As if the idea of working when I want, where I want isn’t good enough, I also find myself very motivated be the idea of having complete creative control over everything I do and having an actual impact on the people who stumble across my sites. I have convinced myself that being a web publisher (that’s what I’m calling it these days) is quite possibly one of the best gigs going.
General advice says to build sites about topics you’re passionate about so creating content, in theory, should be something you enjoy doing – unless you totally hate writing. In order to get ideas for your new content you’ll have to participate in you area of expertise which will also be fun for you if you’ve got a passion for it. In my case, I have several travel websites. On one of them I have hostel reviews and encourage submissions from readers. If I’m earning plenty from my sites the potential is there to head off on trips aimed at writing more hostel reviews which would mean visiting hostels all over the world which would be a pretty damn good gig as far as I’m concerned.
I think the fact you’re working in a field you love, have total control over everything you do, have a positive impact on lots of people, and get to play at being an entrepreneur with very little risk all adds up to a really great way to earn a living!