Pencil Points Banner Logo
Insight and Inspiration from   
The Accidental Medical Writer   
Quick Links
Join our list
Join Our Mailing List

Departments

  • Welcome!
  • [Not] Just for Newbies
  • On the Radar 
  • Dollars & Sense
  • TAMW Calendar 
  • The Savvy Marketer
     

July 2014
  Issue #58

Reality is What You Make It! 

 

One of the great things about being a freelance is bring in control. We're masters of our fate. There are no investors to downsize us, no bosses to kiss up to, nobody telling us what to do or how to do it. So if there's something about our business we don't like, it's up to us to change it. Reality is what we make it.

 

 

In this issue of Pencil Points we want to help you make your reality the best it can be!

Did you know that plumbers make good role models for freelance medical writers? That's no fairytale, and you can learn all about it in Dollars and Sense. Does your freelance business make you happy? Well, it should. In [Not] Just for Newbies we've taken a page, or rather a few notes, from Pharrell Williams to help you evaluate, adjust, and get in the groove.

Is the reality your social media presence lacks luster? Would you like to kick that aspect of your marketing mix into a higher gear? We inspire you with tales of excellence from 4 social media gurus who can help you take your social media presence from zero to Zen in The Savvy Marketer. And speaking of control, in On the Radar we introduce you to an author you're likely to go APE over!

Commit yourself to making your freelance reality great, and you'll always be smiling while others toil.

By the way, an exciting addition to our reality is the presentations we're giving this year at AMWA's 74th Annual Conference in Memphis, TN. Check out Where In the World are Brian and Cyndy to see what we're up to, and come join us! Registration is open now!

 

Until next month,


Cyndy and Brian
The Accidental Medical Writer

PS. We're excited to be Amazon Associates. Every time you visit Amazon through our website or click on a product link we provide and make a purchase, we earn a few pennies that allow us to continue to give you free content through this newsletter. We would really appreciate it if you did so.
Newbies[NOT] JUST FOR NEWBIES
Information and Inspiration for New and Experienced Writers 
Clap Along If You Know What Happiness Is to You

It might be crazy what we're about to say, but we dare you to watch the official music video for Pharrell Williams' hit, Happy, and not start dancing. We might just dub this the unofficial anthem of freelance writers everywhere.

 

But it leads us to the question, are you happy with your business? Does it make you clap your hands and dance with joy? It should--at least most of the time.

 

Summer is a great time to really examine what you like and dislike about your business and figure out whether you are happy doing what you are doing. Notice we didn't say satisfied. Satisfaction and happiness are related but different. You can be satisfied with your business, but not happy.

 

If you aren't happy with what you're doing, the next question to ask is what's making you unhappy? Do you have too many clients? Too few? Perhaps you're writing in a medium or therapeutic area that no longer interests or excites you. Maybe you're working too many hours and are frustrated that you have no time to do other things that you enjoy. Or, the flip side, perhaps complications in your personal life are limiting the time you can devote to your business. The list could go on and on. The key is to identify the source of your unhappiness and then take corrective measures to fix what's broken.

 

Some writers contemplating the freelance route mistakenly believe that freelancing will solve all their problems and make them happy. No. Work isn't the only source of our happiness or our frustration. Our happiness originates from a complex set of internal and external factors, and the work we do is one piece of the picture. Granted, it's a pretty large piece considering most of us spend 8 to 10 hours a day doing our work. When something takes up that much of our time, you can bet we want to be happy doing it.

 

So right now, take a break, sit back, and ask yourself, "Am I happy with my business?" If the answer's "No," then do something to change it. And if the answer's "Yes," (with apologies to Pharrell Williams) clap along because you know what happiness is to you. Clap along because you feel like medical writing's what you want to do.

 

Radar ON THE RADAR
Resources for Medical Writers
Here's One Author We Go APE Over!

We're always looking for new resources and we've found that people can be the best resources ever. Allow us to introduce you to Guy Kawasaki, an author and entrepreneur whose books are filled with great ideas.

What we like so much about Guy is that even after becoming a New York Times' bestselling author, he grabbed the publishing reins and began self-publishing his material. That message of taking control of one's writing career obviously resounds with us.

 

If you are considering the self-publishing route, check out Guy's 300-page APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book. We found it to be a comprehensive and realistic guide about self-publishing. 

DollarsDOLLARS & SENSE

Advice on the Business of Freelancing 

No Fairy Tales!              

 

It's one o'clock in the morning. You're wakened by a loud noise, but coming out of a deep sleep you can't tell what caused it. Wandering the house with half an eye open, you open the door to the basement and discover your hot water heater has sprung a terrible leak. Worse yet, you and your family are leaving in 6 hours to catch a flight to start your vacation.

 

You call a plumber with emergency availability. The plumber arrives on your doorstep in 30 minutes. Within 2 hours the leak is resolved, the basement is starting to dry out, and the day is saved. The plumber hands you a bill, to which you respond "I'm sorry. I don't have that in the budget. I can only give you a quarter of that amount." The plumber smiles and says "Sure!"

 

Nobody does this to plumbers. Or electricians. Or any other professionals who bail you out of a big mess when the last thing on your mind is the cost. We all have an idea of what various professionals charge, and we know when our urgent need places an added burden for which we expect to pay additionally. So why do clients do this to medical writers?

 

Last month, we received a call from a client with whom we've worked for many years. It wasn't one o'clock in the morning, and she wasn't knee-deep in water, but she was sure knee-deep in something and needed our help. We love opportunities to be heroes for our clients--that's why they remember us, prefer us, and work with us for many years. So we jumped at the chance.

 

Our work was spot on, and delivered on time as was critical to the project's success. Our client was pleased, and asked us to send an invoice. That's when the fairytale began. A full week after submitting our invoice, our client sent us an email. She wrote, "Would agree to take $500 for this? I know your invoice for $2,900 was legitimate and worth every penny, but we really have no budget for this." We were dumbfounded. With all our experience, all the trials and tribulations we've been through, and all the lessons we've learned, here was a new one for the books (or for Pencil Points, anyway). This client is a friend and knows very well what we charge. She was so focused on the emergency at hand, it didn't occur to her to tell us there was a ridiculous budget. Or maybe it did. We'll never know.

 

We don't mind "writing off a project to our marketing budget." We put that in quotes because that's how we financially manage low-budget, or no-budget, assignments for good, or potentially good, clients. But in this case, it wasn't our decision to make. The work was already done and now we were being asked to sacrifice ourselves for friendship.

 

What's the moral of this story? Never, ever, do work without estimating it first. No matter how well you know the client, no matter how much time providing an estimate eats into an already ridiculous schedule, no matter how much you don't think you need to. Unless you're already willing to do the job for free, you need to provide an estimate up front. This will force your client with a fairy-tale budget to come clean before you've delivered the goods.


WhereWHERE IN THE WORLD ARE BRIAN AND CYNDY?
The Accidental Medical Writer Calendar

We're now in the process of putting together our personal-appearance schedules for 2014. If you'd like us to come and speak at an event you're organizing, don't wait too long to contact us. Our schedule is filling fast!

 

Registration for the 2014 AMWA Annual Conference is now open. We hope to see you at one of our sessions:

  • OS-09 Thursday 10/9 2:00 to 3:30: Use a SWOT Analysis to Rejuvenate Your Career and Better Market Your Business.
  • OS-33 Friday 10/10 3:30 to 5:00: What Should I Charge?
  • S-15 Saturday 10/11 12:15 to 1:30: Illuminating the Impact of the Sunshine Act on Freelances  
  • S-23 Saturday 10/11 12:15 to 1:30: Novel--and Low Cost--Ways to Market Your Business. 

We would love to present at your next upcoming meeting or event, so invite us!

SavvyTHE SAVVY MARKETER
Marketing Tips to Build Your Business 

Four Social Media Gurus to Follow          

 

Most of us can probably benefit from greater knowledge and understanding of social media. We know we can. The problem is wading through the array of information clamoring for our attention online to find people who really know what they are talking about when it comes to social-media marketing. To make that task easier, we've compiled an  list of 4 online influencers who are well known as experts in marketing and social media. These people are passionate about social media, and we eagerly consume the ideas, strategies, and tactics they share on their blogs and in their books. Now, if only we had the time to put all of their wonderful ideas into practice. Start following any of them and you'll probably feel the same!

 

Seth Godin. Seth is an author, entrepreneur, and marketer who writes about marketing, leadership, and the ways ideas spread. His book, Permission Marketing, which launched 15 years ago, focused on connecting brands and consumers through online marketing campaigns that first sought the consumer's permission to engage, that is, to opt-in to receive marketing messages. At the time, the idea of seeking consumers' permission was revolutionary and not very well received by direct marketers, as you can imagine. Today, opting-in is the standard on the Internet. Seth has written numerous books, including:  

He offers a variety of content for free in PDF format on his website. Seth is also the creator of  Squidoo, a platform that enables users to create custom web pages called lenses on various topics of interest.

 

Neal Schaffer. Neal is a social-media consultant and adviser who delivers a wide range of social-media tips, with a focus on LinkedIn. You'll find useful content on either one of his websites: Maximize Your Social and Maximize Social Business. Neal is the author of Maximize Your Social: A One-Stop Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy for Marketing and Business Success, a useful book if you are struggling to design a social-media strategy for your business. Neal also has written two other highly regarded books about social media: Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing and Windmill Networking: Understanding, Leveraging & Maximizing LinkedIn.

 

Mari Smith. Dubbed the Pied Piper of Facebook, Mari is considered to be a global leader in social-media strategy and THE top Facebook marketing expert in the world. Dun & Bradstreet identified her as one of the most influential small business people on Twitter  and Forbes named her as one of the top ten influencers online. She is author of The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. Mari has made social media her specialty and her website is filled with content you can use to develop relationships and build your social-media network.


Michael Stelzner
. Another leading voice in social media, Michael is the founder of Social Media Examiner, the world's largest online social-media magazine. He also is one of the driving forces behind the Social Media Success Summit, a live, online conference with presentations by some of the world's leading social-media influencers. Michael has written Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition and Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged. He also hosts the Social Media Marketing Podcast show, designed to help businesses thrive with social media.

THE FINE PRINT

 

YOU ARE RECEIVING this F-R-E-E newsletter on the business of freelance medical writing because you are on The Accidental Medical Writer's opt-in mailing list.
  
TO ENSURE YOU RECEIVE this newsletter, please add [email protected] to your address book.
  
TO CHANGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS to this ezine, unsubscribe your old address and subscribe your new one.
  
PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS NEWSLETTER to anyone you know who is interested in breaking into freelance medical writing or who wants to learn more about the medical writing industry. Just click on the "Forward email" button below.
  
PRIVACY STATEMENT:  We will not distribute your email address to anyone. PERIOD.
  
Copyright � The Accidental Medical Writer. You may not copy or reuse the content of this newsletter without written permission of The Accidental Medical Writer.