthtech, Series A, SF)

• Strategy Lead, Global Membership – Uber One (Rideshare, Public Company, Hybrid - NY/SF)

• Chief of Staff – Stealth (Startup, NYC/Remote)

• Operations – Relay (Fintech, Growth Stage)

• Founding Growth Associate – Plot (Software, Seed Stage, NY)

• Product Finance & Strategy Manager – Nextdoor (Social Network, Public Company, Hybrid - SF)

• Strategy & Operations, Enterprise Business Partner – Anthropic (AI, Late Stage, Hybrid - SF/NY)

• Chief of Staff to CEO – Ashaki (Fashion & Media, Startup, SF)

• How to build a profitable personal brand in 30 days

• The Brand Age (Paul Graham)

• Labor market impacts of AI (Anthropic)

• Forum: B2B startup accelerator for idea-stage founders

• ❓Take my career exit quiz

• cool jobs for ambitious nonlinears (updated ~weekly)

• my resources

Find me on: Instagram, Linkedin, Tiktok, Youtube