Deciding whether to freelance

This branch covers the choice to work independently, divided by the decision involved: personal fit, employment tradeoffs, security and flexibility, readiness and alternative routes into freelance practice. Establishing the practice after that choice and returning to employment sit outside this branch.

• Whether freelance working life suits a writer — temperament, business responsibilities, available options, autonomy and changing personal preferences
• Employment and freelance tradeoffs — control, responsibility, hours, workload, colleagues, support and overheads
• Balancing security and flexibility in a freelance practice — client choice, location, workload and variable health
• Readiness for freelance medical writing — independent delivery, client expectations, experience, qualifications, business knowledge and personal readiness
• Temporary agency work or an independent freelance practice — control, administration, income, continuity and working within a client’s organisation
• Freelancing alongside a job — prevalence, reasons for combining roles, benefits, demands and managing both
• Moving from academia to freelance medical writing — reasons, networks, business ownership, transferable skills and prior in-house experience