HOW DO I BUILD A WRITING PORTFOLIO?!
I’ve had the privilege of talking to a bunch of new medical writers over the past few weeks, and from almost every conversation, I have received the same question:
How do I build a writing portfolio if I don’t have any clients?
It almost feels like a catch-22 — to get clients, you need sample work. To have sample work, you need clients.
WHAT GIVES?!
I totally relate to the confusion and frustration that this early stage of freelance writing brings.
And I am here to help!
No clients, no problem (yes, really!)
When you are just starting out in medical writing, it can be hard to know what type of writing you want to do (or even will like to do). And that is ok, and can even work to your advantage.
As a writer with no (or very few) clients, you are essentially working under the radar. This is your time to experiment with writing styles and types, trying new things and seeing where they land.
You are not beholden to any person or project, and use this time to be creative and exploratory with your work portfolio.
When I first started, I used this mentality to create three short pieces that functioned as my primary work portfolio (which I will share with you now).
The 3 sample snippets that got me paid
#1 — A short snippet of a blog article about type II diabetes for patients
This ended up being the piece that I liked writing the most (and also got me the most clients). I picked this topic because I knew a lot about diabetes from my time as an on-the-floor nurse, and it is a commonly diagnosed condition.
#2 — A section of web copy about Pantoloc (pantoprazole)
I wrote a snippet of a web page, intending to emulate a landing page for a particular medication. I ended up not wanting to write for pharmaceutical companies and brands as I got further into my career, but I used this sample as a trial to see!
#3 — A sample email for a skincare or wellness brand
A wrote a sample email campaign with the very casual and popular ✨Hey Girlie!✨ energy that I had seen in other skincare marketing. This sample ended up showing me that I love email copy marketing and even recently landed me a recent client at $125/hour.
Your work portfolio does not need to be perfect
All of these choices were made (somewhat) randomly, based on little research about what was popular in healthcare and based on my areas of interest and knowledge.
I also wrote all of these samples in a single afternoon.
Because they are unpaid writing, my goal was to create copy that I was proud to use for pitching clients on Upwork as soon as possible.
If they didn’t land, I could always write new samples about different topics and try again.
I know it is scary to create a portfolio of work. I know it is hard to know if it is “good enough” to pitch with.
But the only way you will know is by trying — and I personally would rather spend less time laboring over one perfect blog article sample and instead spend my time connecting with potential clients and adjusting my portfolio as I go.
I hope you find this helpful as you start to build (or fine-tune) your existing portfolio of work!
P.S. These old samples are still available for you to check out on my Upwork profile. Feel free to check them out if you are interested — they are short, to the point, and legitimately got me paying clients.