What No One Tells You About Becoming a Freelance Medical Writer.

There’s no shortage of information and advice for emerging freelancers. After all, it is unfamiliar territory. But information is useless unless it’s implemented properly. And what happens when advice is contradictory? Going freelance is intimidating and scary and there’s no denying that. Then, isn’t there more to it than dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s?

The short answer is yes, absolutely! The long answer is more complex.

Let’s take a closer look at the first step to launching a successful medical writing business, to illustrate: niching. In the early stages of any business, it’s paramount to have a niche. It positions you as the go-to person within your specialty area, making it a lot easier to get your foot in the door with high-paying, dream clients. Yet, most new writers have very superficial niches that seem to change from one day to the next. They might start off saying they write case studies and blog posts for patients, then attend a CME workshop and, all of a sudden, that’s what they specialize in! A few months later, they’ll watch a grant-writing webinar and then their niche becomes ‘case studies and blog posts, but also CME, grant-writing, and anything else I can get my hands on.’ You get the picture—it’s a mess.

If this is you, I’m not here to judge. But recognizing what’s not working is a huge part of being able to find what does. I’m here to give you an alternative perspective on what it means to niche your business—one that you probably haven’t heard of before. This is the same approach I take with my students and have been teaching in my private community for the past 5+ years. And it’s the same approach that’s helped 100+ driven professionals build thriving businesses within that timeframe. Ready to dive in?

The worst thing you can do when starting a new entrepreneurial venture is to fail to take the time to build a strong personal brand. While your niche is part of your brand, it’s not the entirety of your brand. Think of your personal brand as a small sphere. Within the very centre of that sphere is a tiny clearing—that’s your niche. The rest of the sphere is divided up into 4–5 equally-sized segments, like an orange. So, your personal brand is akin to an orange: your niche is the orange’s core, and each segment of the orange is a critical aspect of your brand that indirectly relates to your niche.

For example, one of my graduate’s niche is trauma-informed care: that’s the centre of her orange. The first segment of her orange is CME; specifically, physician audiences. Another segment is women’s health. Another is patients with a lower socioeconomic status. And the fourth segment is trauma in a broader sense, i.e., how trauma impacts patients’ responses to care.

But how did this individual identify her niche and the segments within her orange? This is where the magic happens. The process of niching isn’t something you should approach from a logical standpoint, i.e., ‘I have a background in X so I should specialize in X.’ or ‘I hear you can earn more in Y so I’ll focus on that,’ or ‘so-and-so was successful in Z and says there’s plenty of work there so that’s what I’ll do, too.’ Frankly, this is the grounds for an unfulfilling, unsustainable business that you’ll outgrow in a matter of weeks, if not seconds—not a good way to gain traction in a new industry.

The most powerful personal brands are a natural extension of a business owner when they’re at their best and most authentic. It’s like they’ve downloaded the best parts of their personality, wisdom, talents, and life experiences and injected it into their orange—so seamlessly that no one even notices. Until one day, when everyone wants to know the secret to their success!

These freelance writers aren’t trying to be anything; they’re simply being themselves. They don’t need to expend vast amounts of energy sending hundreds of cold pitches or convincing people of their greatness; it’s obvious. They have nothing to prove. They aren’t competitive. They’re grounded in their service offering. For the most part, clients come to them because they sense their passion and are drawn to their business like a kid in a candy store. They are so excited to show up for their clients every day because they’re living in  total alignment with their purpose. They’re taking action, but it’s almost effortless. In fact, they hardly even feel like they’re working! People ask them how they find the time to do so much, but they don’t know how to answer because they’re simply living their best lives and that’s genuinely how it feels. Cultivating this limitless energy is one of the major factors that allows business owners to create the freedom-focused lifestyles of their dreams with a better work-life balance than ever before—it’s not a secret, but it’s hella misunderstood.

Let’s revisit the new freelance writer I mentioned earlier and dig a little deeper. They didn’t really decide on a niche as much as it was already within them. With the help of my 1:1 coaching program, they were able to carefully extract and refine it. One graduate described it as coming back to herself, which is very apt. As she explained her branding experience to me during a call, I visualized a re-inactment of the excavation of her personal brand, out in a metaphorical desert somewhere in my brain: “I kept rediscovering parts of myself I’d forgotten about, neglected, or pushed to one side over the years,” she said. It’s an excellent analogy for what the gold standard process of niching and branding entails.

The writer who specializes in trauma-informed care derived their niche from numerous personal and professional-related traumas they had experienced, including an armed robbery at their clinic, a history of domestic violence, and countless private recounts from patients who had experienced similar things throughout their lives. Creating a safe environment for themself and their patients wasn’t something they had to motivate themself to do—it was a natural, aligned reaction to their circumstances and the type of person they are (caring, thoughtful, and always willing to help). In this way, their niche found them—all they had to do was extrapolate from that into their medical writing business.

At a roundtable discussion I led at the American Medical Writers Association conference in New Orleans a few days ago, I shared some of the practical strategies I implore with my 1:1 coaching students to help them get in touch with their niche. While trying these out, allow yourself to dive deep into self-reflection to uncover your brand’s core and bring it to life!

Self-Reflection Prompts:

1. When do you feel most like yourself? Reflect on why these moments resonate with you.
2. Identify 1–2 pivotal moments in your life. How did these shape who you are today?
3. If you could create a highlight reel of your life, what are the top moments you’d include?
4. Is there a hobby or passion from your past that you miss? Why did you let it go, and would you consider bringing it back?

Feedback from Others:

• Ask 3–5 people who know you well to share what they most appreciate about you. Look for common themes that stand out.

Personality Insights:

• Take 1–2 personality tests (like Clifton Strengths, Myers-Briggs, or Enneagram) and note any traits that resonate with you. Do any descriptions match what others appreciate about you or how you see yourself?

I’d love to hear if you found these exercises helpful—comment below and share your key takeaways!

Ready to take the first step towards building a purpose-driven freelance medical writing business? Let’s do it together! Apply to join the waitlist of The ‘Thriving & Free’ Medical Writer Program today and start creating the freedom-focused lifestyle of your dreams!