I was chatting with fellow freelance writer Dylan Duarte last night about the concept of work ethic and how someone can go about building a strong work ethic. It’s really easy to get lazy and let things slide, so how can someone develop a work ethic that will keep them going? To spur them on?

The only person that is really going to get you to do anything at all is yourself.

When you work at home as a freelancer or a dot com entrepreneur, there is no one breathing down your neck. You need to not only stay motivated, but you also need to be a self starter. Do something because it needs to be done, not because someone told you to do it.

This is probably just going to perpetuate the stereotype, but I have always had a rather strong work ethic. Growing up, I had a very strong sense of responsibility and it seems that others noticed this. When I asked for a reference letter from my high school English teacher several years back, she illustrated my work ethic by describing a time when I had to leave a class field trip early so that I could go work at my parents’ restaurant. My parents needed my help that afternoon and I was willing to shorten my field trip to fulfill this responsibility.

As you can probably imagine, having a strong work ethic is conducive to a career in freelance writing. I’m known to work evenings and weekends. I’m known to go beyond the call of duty. It’s also because of this work ethic, however, that it is very easy for me to fall into the pit of burnout. For those who struggle with motivation, however, building a strong work ethic can drastically improve both income level and a sense of self-satisfaction.

No one wants to be known as mediocre. You want to fulfill your life’s potential.

Believe it or not, if you just sit around twiddling your thumbs, the only thing that is getting accomplished is someone sitting around twiddling his/her thumbs. You don’t want to be on your deathbed, wondering what could have been. There isn’t anything wrong with having lofty goals — impossible is nothing — because even if you fail to achieve them, you can at least say that you tried. Without trying, success is impossible.

Working hard is one thing. Employees work hard to avoid the wrath of their managers. Children work hard in school to please their parents. Professional athletes work hard to revel in the adoration of their fans. The trouble with all of these scenarios is that they may only work hard when others are looking, because a big part of the benefit is going to others. That’s not what work ethic is all about.

Work ethic is working hard when no one is looking, when no one else could care.

It’s about dedication. It’s about sticking through the tough times and pushing yourself that much further. Get to the top of those steps. Finish that project that’s been burning a hole in the back of your mind. The single greatest motivator and reward is not money, power, or respect. It’s a sense of achievement or accomplishment for your own sake.

What gets you going each morning? Better still, what keeps you going?

Part of the reason why some people choose to embark on a freelance writing career is because of the potential for limitless income. If you are willing to work harder, smarter, and faster, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to make more money. Unlike most conventional jobs that restrict you to certain working hours, freelancing opens up the opportunity to work at any given hour of any given day. Furthermore, you can leverage your reputation for maximum profit. The trouble is that many do not consider the possibility of making passive income as a freelancer.

If you were to ask John Chow about freelancing, he would probably tell you that freelance writers are still trading hours for dollars. When I write a product review, for example, I charge a flat rate. The money is earned when the review is completed, compensating me for the time it took to produce that review. Sounds like trading hours for dollars to me.

With this model of freelance writing, you have to keep working to keep making money. The moment that you stop writing those reviews or blogging for others, the cashflow comes to a screeching halt. It’s not a business that runs itself and as such, it’s not a business model that can produce passive income. That said, it is still possible to make passive income as a freelance writer. You can write it once and continue to make money for years to come.

How can a freelance writer make passive income? Here are a few strategies to consider:

Affiliate Marketing - This will depend heavily on the client and the nature of the work, but there is sometimes the opportunity to make additional money through affiliate marketing when you write website content for others. You may have noticed that in some of the killer reviews I do on John Chow dot Com, I include an affiliate link to the advertiser. If a reader is going to buy a premium Wordpress theme anyways, I might as well get a piece of that action too.

Profit Sharing - If you have a good relationship with an existing client who provides you with ongoing work, you may be able to make more money through a profit sharing model rather than a pay-per-article model. It’s a gamble to give up the guaranteed income, so weigh your pros and cons carefully before proceeding. To hedge your bets, you may want to consider a hybrid of the two payment methods.

Write a Book - While the vast majority of your freelance writing work will be others, there is nothing stopping you from writing for yourself. Chris Bibey, for instance, has a few books published under his name. You will continue to collect royalties as long as the book remains available to the public. If you are ghostwriting a book for someone else, receiving an advance along with a share of the royalties may prove more profitable than just a lump sum payment.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. Passive income is the best kind of income, because it allows you to continue making money without putting in any additional work. This can provide more free time to spend with family and do the things you enjoy. And isn’t that what we all want anyways?

We thought that we had outdone ourselves with the 16-man Dot Com Pho, but it seems that was just the tip of iceberg. When we got together yesterday for our weekly lunch, there were a total of 25 people in attendance! We took over a solid third of the restaurant. Yaro Starak made it out, but Miss604 and Mostly Lisa bailed on us.

Oh well, at least I have a new MacBook Pro…

There are certainly incentives to getting out there, promoting your blog, and networking with other like-minded individuals. This could be in the form of Twitter conversations, getting together with local bloggers for a bowl of noodles, or just interacting with the rest of the blogosphere in general.

Along the way, you can meet a lot of great people and sometimes, just sometimes, you can end up with some pretty awesome stuff for free too! And you can’t beat the price of free.

The other day, I got a package in the mail from Israel Lagares of Fat Man Unleashed. I was following Israel on Twitter when he sent out a message asking if anyone wanted a free t-shirt. Far be for me to turn down a no-strings-attached offer like that, I gave him my mailing address and the t-shirt arrived a few days later. The fitness blog shirt is great quality and I’m totally digging the logo. It’s a brain with muscles! Check out the size of those pythons!

You may have seen the post on John’s blog the other day about how Tejpal from BIC Promo Pens was nice enough to provide him with a set of free promotional pens. John wasn’t the only one to get a free pack of pens; the entire Dot Com Pho crew got a bag filled with promotional pens and highlighters. I hear that he could be providing us with complementary Dot Com Pho pens too. Thanks Tej! You rock!

This goes to show you that even if you’re not willing to plunk down the money for some official advertising on this blog, you might get a shout-out or two if you just send me some free stuff. Use the contact form to get my mailing address. I wonder what I’ll get next…

It’s pretty easy to fall down the slippery slope and start to suffer from burnout when you work at home as a freelancer or any kind of online entrepreneur. Without a boss breathing down your neck and checking up on your status, the only person that keeps you on track is you. Yes, staying productive is very important if you want to achieve any kind of success, but you don’t want to overdo it either. Take a break, you deserve it.

Something that I’ve noticed since starting my career as a freelance writer is that my lunch breaks are not as long as they used to be. This is terribly counterintuitive, but it illustrates the misconception of freedom for freelancers. I feel compelled to work more, because when I do, I tend to accomplish more and make more money. That’s pretty motivating.

When I was still “working for the man,” I took full advantage of the full hour for lunch. Completing my meal well before this time ran out, I’d fill out the rest of the lunch hour by socializing with co-workers or reading the newspaper. When I took my lunch break yesterday, however, I found that I was back at my desk the moment the sandwich was completely consumed. My lunch hour was more like 15 minutes. Instead of taking one long break in the middle of the day, I seem to be more content taking several short breaks.

Am I alone in this phenomenon? I reached out to the Twitter-sphere for answers and at least five people responded to my query within moments. Their responses are listed below.

• When I work from home I try to take a shorter break. (hummingbird604)
• I find I take no breaks when I work from home. I’m always scared people will think I was slacking. (GusF)
• When I was at home I went out for lunch with people. The joys of not being strapped to a desk I suppose. (TylerIngram)
• No. They are MUCH longer than I’d like them to be because there is no one to tell me to get back to work! (stephen_fung)
• When I work ‘full time’ in the summer, on weekends, etc. They’re usually shorter, because I usually want to get stuff done early. (michaelyurechko)

A very slight majority seems to take shorter breaks, but Stephen enjoys slacking off and Tyler leaves his home altogether. I hear that John Chow typically enjoys three-hour lunches on a daily basis. How about the rest of the Beyond the Rhetoric community? Do you find that you take shorter breaks when you work from home?

You may have noticed that I talk a fair bit here about personal development, handling stress, and that kind of thing. It seems that I’m not alone in trying to understand life a little better, because I got tagged by Derek Semmler for the Six Word Memoir meme. He was tagged by Shawn Knight and now he is passing it on to me.

The idea is that you are supposed to come up a great piece of wisdom, summed up in just six words. It could be about money, family, success, or any other aspect of life that you feel is important. For Derek, he decided that his six word memoir would be “Plan for tomorrow, live for today.” He now understands that life is all about balance. If all you do is live for today, you’ll throw all your money away and leave yourself with tons of debt and no retirement. If all you do is plan for tomorrow, you’ll be far too frugal and forget about living in the now. The key is to be able to balance both.

I’ve given my six word memoir a fair bit of thought, because it could be remembered as the single greatest piece of advice expounded on this blog. Many of these potential memoirs didn’t quite make the cut, but I’ll probably still write on them some time in the future anyways. For now, I’m going to say that my six word memoir is:

Take Pride, Pleasure in Little Things

When we are striving for success, setting the bar high with our specific goals, we all too often forget to take pride in the little accomplishments that we have along the way. It’s far too easy to dismiss the small victories, because our eyes are always focused on the big prize.

Think about Olympic athletes, for example. They train for years so that they can compete on the international stage. They tell themselves that nothing short of a gold medal is good enough. As cliche as it may sound, just making it onto the Olympic team is a pretty formidable achievement already and it’s one that should be celebrated. The same can be said about trying to make money online, starting your business, or buying your first home.

Be mindful of the little things, because it’s the little things that make life worthwhile. If you’re trying to make money from your blog, getting your first AdSense cheque from Google is richly rewarding and should be celebrated. It may only be $100 and that’s not going to help you much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s still a monumental milestone. And you should be proud of that.

What’s Your Six Word Memoir?

As is the nature of memes, it’s time for me to pass the baton onto a few other individuals. Before I get to that, let me lay out the rules:

• Write your own six word memoir.
• Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
• Link to the person who tagged you in your post.
• Tag at least five more blogs.
• Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

And the five people that I am tagging are:

• Stephen Fung
• Brian Clark (Copyblogger)
• Damien Riley
• Israel Lagares (Fat Man Unleashed)
• Sharon Hurley Hall

Consider yourself tagged. Now come up with something memorable!