If you thought working from home was easy money – obviously, you thought wrong. Often, there are more working hours involved than there would have been while working in an office. And initially, the pay isn’t all that great either. It may take years to succeed as a freelancer and even then, the sources of income through writing are not secure.

Remember: A regular client is not a permanent client.

2008 has been a nightmare for newspapers, magazines and other publications. The competition for online jobs is becoming fierce and there’s no guarantee that your primary clients won’t be affected by the recession. You may have a large client base and won’t be affected much if a couple of your clients stopped sending work your way. But what if that happened with most of them? Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re safe just because you’re working with big names.

Tighten your safety net.

To avoid feeling the pinch when or if your client base takes a hit, it is important to diversify your income stream. Know, that while you may be swamped with work at the moment it might not hold true in the future. Start getting prepared for it by looking into alternative sources. If you write primarily for newspapers or magazines (kudos to you if you’re still getting most of your work from them) then think about online publication. Keep an eye on the Mediabistro newsletter for publications that may be shutting down, going online completely or even doing well. Don’t let it depress you though.

Don’t look down on low paying jobs.

This does not mean that you work for pennies. It simply means that you should think about setting aside 30 minutes to do something you wouldn’t normally think of taking up because the money doesn’t match what you’re making per hour or per project. If it doesn’t take much effort, consider taking the work and keep the money earned from it in an emergency or contingent fund.

Don’t let the word ‘recession’ bring you down.

Recession is as much bad economy as it is a mind set. If you panic and start hyperventilating your freelancing business, you’re going to hit rocky ground. Keep your head cool, plan ahead of time and remember, there is always a way out of a bad situation. Oh, and be flexible!

I have to say, I was ready to dish out up to $15 for a domain name. I was reading Blogging to the Bank and through there was directed to Hostazar. Then a friend recommended Domains Priced Right. I found a domain there for $7.69. I would have bought one there and then had my PayPal confirmed my credit card. Since there was time, I got back to my lazy browsing and read Elite By Designs 170+ Must Have Tools for a Beginning Blogger.

Through there I followed the various links to domain buying websites. None offered me a better price than Domains Priced Right till I noticed that 1and1.com had a sale going on! If I bought a domain before December 31st, I’d get a $5 discount the first year which brought the buying price at $3.99!

Needless to say, I bought a domain soon as my PayPal confirmed my credit card. I realize that once this one year is over, I’ll need to pay around $9. Which is fine by me. It’s still less than what I was willing to pay.

Keep in mind that this is just for buying a domain. If you’re looking for hosting, there are other offers. So if you’ve been thinking about buying a domain, now is the time to do it! Go to www.1and1.com and get your domain. The offer ends on Midnight December 31st!

Note: Always keep your domain independent of your host!

With my deadlines met, and no immediate work due, I am free to laze around and work on a few personal projects (aren’t they the best kind?). In between enjoying the great weather that comes before the winter in UAE, pursuing my own projects and lots of parties and picnics, I’ve found enough time to spend time browsing randomly.

From all the end-of-the-year roundups happening across the web, Boston.com’s The Big Picture was the best of my finds. They did a three part series which features 120 pictures in all, of the news throughout the year.

The pictures are breathtaking, awe inspiring and some were even horrifying. There are some that had a warning on them. I only clicked on one, and couldn’t bring myself to click on the others because I didn’t think I could stomach the horrific images the warning was about.

If you barely followed any new during this year, it will tell you some of what you missed.

Check out part one, two and three.

Found any yearly roundups worth sharing?

I know a lot of struggling freelancers won’t be taking a break this Christmas. I won’t be either. But even though, we think we’ll be able to catch up with the tons of work we’ve got, its not going to help in the long run.

Our hearts and minds will be with our family, knowing we can’t give them our proper attention and our work will suffer.

So how do we cope with the feeling of guilt and compulsion to perform? We compromise. Work in blocks. You know what times are most looked forward to by your family. Spend it with them, and then after a while, excuse yourself for an hour or two, close yourself in a room and work like crazy. You’ll be looking forward to going back out to your family and would feel happier working because you wouldn’t be ignoring it either. And trust me, your family would be much more understanding too.

Whatever you do, don’t use these holidays as an excuse to work non-stop. Nothing, absolutely nothing is more important than family.

So get your butts off the chair, shut the lid of your laptop, get out and spend time with your family already! On that note, I wish you all a very, very merry Christmas and a prosperous new year! May all your dreams come true.

Twitter is all the rage these days. Just like Facebook was before that, Myspace I believe still is. Or maybe I’ve just gotten the hang of it these past few days, but Twitter be cool – and I am addicted!

While its easier to figure out Facebook and Myspace; Twitter is a whole new concept. To put it simply, Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that asks “What are you doing?” and expects you to answer in 140 characters or less. Apart from that, Twitter is whatever you make it.

I found Twitteroid at Terry Whalin’s website. It doesn’t delve into the deeper uses of Twitter. It simply tells you how to set up your account and how to use it sensibly. It covers everything one will come across while using Twitter. Setting up an account, public timeline, twittering through instant messaging services and mobile phones, changing profile background image or colors etc are systematically explained.

Twitteroid is a good, practical read if you’re afraid of jumping into a new service that will take time away from your work. Of course if you’re Internet savvy, it’ll take you about 5 minutes to figure out twitter.

I use twitter in the most basic way. Simple updates with some links thrown in every now and then. I reply to other people’s tweets if I find I have some thing to add and DM (direct message) some times.

Beware: Twitter is highly addictive once you get the hang of it.

Do you Twitter? Follow me @samarowais. I’d love to hear from you! How fast did you catch the Twitter bug? Did you get addicted immediately or did it take you time?