Things that I know about me

With finding your talent, comes a lot of soulsearching too. About what are you really good at, what are your weaknesses, what are facts and whether you are just completely in denial. (Not to be mistaken with the one flowing through Egypt.)

# I don't like it when people critizise me. Period. I might stay calm on the outside, but you should see the vulcano that rises inside me. I usually get really defensive and start to make up stuff or try to turn the 'blame' around. Or I just huf and shut up.

# I don't like to know I made a mistake. After all, I'm perfect, right?

# I'm not a busisnesswoman. I try to be, but I'm not. When it comes to handling clients, I'm very polite and correct, but I just cannot market myself well. And I need too, I'm a freelancer after all.

# I'm very true to my starsign; Pisces. I adapt like water to every shape and form, about how I believe people of what like me to be. Astrologists claim it's because as the Pisces is the twelfth and last sign, I carry a little bit of every starsign. It's explained as you shouldn't see me as someone who isn't herself, but I'm a little bit of everything. Hey, works for me!

# I'm not good at fighting. Sometimes I have to be. It's not the fighting I have to work on, it's getting to understand what the other tries to tell me. Sometimes that takes a while.

# I'm really really bad at sending birthday cards on time. 9 out of 10 times I'm just late. It's not because I don't care, it's because I somehow think that I have more days left to send a card, then I have in reality. If you're lucky, the occasional card will land on your doormat in time. Sometimes, you just won't get any. (After 2 weeks it's ridiculous to send one, right?)

# I'm very tall. Most of you know this. Well, I hate it. Actually, I used to do so more than I do now. It made me more insecure than I should have been throughout my youth and teens. When you are tall, you cannot hide. When you are a teenager, you don't want to stand out. People notice you whether you want it or not. People think you are older when you are young.

# People estimate me younger than I'm really am. Exactly the opposite of when I was younger. I am definitely NOT complaining about this one!

Positively I could come up with more things, and possibly nicer things, but I'm happy so far.

Me Llaman Calle

They call me Street...
It's a song about one of my favorite Spanish movies called 'Princesas'. The movie is about 2 prostitutes who become friends against all odds.

I listen to the song a lot and sometimes I compare it to the work I'm doing. No, I'm certainly not a prostitute, in case you were wondering...

I refer to the competitive business that online freelancing has. Most of the joboffers that I find are about you having to be a multi-year highly professional certificated translator who knows about every topic like travel, legal, finance, marketing, medical, science and preferably know all translation tools there are, but please only human translations, maybe also some writing, editing, SEO, webbuilding etc... But for free. Well, as close to free as possible. It feels like exploiting.

Sometimes it's overwhelming about what you need to know, certainly as I'm quite new in the business. But more and more I get to learn that it's impossible to know everything. It takes time, it takes patience and sometimes you get lucky and a client who has selected you is willing to lend a hand. That's how I learn; sometimes thanks to a lucky break, sometimes because I see I need to know about a certain translating tool. I learn bit by bit. And hey, everyone had to start at the beginning, so why should I be the exception of the rule?

I'm getting streetwise in the world of online translation.