5 Savvy Money Saving Hacks for Thriving Freelance Medical Writers

Written By Camille Prairie

How can you make your money do the most for you this coming year?

December has a way of prompting us to pause and take stock. For freelancers, that reflection often goes beyond closing out projects—it’s also about looking closely at the financial side of our business. Which expenses truly supported your growth this year? Which investments delivered value? And which ones offered lessons rather than returns?

As freelance medical writers, we’re both writers and business owners. Every subscription, contract, and investment contributes to the foundation we’re building. Managing money wisely isn’t about cutting corners; it’s about making intentional choices.

The goal is to know where to spend and where to save so you can grow with confidence and stability.

Today, we’ll explore practical strategies for managing your business finances so you can enter the new year with clarity while running a sustainable and fulfilling medical writing business.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for a CME writing buddy? Grab a copy of WriteCME Roadmap today!

Audit Your Subscriptions and Tools

One of the sneakiest drains on a freelancer’s budget is what we could call “subscription creep.” One project management tool here, a citation database there, or a forgotten trial for a new AI software that auto-renewed, and suddenly you’re paying hundreds of dollars (at minimum, for many of us) a year for software that, in many cases, you rarely touch.

Set a reminder to review your subscriptions and tools every six months if you aren’t already.

Ask yourself: which ones am I actually using, and which are just gathering digital dust? If you’re not logging in regularly, consider downgrading to a free version, canceling altogether, hitting “pause” and setting a date to re-evaluate, or looking into some cheaper alternatives that will still meet all of your needs.

For example, if you’ve been paying for multiple project management apps, consolidate them into just one. Or if your citation software has features that you never use, see if a simpler option would work just as well for you.

This is an act of reclaiming some of your hard-earned money. Every dollar that you save here is money that you can put toward tools, training, or simply paying yourself.

Alex’s Pro Tip: If you’re just starting out, start simple and scale up! No need to start with complex tools if you aren’t using them yet.

Why Trading Skills Can Be a Freelance Lifeline

One of the most overlooked ways to save money as a freelancer is by leaning on the strengths of others in your community. You don’t always have to pay full price to learn or get support; sometimes you can trade skills and services with your peers.

For example, you might agree to take a reduced rate on a project while a fellow freelancer teaches you a skill that you’ve been eager to add to your toolkit. Alternatively, you could swap editing for design work, giving both of you something valuable without incurring any extra expenses. These kinds of arrangements not only stretch your budget a bit further, but they can also help strengthen your professional relationships.

The real win here is that money-saving doesn’t mean cutting corners. It can also mean adding value through building new skills, creating new connections, and strengthening your freelance medical writing business through a deeper level of collaboration.

Write Medicine Bonus: Look at the Tools You Already Have

If you’re reading this blog, you may be new to the Write Medicine ecosystem or a seasoned veteran. However, chances are it’s been a few months at minimum since you took stock of all the free tools we offer in this community alone.

Make sure you put these to work in your end-of-year business review – and look at the other communities you’re a part of – including your community at large. What other free resources are available to you?

Hint: The library, Google Docs, and other public resources like government health websites are all free! (Here’s what we’re doing about the potential effects of the government on health websites.)

Grab these for free before the year wraps up:

Invest Where It Counts

Let’s face it, insurance may not be the most exciting aspect of freelancing, but sometimes it’s one of the smartest moves you can make. It’s easy to think of insurance as just another expense, but it is more than another monthly payment – it’s protection for the business you’ve worked so hard to build.

There are a few different types of coverage that you could consider:

  • Professional liability or errors and omissions (E&O) insurance protects you if a client claims that your work caused any kind of financial loss.

  • General liability insurance covers accidents or damages to third parties that occur in the course of business operations, important if you are if hosting in-person meetings, or have speaking engagements, etc.

  • Cyber insurance could be important, since we often handle sensitive client data and so much of our work is stored and shared online.

  • Lost income coverage can keep you afloat if illness or other circumstances prevent you from working. This isn’t a specific policy on its own, but can be an add-on to specific policies.

If all of this sounds like a lot, E&O and cyber are usually what most online business professionals who provide advice and services get at a minimum. But talk to an insurance broker for more comprehensive guidance. Insurance is more necessary in some medical writing areas than others (e.g., regulatory) and there’s a longstanding discussion on this topic in AMWA’s Engage Forum.

Investing strategically in insurance now – and shopping around to see if you can secure better rates at the end of each year – will help protect you from major financial stress later and give you the confidence to grow your freelance medical writing business without fear of unexpected setbacks.

Setting Boundaries With Your Rates

One of the best ways to save money as a freelancer is by protecting the income that you already earn. That starts with knowing your numbers. Set both a minimum price (the lowest you’ll accept to make the project worthwhile) and an average ballpark rate that reflects the true value of your work. This gives you confidence when clients ask about pricing and helps you avoid taking on any projects that drain your time without fair pay.

It’s also worth deciding in advance which projects you’ll hold firm on and which ones you might be able to be a bit flexible with.

Perhaps an exciting new opportunity in a therapeutic area you're interested in writing more about, or a chance to work with your dream client, are projects you’ll be willing to budge on, while those you’re an old hand at are ones where you’ll stay firm.

Or, maybe it’s the inverse for you: You don’t mind being flexible with your rates on projects you can knock out with more ease, but if a project requires more dedicated research time because it’s in a new therapeutic area for new, or it’s a new type of format for you, you’re not budging when it comes to budget.

Regardless of the approach you choose, it’s essential to set boundaries that work for you. And by the way, boundary setting isn’t a one-and-done event. It’s a process and mindset we constantly refine in WriteCME Pro.

Ready to join the WriteCME Pro community? You’ll get access to the full community, our signature ROADMAP curriculum, and written feedback on 2 of your portfolio samples in your first year.

Finally, sharpen your negotiation skills. Even simple techniques, like taking time after a call to come back with an answer or asking clarifying questions about scope, can prevent you from leaving money on the table. Every small negotiation that you win is going to compound over time, adding up to some major gains in your freelance medical writing business.

Listen to the podcast that inspired this blog for some more tips!

Keep Doors Open With Past Clients and Find Inroads with New Ones

Despite how it may feel in the moment, a client saying no today doesn’t mean the door is permanently closed. Budgets shift, priorities change, and new opportunities often appear months later.

Send a quick thank-you after conversations and projects end, share updates when you publish new CME work, or check in once a quarter with a simple note. These small gestures help you stay top of mind and create a long-term pipeline of repeat work.

As you probably know, finding new clients is part of the gig, too, regardless of how many doors we have open with past or current clients.

At some point, we’ll need new work – whether we’re just shaking things up or if we’re facing a situation where a few clients have really scaled back work. I find that a lot of CME freelance writers hesitate to reach out to new leads, feeling like they’re bothering people or that their outreach may not be well-received.

However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When you reach out with intention, having done your research on the prospective client, you’re offering them something of benefit: a future relationship with a qualified CME freelance writer.

That mindset shift can make all the difference.

Often, the work that gets you through a slow period comes when you most need it – and the relationships you build today lay the foundation.

That’s why I encourage you to develop an effective outreach system to establish relationships with new clients. As freelancers, the discipline that we need to do outreach regularly is exactly what can give us greater flexibility down the road.

Alex’s Pro Tip: It takes discipline to make a freelance medical writing work. Some disciplined tactics I recommend scheduling into your day/week/month include batch content creation, self-care and wellbeing time, and time to make a “priority list” for your day.

Discover a Thriving Support System for CME Medical Writers in WriteCME Pro

Saving money as a freelancer shouldn’t mean that you have to cut corners. When you make it a habit to audit your tools and subscriptions, trade skills within your network, set pricing boundaries, and nurture your long-term client relationships, you create the groundwork to boost both your financial health and your creative freedom.

But knowing what to do and actually putting it into practice are two different things. That’s where a community like WriteCME Pro comes in. Time and again, community members have found that investing in membership has given them a financial and emotional ROI within months, if not sooner. Before they joined, they were struggling to go solo.

The truth is that we really are stronger together. Guidance shortens the learning curve for CME freelance writers, and mentorship delivers personalized feedback, industry insight, and opportunities you just can’t find on Google.

If you’re ready to start your 2026 with accountability, emotional support, and insider opportunities, join us in WriteCME Pro. Invest in yourself, your business, and your long-term success with the best money-saving hack of them all.

Camille Prairie
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