Freelancers or employees (PART 1) In my career, after university, I had the opportunity to try several jobs, at least four related to different business areas. One of them was a freelance activity, the others I did as an employee, the typical 8 hours-5days job. Trying to evaluate these two opposite situations, I could say that choosing one or other job category deeply influences the lifestyle and the mental attitude of a person. In one word, people are formed by the jobs they choose. Employees, in particular the ones who work in big companies, have the sensation (though it is mainly an illusion) of a safe, sure, defined future. Something that they can plan since they have regular, fix incomes, they know their working time, they can plan holidays. The fee to pay for such a good stability feeling is freedom. Employees (I’m speaking for the average employee, there could be exceptions) sell their time rather than their knowledge and skills. They have to build their knowledge according to the company policies and targets, they have very small margins for creativity. And in small companies the situation is even worse, since the employee lives in a very close contact to the owners, there’s a direct connection between actions and economical consequences. So the stress levels can be very high and the control frequently unbearable, in particular when the bosses want to impose their style of working.