Being a freelance writer is really not that different than embarking on any other entrepreneurial venture. It takes a fair bit of motivation to convince yourself to wake up in the morning and hop behind the keyboard to start bashing at those buttons, because it’s unlikely that anyone will hound for being a few minutes late for work. After all, there is no such thing as a set schedule for the world of freelance writing, but at the same time, if you don’t get up and do some writing, you won’t get paid for the day either.

Well, it’s not completely true that you can just choose to take a day off on a moment’s whimsy, because your clients will expect you to be there for them, just as a diner expects their favorite restaurant to be open for lunch. Speaking for myself, one of the first things that I do is in the morning is write a series of technology news articles for Mobile Magazine. This is because blog posts for this site are very time-sensitive; what’s news today will be yesterday’s news, er, tomorrow. The world of technology works far too quickly and waits for no man. Going further, it is perhaps more difficult to get a day off, especially if you have several clients counting on you. I know my vacation in May was a little stressful for that reason.

Other projects are little less time sensitive. For example, when I am given the task of writing a product review for The TechZone or a resource article for LoveToKnow, it doesn’t necessarily have to be done within the day. It just has to be completed within a reasonable amount of time, but you don’t want to grow a backlog of projects either.

Motivation and impetus are easily the two greatest challenges for a self-employed freelance writer. You know the project has to get done, but after bashing at the keyboard all day (and the day before, and the day before that), it’s hard to continue putting pen to paper fingers to keyboard. Every word that appears on the screen need not be poetry, but it has to be good. If not, you could lose that customer and we all know how quickly word gets around. It’s not just the couple of hundred dollars you have at stake; it’s your reputation as a professional and a writer. The good kind of “word of mouth” works wonders: it was because of my affiliation with John Chow that I got gigs writing for a web hosting company and a promotional pens company.

While I do believe that I am my own boss, I am still at the mercy of my customers, so to speak. It’s almost like I have many supervisors hovering over my shoulder, asking when their project will be done. After all, from their point of view, the work that they’re giving me is obviously more important than “the other guy.” I’ve always managed to meet these goals, but believe me, it’s not without a certain level of stress.

Freelance writing isn’t a career for everyone. Some people need a manager to give them a sense of direction. Others cannot stand the possibility of not having a stable income. Others still cannot find a healthy life-work balance without a definite separation between what is work and what is pleasure.

At the same time, starting your own business — whether it’s freelance writing, consulting, web design, or whatever — is richly rewarding because you know that every dollar that comes through the door is wholly yours (well, the government takes their cut, but you get my drift). The paradox is that you are still making money for someone else: a well-written product brochure can help a client rake in more sales and good blog posts can help increase traffic and advertising revenue. But you know what? That’s OK, because you will always make money for someone else. Even dot com mogul John Chow has several “bosses”: Adsense, ReviewMe, Text Link Ads….