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Have you changed since you became a freelancer?

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Hi!
Hope your week went well. I liked mine: it was busy, but interesting and well-paid. And now I have another wonderful long-term client. So I am tired, but content =) In order to work with this new client, I am going to study as much about contemporary art as possible, specifically about constructivism.

Last week I also found out that Proz.com now has a blog! Here it is. It already has some posts which can be quite useful to freelancers.

And now I have a question for those who work as freelancers: do you feel your character has changed since you started working for yourself? I feel I have changed.

Here are a couple things that I noticed:
1) Being my own boss, I now see things that could be improved in the way some organizations work. For example, I've learnt to value time, because for me time really means money most of the time. I'm constantly learning to work fast and well. So now it gets on my nerves when I see people wasting their time at work doing nothing or not using their time wisely.

2) I have also become more confident in my skills. But unfortunately I am still very much dependent on other people's opinions and praize and have low self-esteem. So this year I made a decision to work specifically on my attitude towards myself. I need to learn to see myself with God's eyes. That alone will eliminate a great deal of other issues that are actual consequences of my low self-esteem.

3) Working independently has helped me see some other personal issues I have to deal with in order to grow as a person and a professional. I've discovered quite a few of them which upset me at first. But now I'm actually glad, because at least I know what I need to work on. It is easy to live in dreams, but it's a lot better to face the reality and work on solving those issues instead of ignoring them, thus sinking deeper and deeper in them.

So, I guess, that's all for tonight. Going to have a cup of strong black tea and relax for a bit before I need to put my daughter to sleep =)

Have a great week!
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