I know it’s a burning question on everyone’s mind. What does Michael Kwan’s day-to-day look like? (Okay, that wasn’t a conceited statement at all, but bear with me.) Inspired by a recent post by the “happily unemployed” Stephen Fung, I have decided to give you an idea of what a typical day is like for me, the budding freelance writer and aspiring entrepreneur.

I’m not a morning person. Never have been, and I don’t think I ever will be. As such, I love working from home because I don’t have to wake up bright and early each morning to make my way to the office on time. Instead, I have my alarm clock set for 8:45am. Problem is, I’m no stranger to the snooze button, and most mornings, I don’t find myself out of bed until 10 or 10:30 (today, I got up at 11). I stretch; I yawn; I sit on the end of my bed and try to get my bearings. I eventually make my way to the washroom to the do the whole brush-your-teeth and wash-your-face routine.

I stroll down the stairs from my bedroom to my home office, which is conveniently located nary 20 feet away. As I wait for the computer to finish booting up, I take a couple steps over to where Roy is so that I can give him his morning pet on the head and his breakfast. He hungrily munches up a serving of pellets and timothy hay.

Now that the computer is all ready to go, I fire up Firefox and MSN Messenger. Do a quick email check (I have a few addresses to check) and then it’s time to log into my customized Google homepage and see what’s new in the blogosphere. I try not to distract myself by seeing what Dylan, John, Darren or Stephen wrote overnight, but I inevitably check at least one of them. After that, I head on over to the Mobile Magazine admin page to see what topics I have which are approved to do. I proceed to start on my first batch of Mobile Mag articles for the day. Somewhere in there, I’ll probably get up to grab a quick bite of breakfast (a pastry, a breakfast bar, maybe a cookie) and a sip of instant coffee (or juice, or milk, or water).

Depending on when I finish this first batch, I’ll either proceed to do some more work for other clients I have on my platter (I have over a half dozen currently), or go nuke that lunch that my parents would have made for me the night or day before. More writing, more eating, more petting Roy on the head. All this time, bear in mind, I’m probably chatting with a person or three via Gmail chat or MSN Messenger.

Eventually, I allow myself to turn on the television and watch a little TV. This may be music videos on BET, the Colbert Report on the Comedy Network, or perhaps Sportsnet if there’s something interesting on. It doesn’t mean that I stop writing; it just means that I’m more easily distracted.

While I feel that I have accomplished a reasonable amount that day, I’ll make a blog entry for Beyond the Rhetoric, as I’m doing right now. I’ll also have a look into my Google Adsense account, my AGLOCO account (side note: you should really sign up with them to make some free money; please use my referral link when you do), and my Sportsnet Fantasy Hockey account. I also keep close tabs on XE.com, because the USD/CAD exchange rate very much affects my income.

By this time, I’m probably bushed. So I take a break to watch some TV, play some video games on my DS or Wii, or sift through the flyers contained in the Vancouver Courier. I may also take a short walk to the bank, the mailbox, or the newstand (to grab a free copy of Metro and/or 24 Hours). I’ll have dinner, call up Susanne, and see what she’s up to.

After dinner, I usually get in a little bit more work, suggesting topics for Mobile Magazine (or writing more content) or finishing off a few things for my other clients. I’ll work at much more relaxed pace at this point, because nothing that’s getting done would be fired off until the next morning anyways. During this time, I’ll chillax with a book, a movie, or more TV. And then it’s time for bed (lately bedtime has been around 1 or 2), only to start over again the next day.

So, there you have it. A day in the life of Michael Kwan. Obviously, weekends are different (pho with dot com moguls, for instance) and some days don’t quite pan out the same way, but the above description is pretty typical.


Related Posts:
–How Much Can You Make With AGLOCO?
–Finally! Google loves me!
–Why Do You Blog?
–Becoming a dot com mogul… like John Chow