Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Commute? 9 to 5? Pfffff!! No, Grazie!

Their professions? Many.

Their ways of working? Endless.

What do they have in common? Inner strength and the grace to know how to face the good and the bad that comes with total freedom.

If you're an Expat living your life how you want to live your life, where you want to live your life, then you probably work for yourself. It's a challenge, yes, but everything worth doing in life will be challenging, it will never be perfect, and it will require discipline and hard work. I understand that clearly. To me, the rewards are priceless but what has been greater is the comfort and happiness that I take from my days! Why didn't I do this sooner?

This field and my clients have been very kind to me. It might be due to the fact that there are very few Italian to English translators in the US, and even fewer who work with European companies from the US. Yes, I received a warm welcome into this profession. But working for ourselves is a learning process, and we still make mistakes.

Today I found a great article about the top 10 mistakes freelancers make and it reminded me so much of what Julia's said, because it mirrors what many of us also go through. Julia is not a translator, but she is a freelancer living in Italy and she wrote a post about how much she has grown professionally over the last decade. Oh, trust me! Every day clients ask me to quote on projects, and I can relate! I've been learning to defend my work, but it definitely comes with practice.

The top 10 mistakes made include "Charging too little" and "Choosing the wrong clients", but what I liked the best was the last one:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Failing to be yourself!
"Often we take work because we need the income,
but it doesn’t align with who we are. And we feel awful about it,
and slowly we begin to hate ourselves. Until we no longer want to do
the work. How to avoid:" Well, for the rest of the article go =>
here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Definitely. I've learned not to do that to myself! It took so much research and training to be able to do this well and to finally take control of my life that I chose to do what works for me. How? By opening my horizons, working with good clients and shooooing away negativity.

I cannot emphasize enough to others how important it is to listen to your gut feeling! Listen to yourself! Honestly, if something is giving you a bad feeling, then find out why and what you can do to change it, even if it's how you deal with it... life's too precious to ignore yourself.

It took time, but I finally opened my own path and it's very enjoyable to walk down a path when you chose it, when you opened it for your self. This is my own path :)



Meanwhile, since I work my own hours at home, I like to go out to get fresh air each morning. I find it soothing. But that means that most people are either at work or in school, so I find myself surrounded by moms with little kids.

Yesterday I came across Santa, and while most little kids cried or were scared of him, one little girl beamed with joy and she ran to Santa! I quickly snapped a picture. Too cute. Notice the mom with her toddler on the top right hand corner? When I get out of the house in the morning, I'm surrounded by happy moms, I tell you :)

You know, to be honest, while I'm making this huge move to Rome, I decided to stay away from negative people and negative blogs. While we cannot ignore every negative person, we don't have to be part of their negativity. Once I did that, I found myself genuinely focusing on productive ways of doing things which ended up transferring into good results professionally and personally. I found this amazing...

13 comments:

madelyn said...

Your post today is resonates with me ~
I teach ESL classes from home
part time and I write free lance
for magazines but am committed to
one article a month for India Se ~
I feel so happy each day ~
I am so glad I did it!

however the part that really
spoke to me was surrounding yourself
with positive people ~ with
vibrant fresh minds and hearts ~
versus the "foul weather sorts"
who love people around who are
miserable:)

I make this such a choice daily
to be very mindful of this
and it lifts me up rather than
the opposite ~

like YOU!!!
You lift me up!!

(hugs)

Unknown said...

There wouldn't be positive without negative. You can't appreciate good if you don't know bad. It's all about balance: embracing both, since one doesn't exist without the other...

;)

Roam2Rome said...

Hi Maddie!
So true! Like you said, it is a choice.

The funny thing is that when someone says "it's possible" you begin to see the possibilities...

We all tend to feed off each other's ways.

Hugs! :)


Hi Tess!
Balance is definitely good, and it's what I like to keep.

Unfortunately, bad is around us every day. Unavoidable. That's why we need a good support system to counteract it...

The Impeccable Beast said...

Hello,

I've been blog surfing and had a chance to read your older posts and thoroughly enjoyed your insights and stories. I want to commend you for creating harmonious spaces of dialogue and exchange in the blogosphere. The blogsphere needs more blogs like this.

Cheers,
Evie

Devil Mood said...

I'm *so* with you :)

I'm allergic to bosses and timetables ;) I just have to find my own way of working independently.

And, just yesterday, I was thinking of how many happy bloggers I know. It feels wonderful to have such happy friends and to uplifted by their enthusiastic posts every day. Even if I don't feel like that exactly, it helps me.

Anonymous said...

It is a path that requires a lot of self belief and being true to ones self. Once you find that though it is also rewarding. What appeals to me the most is the freedom aspect. Glad to hear things are going well for you :)

qualcosa di bello said...

i find myself visiting here more & more to fill up my soul! what a sweet, sweet reminder you have written...a note to my soul to stay true. a few months ago i stopped reading the online news & blogs that put a snarky spin on things...it changed my whole outlook & lightened a burden i didn't know i was carrying!

Tui Snider @mentalmosaic said...

Yes, working from home is great. I love knowing that I can still earn money while traveling, or visiting family and friends, or whatever! Nice not being tied to one location, and setting my own hours.

Angelo is still trying to find translation work. Did it take a while for you to find a good company?

'A Tuscan view.....from Umbria' said...

I couldn't agree with you more about positivity especially when relocating to another country. There is nothing worse than someome who moves and then draws endless negative comparisons. I try and keep away from that vibe. I think the blogs I read, including yours are hopeful and vibrant, they show the best of us, the part we would like others to see. I'm happy with that.

fruitlady said...

I just got the book "Complaint Free World." Pretty amazing. Sounds like you are on that path! Good for you. I am also beginning my journey to being myself. I have been stifling it for so long. It's finally coming to an end! Thanks for the encouragement to continue to move forward!

La delirante said...

Working from home sounds like heaven...9 to 5? I wish! :) I work from 8 to 5... :(

That picture of the Santa is very nice :) When I had a day off some days ago I also noticed that I could only see tourists, mums and kids and santas too :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Anonymous said...

You are so right on with the negative people. You can't always avoid them but you can chose to walk away from them.

My post today was similiar to yours, choosing your own path is today's lesson folks! :)

Very inspiration and yet another HIGH for me week!
Grazie mille amica,
Katie

Anonymous said...

It's wonderful to witness your dreams coming true!