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Introduction
Freelance medical writers and editors who have long-term 

relationships with their ideal clients enjoy many benefits.1 

Among them are increased productivity and efficiency, 

financial stability, and peace of mind. When the expertise, 

services, availability, and interests of the freelancer match 

the needs and goals of a new client, the relationship often 

clicks and the project proceeds smoothly. In such cases, the 

characteristics of the freelancer and the client likely match in 

4 categories: type and topic of project, required time frame, 

business agreements, and personal compatibility (Figure 1). 

Ideally, the expertise and interests of the freelancer should 

match the needs of the client, and the freelancer has suffi-

cient availability to perform the services within the client’s 

requested time frame. The business agreements and fees are 

fair to both parties, and the freelancer and the client have 

good rapport.

 Marketing, including advertising and social media, is a 

common way to acquire clients that desire and need your 

services,2,3 but “a” client isn’t necessarily an “ideal” client. 

The trick is to find the clients that will be ideal for you. The 

following 3 exercises will help you build your business by 

identifying clients that may be ideal for you. For clarification, 

the term “suitable clients” refers to clients that match many 

of your preferred characteristics, whereas “preferred clients” 

match most of your preferred characteristics and avoid most 

of the negative attributes. “Ideal clients” match all your pre-

ferred characteristics and avoid all the negative attributes. 

Once you have begun working with them, you can nurture 

them into long-term relationships by using the suggestions 

outlined in our article “16 Tips for Nurturing Clients Into 

Long-Term Relationships.”1

Exercise 1. Assess Your Strengths, Preferences, 
and Interests
Exercise 1 focuses on recognizing your strengths and prefer-

ences with respect to the types of deliverables, writing styles, 

subject areas, and project responsibilities. It will also help 

identify your desired areas for expanding your current range 

of services. Examples of many deliverables, writing styles, 

subject areas, and medical writing and project management 

responsibilities are listed in Table 1. Consider selecting and/

or expanding the niches to suit your situation in the Exercise 

1 worksheet to consolidate the strengths of your freelance 

services and goals. Freelancers who know their strengths and 

preferences have a better chance of getting the work they like 

and want to do and have a better chance of finding potential 

clients who need the services they provide.

Katherine Molnar-Kimber, PhD1; Brian Bass, MWC2; Thomas Drake, MA, CMPP3; and 
Nicole Cooper4 / 1KMK Consulting Services, Kimnar Group LLC, Worcester, PA;  
2Bass Global, Inc, Fort Myers, FL; 3Director, Global Outcomes Group, Reston, VA;  
4Cooper Johnson Communications LLC, Gladstone, NJ

PRACTICAL MATTERS

Three Exercises to Identify Ideal Clients You 
Can Nurture Into Long-Term Relationships

Figure 1. The 4 main aspects of freelancer–client relationships 
usually align in collaborative, productive business deals, which 
can be nurtured into long-term freelancer–client relationships.



      AMWA Journal / V36 N2 / 2021 / amwa.org    87

Exercise 2. Identify Suitable Client Types and 
Preferable Characteristics
Table 2 lists many types of clients that hire freelancers. Exercise 

2 focuses on identifying the types of clients with whom you 

want to work: those who complement your strengths, benefit 

from your expertise, and match your working style and inter-

ests. On the Exercise 2A worksheet, identify clients that need 

your expertise and abilities, whether that is in a particular type 

of deliverable, writing style, or subject area. In general, go with 

what you know because it is more time-consuming and chal-

lenging to produce your best work when you also have to learn 

as you go. This exercise will also help you identify the specific 

preferred client characteristics. To spur thinking about the 

characteristics of your ideal client, we have listed several in 

Table 3. Consider compiling your own list of ideal character-

istics, too. Using the Exercise 2B worksheet, compile a list of 

10 potential clients that hire freelancers and would belong to 

the very strong-match category you identified in Exercise 2A. 

Table 1. Examples of Medical Writing Deliverables, Writing Styles, Subject Areas, and Project Management Responsibilities

Areas of Strength  
and Experience Examples

Deliverables • Regulatory documents
• Manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals
• Abstracts, posters, podium presentations
• Grants
• Slide decks
• Newsletters
• Promotional materials (eg, white papers, websites, branded presentations, video scripts)
• Educational materials for health care professionals (eg, CME, guidelines)
• Needs assessments for CME
• Training materials for sales representatives
• Educational materials for patients or the general public (eg, lay summaries, narratives, health news)

Writing Styles • Prescriptive (eg, regulatory documents)
• Scientific (eg, manuscripts, video abstracts, educational materials)
• Promotional (eg, websites, branded slide decks)
• Plain language (eg, patient/caregiver materials)

Subject Areas • Therapeutic areas
• Rare diseases
• Pharmaceuticals
• Devices
• Pharmacoeconomics
• Managed care
• Modalities (eg, biologics, gene therapy)

Project  
Responsibilities

• Writing clear concise content
• Annotating references
• Formatting references and documents
• Project management
•  Tables and figures
• Collaboration with scientific graphic designers
• Incorporating revisions and compiling feedback from multiple stakeholders

CME, continuing medical education.

Exercise 1 Worksheet. Assess Your Strengths, Preferences, and Interests to Match to Your Ideal Clients

Area
Degree of Experience

Areas of Interest
High Moderate Low

Deliverables

Writing Styles

Subject Areas

Project Responsibilities

Use the examples in Table 1, and your own ideas, to list the areas in which you have experience and interest.

PRACTICAL MATTERS



88    AMWA Journal / V36 N2 / 2021 / amwa.org        

Consider ways to meet their representatives, such as through 

professional organizations or LinkedIn. As one strategy to 

expand your client base, consider marketing your skills for 

specific deliverables and therapeutic areas to these identified 

potential clients with preferred or ideal characteristics. There is 

nothing better than doing work you love for clients you love.

Exercise 3. Identify the Aspects of Projects and 
Freelancer–Client Relationships You Prefer to  
Avoid or to Negotiate
In Exercise 1, you identified your preferred types of deliver-

ables, writing styles, subject areas, and project responsibilities. 

In Exercise 2, you identified the types of clients with whom you 

want to work, your specific preferred client characteristics, and 

5 to 10 clients that match these attributes. Knowing what you 

do not like is just as important for helping you find and work 

with ideal clients: hence, Exercise 3.

 Challenges can arise in any freelancer–client relationship, 

and knowledge about which you prefer to avoid or renegotiate 

can help relieve stress. Table 4 lists some challenging aspects of 

projects and freelancer–client relationships many freelancers 

may want to avoid and potential strategies that may help you 

address or prevent these issues. Consider creating your own list 

of client attributes you would like to avoid by combining your 

own ideas with the attributes in Table 4 on the Exercise 3 work-

sheet. Knowing the aspects of projects and freelancer–client 

relationships you prefer to avoid, clarify, or negotiate will give 

you the time and energy to find and work with ideal clients on 

the projects you love.

Summary
Nurturing long-term relationships with ideal clients can help 

freelancers increase productivity, efficiency, financial stabil-

ity, and peace of mind. Every prospective client presents an 

opportunity to explore working relationships and the fit of the 

freelancer’s services with the expected deliverables. When free-

lancers are clear about the types of work they like and can do 

well, their available bandwidth in the requested time frame, 

and the characteristics of their ideal clients or working rela-

tionships, freelancers can more quickly assess whether to pro-

ceed with the potentially ideal client. Thus, freelancers can 

focus their marketing efforts on attracting clients aligned with 

their expertise and interests. The 3 exercises recommended 

Table 2. Examples of Types of Clients That Hire Medical Writers 

Types of Clients 

• Pharmaceutical companies
• Biotech companies
• Hospitals
• Academia
• Publishers
• Professional societies
• Medical communication companies
• Medical education companies
• Medical advertising agencies
• Public relations agencies

Exercise 2A Worksheet. Identify Suitable Client Types and 
Preferable Characteristics

Very Strong Match Strong Match Match

Use the examples in Table 2, and your own ideas, to list the types of clients 
that match your strengths, preferences, and interests

Exercise 2B Worksheet. Assemble a List of Names of Companies 
With Appropriate Department(s) That Strongly Match Your 
Interests, Expertise, and Preferred Working Style 

Very Strong Match Contact(s) Comments

Compile lists of actual client names that fit the very-strong-match category and 
identify ways to meet representatives.

Table 3. Examples of Client Characteristics Preferred by Freelancers 

Preferred Client Characteristics 

• Recognizing and valuing your expertise
• Compensating you accordingly
• Paying your invoices on time
• Offering projects in your preferred writing style(s), for-
mats, and topics

• Providing manageable timelines
• Offering contracts that protect both you and the client 
and allow you to work with your preferred software and 
hardware on your preferred schedule

• Being professional and pleasant

Exercise 3 Worksheet. Identify the Aspects of Projects and 
Freelancer–Client Relationships You Want to Avoid 

I Want To Avoid or Negotiate . . .

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Use the examples in Table 4, and your own ideas, to list the aspects of projects 
and freelancer-client relationships you want to avoid or negotiate, so you have 
more time to find and work with ideal clients.

PRACTICAL MATTERS



AMWA Journal / V36 N2 / 2021 / amwa.org    89

Table 4. Examples of Less Desirable Client Characteristics and Potential Strategies to Handle Challenging Situations

Aspects of Projects and Freelancer–Client 
Relationships to Consider Whether to Avoid Strategies to Handle Challenging Situations

• Chronically tight timelines • Clarify expectation of scientific depth, goals, audience, and length of
deliverable.

• Offer a realistic timeline.
• Turn down the project.

• Chronic project scope creep without
compensation

• Write detailed specifications for the project.
• For major scope creep, ask for increased compensation.
• For repeat clients with this attribute, consider a quote that includes
the relevant percentage of scope creep for that client.

• Lack of boundaries (eg, emails/phone calls at
night or on weekends or holidays)

• Clarify times when you’ll check emails.

• Lack of consideration (eg, scheduling
teleconferences or videoconferences without
first asking for your availability)

• If unavailable, then state it. Usually, the client will reschedule the call
as needed.

• If you know about an upcoming meeting to be scheduled, provide
available dates and times proactively.

• Provide dates for other commitments (meetings and vacation) ahead
of time.

Potential Contract Issues Strategies to Handle Challenging Situations

• Restriction of trade with any and all of
company’s clients at all their departments and
all locations

• Request revision of restriction of trade to the departments and
locations of agency’s clients for which you actually work or interact
with under the agency’s supervision. Most companies will agree.

• Request that knowledge of their clients be sent on a need-to-know
basis.

• Contracts that severely limit your ability
to work in broad topics with other clients
(ie, restrictive of trade in modality or broad
therapeutic area such as oncology)

• Negotiate a restriction for a narrower field (eg, PD1 inhibitors in non–
small-cell lung cancer).

• Offer to accept restriction in exchange for retainer fee.

• Contract provides many subjective descriptions
before payment, but no definitive milestones
(eg, submission to journal)

• Request 20%-30% deposit before beginning project.
• In the transfer of copyright clause in the contract, add the phrase “af-
ter payment of all invoices.” Most companies will accept the change.

• No obligation to protect confidentiality
of freelancer’s confidential information (eg, EIN,
bank account information)

• Request revision and most companies will agree as they already do it.

• Project specifications do not yet include
the responsible party and the procedure for
obtaining published articles behind a paywall
(implied freelancer’s responsibility)

• Ask for clarification, most companies will clarify the responsible party
and procedure in their contract or statement of work.

EIN, Employer Identification Number; PD1, programmed cell death 1.

in this article will enable you to assess your strengths, prefer-

ences, and interests; identify suitable client types and their 

preferable characteristics; and identify the aspects of projects 

and freelancer–client relationships to avoid or negotiate. By 

doing so, you will be well on your way toward finding the  

clients that are right for you.

Author declarations and disclosures: The authors report no commer-
cial associations that may pose a conflict of interest in relation to this 
article.

Author contact: molnarkimber@KimnarGroupLLC.com

References
1. Molnar-Kimber K, Drake T, Bass B, Cooper N. 16 Tips for nurturing 

clients into long-term relationships. AMWA J. 2020;35(4):186-189.

2. DeMilto L. The Mighty Marketer: Your Guide to Making More Money as a 

Freelance Medical Writer. Booklocker.com, Inc; 2015.

3. Bly RW. Bob Bly's Guide to Freelance Writing Success: How to Make 

$100,000 a Year as a Freelance Writer and Have the Time of Your Life 

Doing It. Filbert Publishing; 2016.

PRACTICAL MATTERS

mailto:molnarkimber@KimnarGroupLLC.com



