Welcome to yet another edition of Interview with a Freelancer, the section in which we ask our own Freelancers questions on their life, their job, and the plans they have for the future. Today, we’ll be interviewing Veronika Oquendo — Client Liaison and Marketing Assistant for more than one client!
Yes, you heard it right: some of our Freelancers have the opportunity to work with more than one client. That is, of course, if they’re willing and have the time to do so, just as it is in Veronika’s case.
Our team knows for a fact that Vero (short for Veronika, just as we call her) is more than capable of doing all of that! That’s why she was voted our most proactive Freelancer back in the Freelancer of the Month ceremony we held in January, but that’s something we’ll talk about later…
Regarding the questions I prepared for Vero, we’ll go through her university career as an Industrial Engineer, the first time she applied for a job here at Freelance, some time management tips she prepared for us, and so on. Make sure you stick around for all the questions in order to learn all of that!
This time, you can not only read what she said but also get a front-row seat to our conversation! You can check out the full interview on our YouTube channel:
Now, here are some of the highlights from our interview, so you can see what’s inside the mind of this great and proactive freelancer:
You told us that you’re studying Industrial Engineering, why did you choose that career?
Well, when it was time for me to choose what I wanted to study in university I was about 17 years old. And if I’m completely honest I didn’t have a good idea of what I wanted to do with my life so I chose a degree that would allow me to change fields because the thing about industrial engineering is that you aren’t just attached to a specific field because any industry needs an engineer, so I think that’s why I chose it.
You have two different positions here at Freelance, and you’re in the middle of writing your thesis. You’re also a few months away from graduating. How do you do all of that? How does it not take a toll on you?
Okay, I’m gonna be honest, it’s not always easy and it does take a lot of time management skills which I have only developed during the past couple of months, so that’s been a trip for me, developing really good time management skills.
Could you share some tips? How do you manage your time?
Sure, so I think that the main thing that you have to do if you have a lot of things on your plate is prioritize things, I think that is a very useful skill to have, and it will definitely set you up for success, if you do it the right way.
I would say that you’re one of the OG’s here at Freelance, you were one of the first 20 freelancers or so. As of now, we are about 90, or maybe 100, but yeah you were part of the first small group of people that started with the company. How did you know about Freelance, like, back in 2018?
Okay, I actually learned about Freelance back in 2018, like you said, through my mom. I lived in the same building as Randy, who is Freelance Latin America’s CEO, and one day my mom just contacted him ‘cause she learned that he was hiring people here to provide services to foreign clients. So, she basically reached out to him and told him “Hey I have a daughter, she can speak English, let me know if you have any positions for her”. And that’s how I first learned about this news editor position that I started working with.
What were your expectations, back when you got your first job?
Honestly, my expectations weren’t very high, I was just trying to make some extra income for myself and that really worked out for me.
And, do you think things have changed from back when you had your first position and now, that you have two different positions?
Yes, things have definitely changed, like I said at the beginning I wasn’t expecting things to grow as much as they have, especially during the pandemic, and this year, the company’s growth has been amazing.
How would you describe a proactive person?
I’d say that a proactive person is a person who really analyzes situations and addresses things that could go wrong within those situations.
Do you have any recommendations for someone who wants to be more proactive at work?
Yes, I think that it can be divided into three steps.
The first step is that you want to be very organized and that you want to plan ahead of time. Then you wanna take the time to sit down and really evaluate what you’re working with and ask yourself “Hey, what could go wrong if this thing happened? How should I address this? Who could be affected by this?”. And lastly, the last step would be to address those things and act accordingly.
And, what was the process for you to learn this specific system?
It was basically like trial and error. I kind of realized that you need one in order for everything to work out, you know? You can plan yourself and you can evaluate everything, but if you don’t address those things then you aren’t really proactive, you know, you aren’t really acting proactively. Now, yet again if you fail to evaluate the situation and yet you go ahead and plan yourself and address the things, you might not be making the right decisions because you didn’t take the time to actually sit down and analyze everything.
Now let’s talk about Freelance. Could you please describe in your own words what the culture is like here, and what you think about the company?
I think the culture is really great, I have definitely learned a lot of things while working here, and I truly relate with all of our core values. I think that that is something that is very important in every organization and I feel like the company has done a great job at keeping everything together and making sure that we understand our value within the company.
Is there something that you would change about the company?
Not really, I think that the company has really put a lot of effort into changing things for the better, that includes, you know, improving our workspaces, improving our salaries, improving our lives in many different ways, you know? All these new policies that have come out during the past couple of months. So, I think that slowly but surely the company has proven that they really value us as freelancers and also as people, and I think that like I said, that’s something very valuable ‘cause not many companies do that.
We had a great time talking, joined by other freelancers behind the scenes — we laughed, ate, and drank. The interview was on a Friday, so it was a fun time to relax after a long week of work. Remember to check out the interview on our YouTube channel, so you can see all the fun we had in the office, and you can get to know Veronika a little bit more!
