The Laptop Living

Leading the copywriting space in Pakistan with more than 150k followers across various platforms.

Founder & CEO

Quit engineering and followed by heart to become a full-time freelance copywriter. 

Update: yours truly is now an award-winning copywriter with $12MM in tracked sales from the copy I've written.

Freelance Copywriter

Emerson Process Management (LBP SUMICO Technologies)

1.Responsible for performing Vibration Analysis of assigned plants and generating reports and triggers necessary actions. Ensuring that reports are clearly specifying recommended corrective actions and time line for the corrective actions.

2. Responsible for Reviewing Thermography reports and Ultrasonic testing reports.

3. Technical Expertise’s include Vibration Analysis, Dynamic Balancing, Bearing RCFA, Thermography, Laser Alignment, Ultrasonic testing of Steam traps, Stroboscopic Inspections.

4.Responsible for delivering extensive Technical training to Customers at their plant site regarding Reliability Centered Maintenance, Bearing Root Cause Failure Analysis, Vibration Analysis, Condition Monitoring Technologies etc.

5.Performs analysis to identify bad actors to improve the reliability, availability, and maintainability of plant equipment.

6.Responsible for solving complex problems through an organized, logical, and systematic approach using strong analytical techniques.

7.Managing the Services Contracts with Customers, Marketing the Services, Arranging demos for Customers regarding the Condition Monitoring Equipment.

8.Managing and Performing On-Call/special Condition Monitoring services from Customers

9.Performing Equipment Statically Analysis for Customers plants to ensure optimal frequency of inspection so that machines should not be over or under maintained.

10.Providing Services of Bearing Root Cause Failure Analysis to Customers in order to minimize re-occurrence of the faults.

11.Infrared Thermography of different machines, electrical panels and Transformers. 

12.Steam Traps Inspection & Air Leaks Detection by using Acoustic Emission Testing.

Condition Monitoring Engineer

Rousch (Pakistan) Power Limited

•	Analyzed the working of Combined Cycled Power Plant
•	Analyzed the working of Cooling towers
•	Analyzed the working of Condenser and Boilers

Intern

Agritech limited (formerly Pak American Fertilizer Limited)

•	Over viewing the maintenance activities.
•	Studied the plants in detail.

👉 For ecom brands 

I will tear down walls for you... *insert generic promises of being the best goddam ecom growth consultant in the world*

Let's cut that BS, and talk business owner to business owner. 

You're looking at someone who has helped clients generate $27 million in additional revenue through email and copy. 

I happen to be someone who knows what it's like to leave money on the table by not having retention marketing in place. 

I know what it's like to be alone without someone to talk to about the way things are going with your business. And I've been there and know how to make things work.

So, reach out to me if you need help scale your brand.

Here's my website:

http://conversioncrush.com/

Oh and in case you didn't know (which you probably didn't lol), I happen to be an award-winning copywriter with 3.5k projects under my belt. 

This means you're in good hands. 

Let's strike up a conversation and see if we're a good fit!

👉 Are you a copywriter?

Find all the good stuff below. 

It includes a link to FREE eBOOK, FREE copywriting training, copywriting community and my website  https://linktr.ee/shahzadk

Why I don't work with Pakistani brands anymore.

Three reasons:

1. Market sophistication doesn't justify the work.

Pakistani mass market isn't sophisticated enough for the level of copy required.

A famous influencer with massive reach. Brand hired him for direct response. 

Result? Zero sales on 1 million impressions.

They're trained for awareness, not sales. That's the reality of Pakistani marketing.

2. They don't pay accordingly.

Talked to a "successful" entrepreneur.

Showed her we could easily generate 1 crore in revenue. 

She was shocked. Didn't believe it was possible.

Then came pricing discussion: "This is Pakistan, do Pakistani prices na."

Hard pass.

3. Client-side isn't sophisticated either.

They want results in 24 hours. Think they own you. Don't respect your time or expertise.

Worked with huge brand. Built email list of 400K. Improved open rates from 5% to 25%. About to send sales emails.

Internal team got jealous. Started poking holes. "Why this? Why not that?"

Despite explaining strategy, they caused trouble. Had to quit.

They pay in rupees. Same work pays 100x more from US client in dollars.

Math is simple and time is money.

Shahzad Khan

Award-Winning Copywriter ⚜Ecom Growth Consultant⚜Scaling DTC Brands By Leveraging Email Marketing ⚜ $40+ Million In Revenue Generated & 3500+ Projects ⚜ Founder The Laptop Living & Conversion Crush ⚜ Speaker & Trainer

remembering everyone in prayers InshaAllah

Is the dream of "earning in dollars while living in Pakistan" a TRAP?

Maybe yes, because it's keeping most Pakistani freelancers poor in the long run.

You see, the same model that seems like financial freedom today is creating a ceiling on your growth tomorrow.

Now, before you come at me with pitchforks, hear me out.

When you get into the mindset of eventually converting your USD to PKR... You get into the...

👉 Comfort Zone Trap 
❌ "I make $1,000/month which is 280,000 PKR! I'm rich!" 

👉 Undercharging Cycle 
❌ "I can charge less because my expenses are lower" 

👉 Geographical Ceiling 
❌ "I'll always live in Pakistan to maximize my dollar advantage" 

The moment you think "this is enough money for Pakistan," you've placed a ceiling on your growth.

The hard questions no one is asking:

What happens when Pakistan's cost of living rises?
What if you want to travel or live abroad someday?
What about building generational wealth, not just a good monthly income?
What about creating assets, not just selling time?

While most Pakistani freelancers: 

❌ Celebrate earning $1,000/month 
❌ Stay comfortable with "enough" for local standards 
❌ Compete on being cheaper than Westerners 
❌ Think short-term about cash flow

Top global earners from Pakistan: 

✅ Target $10,000-$20,000+/month 
✅ Ignore local income averages completely 
✅ Compete on expertise, not price 
✅ Build assets and invest beyond Pakistan

The greatest advantage of living in Pakistan isn't that you can undercharge.
It's that you can SAVE and INVEST at higher percentage of world-class rates.

The "earn in dollars, spend in rupees" mindset keeps you thinking too small and the real winning formula is to...

Earn like you live in New York, save like you live in Pakistan, invest globally.

There's this Pakistani influencer with over 500,000 followers.

Reached out because they wanted him to help them actually sell their product.

His manager's response? 

"Oh no, he's never sold anything before. He just does brand awareness campaigns."

Hold on. How exactly do you make brands money if you've never actually sold anything for them?

Here's another example. 

There was this other influencer who charged 600,000 rupees for a campaign. The brand paid him the full amount upfront.

Want to know how much revenue he generated for them? Absolutely nothing. Zero rupees in sales.

This is the uncomfortable truth about influencer marketing in Pakistan right now.

Most influencers are trained to post content and build awareness. 

This has happened thanks to big brands with huge budgets and their teams who haven't done direct response in their entire career.

They're great at getting views and engagement on their posts. But when you ask them to actually drive sales and make the brand money, they get uncomfortable.

They'll tell you things like "I'm not comfortable with direct selling" or "That's not really what I do."

But then what exactly are you doing? You're taking brand money and giving them nothing they can actually measure in terms of revenue.

The real problem isn't just the influencers though. Pakistani brands are equally responsible for this mess. They hire influencers, get some posts made, and call it marketing. No tracking systems in place. No accountability for actual results. No measurement of return on investment.

The brand just celebrates getting a million impressions on a post. But when you ask them how much actual revenue that generated, there's just silence.

Here's what needs to change. 

Influencers need to start doing performance-based deals where they only get paid when the brand actually makes money. 

And brands need to wake up and start demanding real results instead of just vanity metrics like views and impressions.

Because at the end of the day, impressions don't pay your bills. Sales do.

I built my copywriting career on Fiverr.

Life was good. 
Projects flowing in. 
Clients everywhere. 

I was a "successful freelancer."

Then it happened.

One algorithm change. Zero warning.

My gigs vanished from first page. 
Then second page. 
Then buried completely.

Income dropped 80% in a single month.

Not because my skills got worse. Not because my reviews dropped. Not because my delivery slowed down.

Because I had built my entire business on rented land.

Your thriving freelance business isn't actually a business if it's not diversified.

Thank God I had good clients and Upwork as backup. 

Moving forward, it's all about diversification.

Have a personal brand. 
Launch your own offers.
Have long-term clients (even if they pay slightly less than what you want)

We celebrate jobs and mock businesses.

When I had a job paying 10,000 rupees a month, everyone was proud.

"Mashallah, naukri lag gayi." 
"Beta settled ho gaya." 
"Chalo ab rishta dhundo. (this never really happened lol)"

10,000 rupees. 

Couldn't even cover my living. 

But I was "successful."

Then I quit and started building my own thing.

Suddenly I was:

❌ Lazy 
❌ Not serious about life 
❌ Wasting my time 
❌ Running away from responsibility 
❌ "Ye kab tak chalega?"

The funny part?

I was making 10x more than that job within a year.

But the respect? Still missing.

This is the backwards math of Pakistani culture:

👉 Kid gets 20K job → Mithai distribution 
👉 Kid builds business making 200K → "Kitna chalega ye?"
👉 "Manager" title at a dying company → Rishta approved 
👉 "Founder" of a profitable business → "Koi stable kaam dhundo"
👉 Working for someone else's dream → Serious person 
👉 Working for your own dream → Avoiding real life

We've been taught that jobs = security and business = risk.

But look around.

Companies are laying off thousands. 

"Stable" jobs vanish overnight. 

That bank manager uncle? Still making what he made 10 years ago.

Plus, most of these people have no idea what AI is going to do to them. 

Go out here, do your own thing or at least try building something because things are going in a very unique direction.

I've spent $23,000 on courses and masterminds over the years.

If I count the ones my clients got me into for free, that number crosses $50,000 easily.

Here's what I realized after spending all that money.

After a certain point, there are no new tricks in this game. 

It's the same information you already know, just packaged in a different way by a different person.

You see a new guru with a new framework and you think "this is it, this is the missing piece." 

But when you actually go through it, you realize it's the same concept you've heard before, just presented differently.

The real problem isn't that you don't know enough. The problem is you're not implementing what you already know.

The truth is you don't need another course or another framework or another guru. 

You need to stop consuming information and start executing on what you already have.

Pick one thing you know works. Just one strategy or tactic. Ignore everything else and implement that one thing for the next 90 days.

Life is never going to be perfect.

Things are never going to fall into place exactly how you want them to.

That perfect moment you're waiting for? It doesn't exist.

The right time never comes. You create it.

I've written sales pages while sick. 
I've taken client calls with fever. 
I've worked on campaigns when everything in my life was falling apart.

Do it broken. Do it scared. Do it with fever. Do it when your mind says you're not ready.

The people who win aren't the ones who wait for perfect conditions. 

They're the ones who move despite imperfect conditions.

I don't believe in work-life balance.

At least not in the beginning.

When I was building my career from 2017-2022, there was no balance. 

There was just work.

Weekends? Work. 
Eid holidays? Work. 
Friend's wedding? Laptop in the car.

People called it obsession. I called it foundation.

Work-life balance is a luxury. 

And luxuries come AFTER you can afford them.

The gurus preaching "set boundaries" and "protect your energy" built their businesses during seasons of ZERO balance.

❌ You can't build something extraordinary with ordinary effort 
❌ You can't compete with hungry people while being comfortable 
❌ You can't shortcut the foundation phase

But here's the part most people miss:

Seasons change.

2017-2022: I worked like a maniac. 
2022-2023: I pivoted. 
2024: I faced a major setback
2025: I hired people. Built teams. And now I take weeks off and nothing breaks.

The balance came. But it came AFTER the foundation.

Most freelancers want the 4-hour workweek before the 14-hour grind.

They want the fruit without the years of watering.

Go all in now. Build the machine. Then let it run.

Fiverr takes 20%. Upwork takes 10-20%.

And that's a good thing they're upfront about it.

People complain about platform fees all the time. 

"They're taking my money! It's too much! I should keep everything!"

But let me tell you what those fees actually buy you.

Client trust. 

When a client pays through Fiverr or Upwork, they trust the platform to protect them. 

That trust gets you in the door. 

Without it, you're just another stranger on the internet asking for money.

Client ghosts after delivery? Platform handles it. 

Client refuses to pay? Platform backs you up. 

Dispute resolution. Someone's unhappy? Platform mediates. 

You don't need lawyers or complicated contracts. 

They handle the mess.

Built-in traffic. 

Millions of buyers actively looking for what you sell. 

You didn't pay for those ads. 

You didn't build that audience. 

The platform did.

The twenty percent isn't a fee. 

It's an investment in infrastructure you couldn't build yourself at that stage.

When I was starting out and nobody knew who I was, that twenty percent bought me credibility, protection, and access to clients I could never reach on my own.

The problem isn't the platforms taking a cut. 

The problem is freelancers who build their entire business there and never graduate.

Use platforms to get started. 
Build your reputation. 
Land your first clients. 
Learn the game.

But don't stay forever.

Eventually, you need to own your client relationships. Build your own brand. Create direct connections.

Every solution creates a new problem.

And that's actually good news.

Let me explain.

You start with a skill problem. You learn copywriting. Great.

Now you have a client problem. You need people to work with.

You solve that and get clients. Now you have a communication problem. How do you explain what you do?

You fix that. Now you have a fulfillment problem. How do you deliver quality work consistently?

You figure that out. Now you have a retention problem. How do you keep clients coming back?

See the pattern?

This is why copywriting and marketing is an infinite game with infinite opportunity. You're constantly solving new problems for people and getting paid for it.

That's also why upsells exist and why they're not a scam.

In Pakistan, people hear "upsell" and immediately think they're being scammed. But if someone is genuinely trying to solve a bigger problem for you, that's a good thing.

You solved their email problem. Now they need landing pages. That's not a scam, that's the natural next step.

The game never ends. The problems keep evolving. The opportunities keep coming.

That's the beauty of it.

Built 8 figures with services from my bedroom.

To hit 9? 

Need products/offers and a team of people.

Each zero requires different model.

✅ 0-1 Crore: Freelancer Model

You. Your skills. Client work.
Trade time for money. Optimize your rate.
This works. Until it doesn't.
Ceiling: Your time.

✅1-5 Crore: Agency Model

Team. Systems. Multiple clients simultaneously.
You manage people who do the work.
This scales. Until it doesn't.
Ceiling: Your management capacity.

✅ 5-10 Crore: Product Model

Courses. Communities. Offers that run without you.
You create once, sell repeatedly.
This multiplies. Until it doesn't.
Ceiling: Your audience size.

I'm at 8 figures. 

But I can see my ceiling approaching.

To break through? 

Need to shift models.

If you're stuck at 1 lakh/month - you need to double down on outreach and sending proposals. 

If at 5 lakh/month - you need to start positioning yourself and pickng an area of expertise

If you're at 1 million/month - start building your team now.

If you're stuck at 30 lakh/month - you're maxing out on services. Time to build products.

Everyone cold pitching the same way: "Hire me. I'm great. Here are my services."

Nobody responds.

Here's how to flip the script:

DON'T pitch services. Pitch outcomes or opportunities. 

✅️ Option 1: Results-Based Deal

"I'll work for free upfront. You pay based on results I deliver."

No-brainer for them. Especially businesses not actively using what you offer.

Zero risk. Pure upside.

✅️ Option 2: Roundtable Authority

Invite 20 coaches to Zoom roundtable on "Scaling Through Organic Content."

Deliver value. Build authority. They see you lead.

After? "By the way, I help with this 1-on-1."

You're not selling. You're the expert they just learned from.

✅️ Option 3: Podcast Invitations

Invite them on YOUR podcast.

Industry notices you. They notice you. Relationships build.

Eventually? They hire you. Or refer you. Or partner with you.

Lead with authority, not desperation.

The pattern?

Stop leading with "I want your money."

Start leading with "I'm creating value in your space."

Authority attracts. Pitching repels.

Most cold outreach fails because you're asking for something.

Winners give first. Then opportunities come.

In 2023, my Fiverr gigs disappeared from search overnight. 

Algorithm change. No warning.

80% income drop in one month.

If Fiverr was my only platform, I would've been finished.

But I had Upwork running. LinkedIn was building. I survived.

Here's what most freelancers get wrong:

❌ They master ONE platform 
❌ They celebrate when it works 
❌ They ignore everything else 
❌ They panic when it crashes

The 3-Platform Rule is simple:

Always have 3 client sources running simultaneously.

My combo:

✅ Fiverr — quick projects, steady cash flow 
✅ Upwork — long-term retainers, bigger clients 
✅ LinkedIn — inbound leads, authority building

You become a different asset on each.

And when one platform changes its algorithm, raises fees, or bans your country overnight...

You don't start from zero.

Stop asking "which platform is best."
Start asking "how do I win on three?"

Pakistani brands spend millions on influencers and brand awareness campaigns.

Then wonder why sales don't happen.

Here's what they're missing. 

Direct response marketing.

Let me explain what this means and why every Pakistani brand needs to understand this right now.

Traditional marketing says put your logo everywhere and build awareness. 

Run TV ads. 
Hire influencers. 
Get impressions. 

Hope people remember you when they're ready to buy.

Direct response marketing says show your ad and get the sale immediately. Every rupee spent must be trackable to revenue generated.

The difference is massive.

Traditional marketing is like throwing seeds in the air and hoping some land on fertile ground. 

Direct response marketing is like planting each seed exactly where you know it will grow.

Pakistani brands are stuck in the traditional mindset. 

They hire an influencer with 500,000 followers and pay 6 lakh rupees for posts.

They get a million views and celebrate. 

But when you ask how much revenue that generated, there's just awkward silence.

Because they never set up tracking. 
They never measured actual sales. 
They just assumed awareness equals revenue eventually.

Here's the reality. 

In direct response marketing, every ad has a call to action. 

Every campaign is tracked. 

Every rupee spent is measured against rupees earned.

You know exactly what's working and what's not.

You can scale what works and kill what doesn't. 

This is why international brands grow faster. 

They understand direct response. 
They track everything. 
They optimize constantly.
They know their numbers.

Pakistani brands need to stop treating marketing as an art and start treating it as a science.

I hired my first full-time teammate too late.

Should've done it 4 years earlier.

But I was stuck in the "I'll save money by doing it myself" trap.

Here's what that "saving" actually cost me:

❌ Burned out at 4 AM editing my own work 
❌ Missed client deadlines because I was the bottleneck 
❌ Said no to projects I could've taken 
❌ Health went downhill 
❌ Zero life outside the laptop

I thought hiring wouldn't work for me.

Turns out, I was right and wrong. lol

The first hire and I ran everything to the ground hahah.

He didn't know stuff, I didn't have time to do quality control and it got us in a very bad place. 

But the moment I fixed my hiring:

✅ Slept properly for the first time in months 
✅ Took on bigger projects 
✅ Started thinking instead of just doing 
✅ Actually grew the business

Most freelancers stay stuck because they're doing 10,000 rupee tasks while ignoring 100,000 rupee opportunities.

What task should you have delegated 6 months ago?

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