Where a new freelance takes the questions
New freelances can learn how to run a practice from experienced colleagues, association resources, discussion groups, workshops and business advisers. These routes provide both answers to immediate questions and contacts who can help as the business develops.
Peers, guides and business advisers
Talking with freelance colleagues, joining freelance discussion lists and attending workshops and open sessions can give insight into the realities of self-employment before making the move. A regular business buddy can provide someone to ask throughout the year, and conference contacts can become resources after the event. Collaborative exchange can be useful across professions as well as within medical writing.
A freelance directory can help identify local people to approach for advice. Before starting a UK business in late 2018, a writer used EMWA's directory to find and telephone two local members, who answered questions about demand, client relationships, billing and bringing in business. One recommended Emma Hitt-Nichols's Freelance Medical Writing books, which the new business owner found a useful step-by-step guide to naming a practice, creating a website, attracting clients and buying equipment.
Business advice can also come from specialists outside medical writing. A US freelance described consulting a free New York programme for women starting businesses and a paid Palo Alto adviser, and taking a free SCORE workshop before starting. Her 2019 recommendation was to take a SCORE startup workshop and consider paying a consultant later when needed. A new freelance who is also new to medical writing should take every available basic writing workshop even if already confident as a writer.
Association resources and online groups
Recurring questions at EMWA's Freelance Business Forum concern acquiring clients and setting up and running a business. In 2013, its members-only Freelance Resource Centre held business-management material, medical-writing documents and guidelines, and forum minutes; the report of the 2019 Vienna forum was also available there. AMWA's website, discussion lists and relevant online groups are other sources of resources and contacts.
EMWA created a private LinkedIn group in May 2023 so members interested in freelancing could ask questions and share information between conferences. The closed group allows questions, information, events and jobs or other opportunities relevant to freelances, including members considering self-employment. By June 2024 it had 159 members, with plans for regular posts and possible events; requests to join were ideally accompanied by an EMWA membership number. The group remained listed among the Freelance Business Group's resources in the account of its November 2024 forum.
EMWA’s June 2023 freelancing issue included articles on soft skills, hybrid freelancing, mentoring and coaching, business-book reviews and freelance survey results.
In 2014, associations within the European Forum of Independent Professionals offered business support; the UK's PCG described free tax and legal advice, tax-investigation support, compensation for lost earnings, contract paperwork and business-growth guidance for members.
Association freelance forums
EMWA's Freelance Business Forum is an informal event at its conferences for freelances and anyone interested in freelancing, intended to share best practice, discuss freelance life and meet colleagues from different countries. In 2024 it was free to registered members. It offers a supportive setting for questions and ideas in a profession that can otherwise be solitary. Attendees have found it useful both when moving from employment and when starting directly as a freelance, learning from people with ten or twenty years' experience.
The format described in March 2025 began with the group's mission and activities, then a guest presentation or expert panel, followed by moderated round-table discussions on specific topics and summaries for everyone. Attendees can move between topics, and informal discussion allows interaction and reflection. Earlier accounts described a late-afternoon or early-evening event with an hour of table discussions, refreshments and opportunities for conversations to continue afterwards. Participants have continued contacts after the conference.
When the pandemic prevented in-person meetings in 2020–2022, presentations were followed by online breakout rooms that attendees could move between; by 2024 this format continued at the virtual November conferences. The autumn 2023 virtual forum had over 110 registered participants and rooms moderated by experienced freelances from varied backgrounds. The November 2024 forum had 40 attendees, with room discussions lasting 45 minutes before summaries were shared.
The eight table topics reported from the 2019 Vienna forum illustrate the range of questions:
- Additional training needed to run a freelance business.
- The value of attending EMWA conferences and the forum.
- Working with clients outside the home country or continent.
- Price competition with non-European writing hubs.
- Whether personal liability insurance is needed.
- Managing downtime between projects.
- Writing in newer and more specialised areas.
- Getting started in freelance regulatory writing.
Other forum topics have included affordable branding, contracts, regulatory writing, veterinary and toxicology opportunities, client expectations and work–life balance, with earlier topic lists available on EMWA's website. At Vienna in 2019, one new writer gained advice on daily business tasks, finding clients and entering regulatory writing, and peers' opinions helped him decide to join the freelance directory.
AMWA's early-career freelance discussions have addressed health insurance, expenses, contracts, readiness for the first assignment, finding clients and raising rates. A June 2022 Southeast Regional Conference session brought about 15 new, prospective and more experienced freelances together to ask questions and exchange lessons. Participants described mentoring relationships that had developed naturally from networking contacts. Interactive conference discussions can continue beyond their scheduled time: at a 2019 AMWA session on hourly and project pricing, experienced freelances answered newcomers' questions in the room and in smaller groups outside afterwards.
Workshops, retreats and exchanges
Local freelance workshops can combine business teaching, small-group discussion and questions to experienced practitioners. AMWA's Delaware Valley Chapter workshop in March 2017 offered three keynotes, a choice of two of ten roundtables and separate interactive problem-solving sessions for newcomers and experienced writers. A new freelance found the first-hand accounts and questions useful and observed that repeat attendees continued supporting one another's careers.
A peer retreat can provide time away from work and home distractions to develop the business with colleagues in a comfortable, informal setting. A UK medical writers' retreat in 2012 combined peer exchange and group coaching, addressing business management, client demands and professional value. Participants wanted help with time management, criticism, excessive workloads, attracting clients and talking about money; discussion also covered self-leadership, self-worth and online visibility.
In 2019, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs offered aspiring entrepreneurs and owners of businesses started within the past three years a partly European Commission-funded stay of one to six months with an experienced small-business owner in another participating country. Eligibility concerned the age of the business rather than the participant, with a local contact point guiding applicants. New entrepreneurs could learn business skills while hosts gained fresh perspectives, possible foreign partners and knowledge of new markets. A new medical-writing business owner in northern Sweden considered it useful where local learning opportunities were scarce, although her contact point said medical writing had been uncommon in the programme.