Like an actress, I would love to change my make-up and costume everyday to be a different “me”!
“I want to enjoy a colorful life and do things that I want to do.”
As I begin to write my freelancer story, I think to myself “I want to enjoy a colorful life and do things that I want to do.” Like an actress does, I would love to change my make-up and my costume everyday depending on the nature of the day’s job. A different “me” everyday would be exciting and stimulating!
-- Do you have a regular day job?
My main job is working as a complimentary therapist in Japan, usually as a lecturer or sometimes on duty at a hospital. Occasionally I take business trips to other regions within Japan to make home visits to disabled patients with special needs.
As part of my drive to enjoy a colorful life I managed to take few trips to other parts of Europe during my six-year experience in England.
-- What are your professional skills?
Well, in fact, I really don’t possess any special license or certified skills besides the complementary therapy certification that I acquired in England while I was living there for six years. My only real work experience at a Japanese company was as a sales assistant selling ladies shoes! I received arriving potential customers, attended to them in the elegant manner of traditional Japanese decorum, created presentations and also performed general office administrative work.
-Do you have any language certification?
Languages? Oh, I can communicate in English just fine. I used to run workshops on complimentary therapy and Reiki healing in and around the UK, such as the photo above, but I don’t have any formal academic certification in the English language.
-What was the catalyst for joining Workshift?
One day, a friend of mine introduced me to Workshift. At first I did not have any luck finding work on Workshift that was suitable to me, but then I came across a job description that required someone with polite and elegant “customer attendant” skills combined with conversational level English skills at a large food exhibition in Osaka, not too far from where I lived. Happily, the job specifications – attending to customers and communicating in English - were quite similar to that of my previous work experience so I decided to take a chance and apply for the job!
-How was your first experience freelancing through Workshift?
Freelancing is a bit of a challenge because you have one short opportunity to impress your client and he or she will have to evaluate you based on that one-time performance. On the other hand, Workshift stands between you and the client, as a kind of buffer, so one has a sense of security about working and knowing that you will not be taken advantage of and that your hard earned money will be paid to you because clients pay in advance as part of the escrow system that Workshift employs.
- Was your first job with Workshift successful?
At the end of the day it was a very good experience working at the Osaka Food Exhibition. I met some really interesting people whom I would never have met in my regular daily life. To sum it up, I would say that it was a valuable experience and it exposed me up to a world I had not known before. Best of all, it added color to my life, which is, as I said in the beginning, just the way I like it!
