A few months ago, I wrote about making a huge business investment and how scary it felt.*

Alhamdulillah, that program started in May and I’m really enjoying it! The teacher is amazing at what she does and her insights have given me so much clarity with the things that I was struggling with in my business.

Even someone just saying Yes, what you’re describing is a common struggle and here are some ways you can approach it.... has been enormously reassuring.

I say enormously because when you’ve been quietly asking yourself the same questions over and over again and you have no way of knowing why one thing works sometimes and it doesn’t at other times, it starts to feel like nothing makes sense.

Feeling stuck, I’ve come to realize, is one of the worst feelings you can experience. You’re bound to repeating the same mistakes over and over again because you don’t even know that they’re mistakes to begin with.

For context, the course that I’m taking is run by Eman Ismail, who is an email strategist. This is very meta lol, but essentially it’s a course that teaches business owners how to use email to connect with their subscribers (in this case, that’s you).

I’m learning how to call in the right people who are excited to learn from me and will benefit from what I have to offer, and to eventually make a decision about whether my programs are the right fit for them or not.

What I love about Eman’s approach is that it very much aligns with how I approach teaching too.

When writers join my programs, I want them to be excited about learning from me. I want them to feel like they've found something that was created just for them.

And if you’ve ever emailed or DM’ed me with your questions, you’ll know that I’m also very open about whether I feel like I can help you or not.

Because if I’m not the right fit for someone, I know neither of us would be happy working together. And I want writing to be something that you always feel good about, including the people you choose to work with and trust your writing with.

Doing this work with Eman has reminded me of my own journey as a writer, back when I was feeling stuck with my writing and looking for a course that would help me grow.

I had done some workshops that I didn’t benefit from. I did a self-study course that I really enjoyed but didn’t end up finishing, because, life. After a while of writing on my own, I knew that I had reached the point where I needed expert guidance.

I wanted a writing teacher — but not just anyone; a teacher who would be a good fit for me and who would get what I was trying to do in my writing.

Last week, I submitted my first set of emails for Eman to review. While I was writing those emails, I kept thinking I wish Eman had given us a template. But Eman doesn't provide templates and I knew that lol. In fact, that’s what I liked about her approach, that it wasn’t cookie-cutter and that she trusted we already knew how to write emails.

Still, I almost felt like I didn’t know how to write an email! Which is silly because I’ve been sending emails on this list for over four years now! And many of you have replied to me at one point or another and told me that you find these emails beneficial (if you've ever done that, thank you!!)

But that’s the state that you can get in when you’re stuck. You clearly know how to do a thing but you feel like you know nothing.

Eman started her feedback by saying that she loved my emails! In fact, she pointed to specific ones and said "I love this one" and "this one is so good." And one, she referred to as “stunning.”

I was so surprised by her feedback. I genuinely thought that she would tell me these emails aren’t doing the job that they're supposed to do, and that she would show me all the things that I’m doing wrong.

It was such a throwback moment for me because it reminded me of the first assignment that I did for my writing course and my teacher told me she loved my writing. She even said it had the same quality that Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories did, who was one of my favourite writers.

You don’t know how good you are until someone points it out to you. This is true of writing, and apparently of emails too.

But the other part of this equation is that only an expert can show you where the gaps are and where you still need to grow. Eman didn’t just tell me she loved my emails. She also showed me how I can make them better.

This is the extremely invaluable, completely irreplaceable part of working with a teacher. They can finally point to the exact thing that is keeping you stuck and show you how to grow. They can show you how to safely get off the hamster wheel you've been on, without falling flat on your face, and hold open the door for you to exit safely.

I couldn’t know what I didn’t know until Eman pointed it out to me. I couldn’t know what kind of messaging was making it more difficult for writers to know whether I could help them or not, until she pointed it out.

And it was the exact same with my writing. I still continued to take smaller writing courses after that, but none of them have led to as much growth and learning as that teacher-led course did. I got feedback on my assignments for every lesson; I was able to ask as many questions as I had; and I learnt, finally, what I needed to do to make my stories stronger.

It took me years to get to the point where I was ready to invest in myself (including saving up) and sign up for the teacher-led writing course. I started writing seriously in 2011 and took that writing course in 2015.

Interestingly enough, it took me that same amount of time to commit to making this investment in my business as well. I started running my own writing programs in 2022 and now in 2026, I’m finally taking a business course to help me get unstuck.

I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look into my business. And I hope it gave you some clarity on where you are in your writing journey and what needs to happen next for you. If it's working with a teacher to give you guidance and feedback on your writing, join my waitlist for Grounded Writers. I'll be reopening doors in August inshaAllah!

With best wishes & duas for your writing,

Hajera

*P.S. If you missed that email, you can read it here​

Here's how I can support you in your writing:

✍🏽 Learn craft and write stronger stories: Join the waitlist for Grounded Writers, a creative writing community for Muslim women​

📖 Find fiction intimidating and not sure how to go from writing about your life to writing fictional stories? It's easier than you think. Take my Ease Into Fiction course for less than $35 CAD​

📞 Struggling with writing and need guidance from someone who has been where you are now? Book a call with me and get advice that works for you and gets you feeling excited about your writing again​