Yes, it seems I’ve risen from the dead. I haven’t blogged here in months and I haven’t sent out a newsletter in longer.

I’m not going to apologize. I’m just going to tell you what’s been happening. This year had started of really well for me. I had plenty of freelancing clients, I had started blogging again, my guest posts were popping up here and there and every time one would be published, I’d be bombarded with more work.

Then at the end of May, I got recruited for a full time position as a Community Manager for a start up in Dubai. Check out JadoPado.com if you’re curious. The work is fun and the exposure is great for a place like Dubai – which is where I live in case you haven’t checked out my about page.

Naturally, I stopped freelancing and only kept a couple of staff blogging and editing gigs. And that too only because I get credit for it along with pay. I may have started working full time but the pull of seeing my name under an article or blog post is still strong!

To be honest, I don’t know what will happen to this blog. For now it’s still there but I have no plans of publishing on it for now. I’ll be removing the free ebook you get if you sign up  for my newsletter and instead turn it into an email course after adding more stuff to it.

I have plans for the book – mainly that I’ll update it, have it edited, and then put it up for sale.

So this is it for now. I’m loving the new turn my life has taken even if it means I’m busier than ever spending every free minute I have with my daughter. I now write on my way to work on the train – 20 minutes in the morning and 30 in the afternoon. I’m getting more writing done in these 50 minutes than I thought possible!

I’m still around and am always on Twitter (@samarowais) if you want to keep in touch. You can also reach me via email (contact [at] samarowais.com) for anything that requires more than 140 characters to communicate

See you around!

Want to earn a six figure income through writing?

New freelance writers are often so busy trying to make ends meet that they forget to do the one thing that is guaranteed to grow their business. They don’t invest in their business.

When I was contacted by AWAI (American Writer’s and Artist’s Inc.) to review their course, I jumped at the chance. I’d already read Laura Spencer‘s review and trusted her judgement. I wasn’t disappointed!

AWAI’s Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting is a comprehensive course that will teach you the basics of copywriting, get you started and make sure that by the end of it, you have all the skills needed to make a success of your copywriting careers.

When I say this course is comprehensive, I mean there’s no way you can digest all that info in 6 weeks – unless you study for a solid two hours every day. You’ll definitely start earning in 6 weeks but this course is so in depth that it will continue to teach you for a long, long time.

The biggest selling point for me as I went through the course was the access to so many copywriting experts. While Michael Masterson is a big part of it, he’s not the only one sharing his experience, secrets and insights. It’s been created by several other successful copywriters who have either learned from Michael or worked with him. They’ve all collected their knowledge and revealed their copywriting secrets to help you earn more through direct sales copywriting.

The one thing that these master copywriters drill into you is that you don’t have to be a gifted writer to be earn 6 figures as a copywriter. Then they go on to prove it throughout the course.

Stuff I liked about this course

What I best liked about this course was the examples, case studies and exercises included in this course. They don’t just teach you theory, they give you practical exercises too. For a show then tell learner like me, this course was just perfect!

But that’s not all. With the course, you get access to AWAI’s extensive site and community. They hold regular webinars, release reports and post copywriting jobs.

I highly recommend this course for anyone looking to up their copywriting game. There is serious money in copywriting. Why stumble around for years trying to make it on your own when a little guidance can put you on the right track in just a few weeks?

The Downside of this course

The downside of this course is the same as it’s upside. Because this course is so comprehensive (13 chapters equalling 518 pages + writing exercises + bonus webinar and reports) it can be too overwhelming to go through.

To overcome that, my advice is to read the introductory chapter thoroughly and make notes. Then skim through the rest and keep jotting down notes on areas you want to concentrate on or learn more about.

Whether you finish this course or just study a few lessons, you’re going to learn enough to drastically improve your work and start earning more. And if for any reason you’re not satisfied with the course, AWAI offers a 30 day money back guarantee.

Are you ready to take your freelancing to the next level?

So take a look at your freelancing business. Does it need an investment that will reap you benefits and rewards within a few weeks? I’m willing to bet it does.

To find out more about the AWAI’s Program For Six-Figure Copywriting you can go to their sales page or read their testimonials.

Just remember, buying the course alone won’t make you money. You have to put in the time and effort to study the material, do the exercises and keep practicing. This isn’t a onetime investment – it’s a life time’s.

Are you ready to invest in your freelancing business and enter the big leagues?

P.S: The price for this course is $497 and they have an easy payment plan as well. But if you buy the entire course in one go, you get a $100 off.

Regardless of your freelancing experience, you’re bound to run into your share of bad clients. Even if you don’t, I bet you’ve had people sending you request for quotes that scream trouble. Yet, against your better judgement you find yourself in talks with clients who you’re not sure about.

Whether that’s because of a freelancer’s inability to let an opportunity go without exploring it or just curiosity, here’s a simple idea that’s worth repeating a few times a week. Not all clients are worth working for.

If you’re in talks with a prospect or have had one contact you, keep your eyes, ears and gut tuned for the following warning signs.

The client:

Is vague about his needs

If your client is not sure what they want, there’s no way you’ll ever be sure either. Take my example, I’m a great writer. However, I make a horrible client to freelance designers.

I’m the client they were warned about.

Even though I had a clear picture of what I wanted when I started looking for a designer, I kept changing my mind as the whole process moved forward.

My solution was to tell the designer up front about my unfortunate tendency to not know what I wanted. Luckily I’m friends with the designer I hired and she asked me some really hard questions when I g0t too fussy. Occasionally she also told me to zip it so she can do a her job.

Your prospective client won’t give you that liberty. He’ll probably expect you to know what he wants even though he hasn’t clearly told what that is.

Had a lot of problems with previous freelancers

Consider it a red flag if your client has a history of going through a lot of freelancers and has mentioned having problems with them.

Granted, it’s entirely possible that they hired the wrong freelancers – but it’s impossible to go wrong every time.

Listen to your gut and watch out for how the prospect deals with you. Do they treat you professionally? The answer to this question will always let you know if it was the client or the freelancer who was the problem.

Is too focused on the price

Does the prospect mention the price too often? Or emphasize that they’re looking for an affordable freelancer?

An ideal client is one who is willing to pay for the services he’s buying. It doesn’t have to mean that they pay through the nose but it doesn’t mean that get those services dirt cheap either.

Avoid said client like the plague. Especially if you’re not sure of your own rates and like it to decide on a client by client basis.

Thinks he can do a better job

It all boils down to respect. If your prospective client keeps mentioning how it’s an easy job and he could do it himself or get his intern/niece/secretary to do it, you might want to say bye-bye to this prospect.

A client who doesn’t give your expertise due credit is going to be a nightmare to work with.

Ever worked with a nightmare client or let go a project because the client seemed like trouble? How did you handle the situations?

No matter how much planning a freelancer does to meet deadlines, there are times when things spiral out of control. Maybe you fell ill or had a request for a rush job you couldn’t refuse, or (God forbid) your computer crashes!

The last is what happened to me a few weeks ago. My computer didn’t crash but my laptop’s charger and battery died – at the same time. To say that I wasn’t expecting it would be an understatement. My laptop was less than a year old and still under warranty!

After staring like an idiot at my laptop hoping it will somehow, magically come back to life, I started to panic. It was after 5 on Friday and everyone knows the kind of customer service there is on the weekends. The ‘none at all’ kind.

With a big deadlines looming on Monday, I thought I was screwed. Even though I back up my files weekly, there was no way I could have planned for the death of my laptop battery and charger. In fact, I was in the middle of writing an article when my laptop went blank.

What’s a girl to do when her work’s trapped inside a dead laptop?

Grab a paper and pen

She grabs a paper and pen, that’s what.

With no laptop and no way to get my work out from the machine, I was completely clueless on how to proceed from there. Okay, not all that clueless because I took out a notebook and started scribbling furiously.

All the articles and blog posts due next week got outlined. The article I was working on got written by hand. It was a frustrating experience and presented a new problem. Half of that article was trapped in my laptop and the other half was on paper. Crap.

Use your smart phone

I was done with the outlines and articles in a couple of hour. After that I looked around and realized I could use my smart phone! Since my internet was still working, I connected my Nokia via wifi and opened up the Evernote app in my phone.

(Note: Always have apps installed in your phone even if you don’t use them.)

Before long I was opening up my saved up research and adding more notes to my outline.

I also checked email, updated my calendar and made lists. Lots and lots of lists. And then I came to a dead end. There wasn’t anything else I could do regarding work without my laptop any more.

Talk to Hound customer service

Since it was the weekend here, I figured I wouldn’t get any help from HP. But I still included them in my tweet about my battery & charger dying on Saturday.

Much to my surprise, they contacted me within a few minutes and asked for my contact details to forward to their customer service.

Sunday morning came and I still hadn’t heard from their customer service (not that I was expecting to) so I DM’d HP again and asked them when I could expect an email from them as I really needed to meet my deadlines and had work trapped inside my laptop.

Miracles of miracles, their customer service got back to me within the hour with all the info I needed.

Of course, I was lucky to get great customer service. You’re screwed if you don’t so choose your laptop wisely. To be honest, when I got my HP, customer service was the farthest thing from my mind. There was a major sale going on at one of the electronic retailers and I got was getting the specs I wanted at an unbelievable price so I just snatched it up.

My good luck that HP Middle East has awesome customer service.

Run like the wind

Once I had the info from their customer service rep, I raced to their office in my city and burst in with laptop in tow. Knowing my problem, they gave me a charger so that I could start work immediately and put in an order for the battery since they didn’t have it in stock.

Two days later, I had the battery as well.

I was able to meet my deadlines – thanks to the time difference between UAE and US. If you’re not as lucky as me, the only option you have is to write from scratch all over again and rush to a friend’s place if you don’t have another computer available.

To prepare for emergencies like mine, you have two options:

• Save your work in Google Docs
• Save your files in Drop Box

This way you’ll be able to work from another computer even if your can’t access yours.

Moral of the story: No matter how prepared you are, something will happen that will make all your preparation useless.

Have you ever had computer issues before a big deadline? How did you manage and what did you do? Share your stories and tips!

Since we’ve been talking about writer’s block and writing exercises for the past week, this week’s edition of recommended reading for freelancers is about writing. Enjoy the posts and don’t forget to leave a comment on them.

Got Writer’s Block? 23 Writing Tips That Don’t Involve Writing was a reminder that there are other ways to find writing inspiration. There’s no rule saying you have to write to get past a block. These tips are guaranteed to charge you up and get you excited about writing again.

How to Write Thousands of Words Every Single Week came at just the right time. I’ve been swamped with work and have been struggling to stay on top. What looked like a slow month at the start has turned into my busiest yet! In order to meet all my deadlines, I literally need to write around 5k words per week.

Ali’s post made me stop hyperventilating and gave me a game plan.

Recover from Writing Burn Out: 18 Tips for Writing with Gusto not only listen tips for writing but gave causes and symptoms of a writing burnout. The second tip (Mind your own business) was like a smack on the back of my head.

I’m very guilty of looking at what the writers I admire are doing. And you know what? They always seem to be doing and achieving more than I am! For me, this post was a winner just because of this one, simple tip.

The rest of the article is pretty great too.

That’s it for this edition. Read something that made you stop and think? Share the links in the comments!