The last part of the year can be one of the best times to make a transition or to chase the clients you said you wanted to pursue. As I understand it, most of the funds obtained through grants have to be used up before the end of the year,
“I’m not ready.” I hear this often when people ask me about how to make the move to medical writing from translation and vice versa. I think it’s because both fields have been affected by budget redistribution, workflow changes brought by AI, overindexing on credentials, and just how
There are people that like coffee, people that drink coffee, and people that avoid it. I've been thinking about the cost of convenience since reading Julie Beck's article in The Atlantic about Gabe Bullard's book, Against Convenience. A cup of coffee can come in
I’m increasingly being asked by Operations Managers at Medical Communication companies to review text from the clinical standpoint. I keep being surprised by these requests, because I thought that my background as a doctor made it clear to them that that’s what I had always done. It didn&
Musicians have to perform live to prove that they are not AI. I came up with this reflection after listening to one of Rick Beato’s YouTube videos about AI-generated music. What is the equivalent for freelancers in medical communications? I initially thought that conferences were the answer. They
At the end of 2023, I had the longest period of time that I had gone without a client project. After one week with no emails, I told myself that it was fine. After all, I had experienced similar dry spells before. After two weeks, I knew something had changed.
For a long time I couldn't articulate what my medical degree meant on the page, at least when it comes to medical communications. I could say what I did, overall. I could say what I learned. I could say what I do as a job: I write and
Years ago, an agency went quiet. An agency whose medical textbook chapters had been a steady part of my calendar, and they stopped sending them. No new files, no updates , nothing. I knew something was wrong, and I decided it was temporary. Volume dips happen all the time, and publishers
The biggest shift that I made when publishing articles for this newsletter or LinkedIn was stopping to pretend that I knew the answers, that I was the expert in X or Y topic. Instead, I decided to write only from my perspective, my experiences, and what has worked for me
I recently read a line that made a lot of things click for me: “Fluent isn’t the problem anymore. Correct, on-brand, and governed is the problem.” I agree, at least based on what I’ve seen with my clients and the shift that many translators and writers are
I’ve been immersed in continuing medical education slide decks for the past couple of weeks; sometimes editing, sometimes reviewing scientific accuracy, and, the last two days, reviewing translations for US-focused accredited activities being adapted to other countries. Doing these different activities back-to-back helped put a name
It’s no secret that I am a strong supporter of niche marketing. I find it attracts the right type of clients and leads to more fulfilling work. I’ve also seen that many people are opposed to it and they say that they can write a novel with the
I frequently work at a coworking space, and there’s something that I’ve noticed: people with regular jobs do something that I can’t really afford to do. I’ve seen how some people start their day: they arrive at the office, grab coffee, check emails, chat a bit
This time last year, I had been trying different marketing strategies on and off, but I couldn’t stick to one. LinkedIn, cold emails, online networking events, reaching out to other freelancers in my area; it felt draining. I was convinced I wasn’t good at it, so I started
One of the most contested pieces of advice in freelancing is niche down. I’m 100% a proponent of niching down, but I think most of us approach it backwards, and that version of niching down is why so many translators and writers spend years in a niche that never
A few days ago, I shared on LinkedIn how I started splitting my days into three types of activity: promotion, delivery, and building. The labels aren’t new, and anyone who’s read business development advice has seen some version of this. What surprised me was how much the sequencing
I’ve been talking with some freelancers recently, and there is a theme that keeps coming up again and again. They are stuck at the “technician” level. This is a concept that comes from the book “The E-Myth Revisited”, and the book mentions the three roles that a freelancer