December 2025
At the start of this year, I typed a short list of goals into my phone notes. Nothing fancy. No vision board. Just five quick lines to keep me a little more focused on how I spent my time, where I put my energy, and what I said yes to. I’m not someone who maps out every quarter in a colour-coded calendar – just a regular one – but looking back now, I’m glad I captured those intentions. They became a quiet touchstone for how the year unfolded.
These are those goals:
- Goal 1: Make £70K (~$94K) Set lower than usual to allow flexibility for school pick-ups, holidays, and midweek afternoons off with my son.
- Goal 2: Nurture Existing Clients Focus on strengthening relationships with returning clients and maintaining those partnerships.
- Goal 3: Cut Expenses Trim unnecessary subscriptions, marketing costs, and tools—only keep what genuinely moves the needle. This included leaving Instagram.
- Goal 4: Grow Email List to 250+ Build a community space for connection, support, referrals, and mentoring conversations with fellow medical writers.
- Goal 5: Launch Membership, Digital Products & Maybe a Course Create resources to support fellow medical writers.
As a freelance medical writer, 2025 was about consolidation, deepening relationships and working smarter rather than harder. Here’s a closer look at the numbers that defined my 2025 and how they connect to those goals I set back in January.
1. Total Clients Worked With: 9
Compared to last year’s 14 clients, this might look like a step backwards. But working with fewer clients was an intentional choice. This year, I focused on depth over breadth, choosing to nurture relationships with clients who value long-term partnerships and more substantial projects. It’s meant less time juggling competing deadlines and more time delivering my best work.
Quality really does trump quantity—and my stress levels (and my family) thank me for it.
2. Returning Clients: 6
Goal 2: Nurture Existing Clients ✓ (in progress)
With two-thirds of my clients being returning ones, I’m thrilled with this retention rate. It’s actually higher than last year’s 50%, which tells me I’m doing something right.
Some relationships grew stronger this year, with repeat collaborations I loved. Others naturally tapered off, as they do in freelance life. That’s part of the rhythm of this business, and I’ve learned to accept it rather than take it personally.
These returning partnerships represent trust that’s been earned over time—clients who know my work, understand my process, and keep coming back because they value what I bring to the table. There’s something deeply satisfying about that kind of professional relationship.
For 2026, I’ll be reconnecting with some of those quieter contacts to see if there’s a fresh way to work together. Building on existing foundations rather than constantly starting from scratch has been one of the smartest business decisions I’ve made to date.
3. New Clients Acquired: 3
Three new clients joined my roster this year, and I have several warm leads I’m working on for 2026. While this is fewer than last year’s seven, it reflects a more selective approach to client acquisition.
I’m being more discerning about the projects I take on and the clients I work with, prioritising those that align with my expertise and working style. Sometimes saying ‘no’ to the wrong opportunities creates space for the right ones.
The warm leads I’m nurturing tell me that my focused approach is working and setting me up well for the year ahead.
4. Total Client Hours Worked: 460
I logged 460 client hours this year, slightly down from last year’s 501. But this, again, was intentional.
With my son starting school in September, my priorities shifted. I wanted to be present for this season of his life. The 3:15pm school pick-up became non-negotiable. School holidays meant stepping back from client work.
Again, this year confirmed what I suspected: the key isn’t working more hours, it’s working on the right projects at the right rates. I’ve refined my client portfolio to focus on higher-value work that allows me to maintain profitability while preserving time for other things that matter just as much as work (let’s be honest: more)—both my family and my personal projects.
5. Number of Projects Completed: 46 Invoices Raised
Raising 46 invoices this year kept me consistently busy without being overwhelmed. The similarity to last year’s 45+ tells me I’ve found a sustainable project volume that works for my business model. These projects ranged from blog content and patient materials to complex regulatory writing and advisory board reports. The variety keeps the work interesting while building depth in my core therapy areas.
6. Therapy Areas / Health Topics Covered: 8+ core areas
This year saw me develop deeper expertise in specific therapy areas rather than spreading myself across 18 different topics as I did in 2024. My core focus areas included:
- Wound care – becoming increasingly specialised in this space
- Multiple sclerosis – complex neurology content I find fascinating
- Lung cancer – critical work in oncology communications
- Rare diseases – niche expertise that’s in high demand
- Metabolic conditions – an area of growing client interest
- Kidney diseases – including CKD and related complications
- Breast cancer – women’s health oncology content
- Plus several other therapy areas that emerged through other client projects
7. Total Revenue: Just Under £70,000
Goal 1: Make £70K ✓
This is the number I’m most proud of: I hit my revenue goal for the year.
At just under £70,000, this represents approximately a 7% dip from last year’s £75,000+—but I set this goal lower on purpose. I wanted that flexibility for school pick-ups, holidays and midweek afternoons off. I also had personal projects running in the background.
What made the difference? Raising my rates and being more selective with projects.
I achieved this with fewer clients, fewer hours and a more sustainable workload. My effective hourly rate has increased—proof that the rate increase strategy works. More importantly, I set a realistic goal at the start of the year and achieved it. That kind of intentional planning and execution feels like a bigger win than chasing arbitrary growth for growth’s sake.
8. Followers & Community Growth
Goal 3: Cut Expenses ✓
Goal 4: Grow Email List to 250+ ✓
My community continued to grow across platforms this year, though I took a more sustainable approach to social media:
- LinkedIn: ~3,050 followers – solid, steady growth
- Instagram: Left the platform – saving money and mental energy (more on this in a moment)
- Newsletter: 324 subscribers at time of writing (hit my 250+ goal by August!)
One of the best decisions I made this year was leaving Instagram. It saved money, yes, but more importantly, it freed up mental energy. I trimmed subscriptions and marketing costs across the board, only keeping tools and support that genuinely moved the needle. Simplifying gave me more breathing space. Sometimes less really is more.
The email list goal wasn’t just about hitting 250+ subscribers—it was about what the list has become: a space for connection, support, referrals, and mentoring conversations. Definitely one of the most satisfying parts of my year. Rather than chasing follower counts, I’ve focused on engagement quality:
- Average newsletter open rate: 45%
- Average click rate: 5%
Now, I’ll be honest—these engagement rates are quite a bit lower than last year’s impressive 74% open rate and 26% click rate. But I’ve been experimenting with different content types and sending more regularly, which naturally affects those metrics (which were recorded just a few weeks after launching). What matters is that people are still opening, reading and clicking—that’s real engagement.
If you’re a fellow medical writer, join us for content that’s actually useful rather than just noise.
And watch this space for a client-focused monthly email coming in the new year.
9. Blogs Posted: 22
I published 22 blog posts this year, down from last year’s ambitious 30. Rather than pushing to publish more, I focused on creating content that serves my audience/s (both potential clients and fellow medical writers) well. Some posts performed brilliantly, others less so—but each one helped me understand what resonates with fellow medical writers and potential clients.
10. Training & Professional Development: 2 Key Updates
Professional development looked different this year. Rather than attending multiple new courses, I focused on completing and updating essential training:
- Finished my SEO training – finally! This has already started paying dividends in how I approach web content
- Updated my ABPI training – keeping my regulatory knowledge current is non-negotiable
11. Launched Digital Products & Resources
Goal 5: Launch Membership, Digital Products & Maybe a Course ✓
This one took a bit of circling and refining the structure. I spent months figuring out what would genuinely serve fellow medical writers best, and in the end, I stepped away from a membership model.
Instead, I focused on creating free and paid resources that deliver real value without requiring ongoing commitment. The digital products are live, including the newly added Client Negotiation Toolkit and My Comprehensive Rate Calculator.
After a holiday reset, I’m excited to build on these in 2026. Next step: wider marketing and gathering feedback on what’s landing and what needs more clarity. If you want to explore the full product suite, featuring both free and paid resources, click here.
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Looking Ahead to 2026
If 2024 was about expansion and 2025 was about consolidation, then 2026 will be about strategic growth—on my terms.
I’m heading into the new year with clarity about what I want:
- Continue prioritising family time – the 3:15pm school pick-up stays non-negotiable, and I’ll keep protecting school holidays for time with my son
- Raising my rates again – because working smarter, not harder, means getting paid what I’m worth
- Several warm leads that could become substantial partnerships
- Focus on personal projects – the digital products and resources for medical writers that energise me, and an exciting non-fiction book project also in the pipeline
- Grow my email list – both for connecting with fellow writers and attracting the right clients
- Deeper expertise in my core therapy areas
- Clear boundaries around the clients and projects I take on
- Continued focus on maximising profit by reducing expenses where I can
I’ve proven this year that fewer hours can still mean strong revenue when you’re strategic about rates and selective about projects. Raising my rates again in 2026 will allow me to continue this trajectory.
To my clients—thank you for trusting me with your projects and respecting the boundaries I’ve set around my working hours. To my peers and newsletter subscribers—your engagement and support makes this community invaluable. And to those warm leads I’m nurturing—I’m excited to see where we might go together.
Here’s to a 2026 that’s measured not just in revenue or follower counts, but in meaningful work, sustainable practices, partnerships worth keeping, and plenty of 3:15pm pick-ups.
