Sir Janou immediately became my “go to” person whenever I have career or life questions and his advices have been much precious. He is one person that I consider my mentor. And although he gives very good advices, oftentimes, I do not follow them for reasons good for another blog post.

He has recently greeted me over YM and asked me how life was treating me so far. I could tell it again and again: Life has never been better. Surely, I have jumpstarted the year and looking forward to making this a good one.

I have previously ranted on “Is oDesk a part of your New Year resolution?” and mentioned oDesk to be a a huge part of my life. This is one reason that I am looking forward to a good year.

First of all, 2009 started with me offered a rather high hourly-rate job, twice as much as what I could earn in my previous company. This is an interesting opportunity for me and I am looking forward to working long term for them.

I am currently working for a rather great team from the US and with boss Goran. They are super and I am hoping this will be a longterm business relationship with them. But I also have several offers for maintaning Social Niche sites and another one for SEO-written articles. These are rather great opportunities and will try to see if I can squeeze one in on my daily tasks.

This is rather a fun experience and I truly am happy I am able to work at home at the same time monitor my kid’s progress as he is already two years old and growing up so fast. Good times!

At every moment when I am alone with myself, my free-flowing thoughts always leave me dumbfounded and muted. Like minutes ago when I was in a monologue. To quote my thought, it said, “Your blog is too random that it won’t attract visitors. Remember the saying? You should aim at a target and not just shoot your arrows in all directions. Now look at your oDesk profile, you appear to be a Jill-of-all-trades. Find your niche!”

Well, now after that here I am struck with an email that is asking me a question right at my face: “Is oDesk part of your New Year’s Resolution?” Wikipedia defines a New Year’s Resolution as “a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous.”

So then, here is my answer – YES.  Check my list below.

* Make a commitment to better myself.

I will become a better oDesk provider to my current clients and the best candidate in any job I will apply in. I’ll make sure that they will never regret having me on their team.

* Change a habit of being a master-of-none.

Aiming at nothing will get me nowhere. I will have to make up my mind of either being a programmer, a writer, an SEO expert or something else. It will not work to know something about everything and yet be the best at nothing.

* Transform my idea of a perfect job.

That working at home is not a bad thing ever. That NOT working at a corporate setting isn’t the worst thing that could happen to me because there is always oDesk and aside from taking care of my bills and my expenses, I know oDesk will take care of me, my family and my career.

And in the last minute of 2008, I will leave all negative thoughts and memories of a family problem, a lost opportunity or a global crisis behind and look forward to a year it will be with oDesk taking care of me.

~ Mae Melendres – Castro, active oDesk provider since November 2008