10 Questions With Janelle McSwiggin, MSN, RN, Medical Writer

Janelle McSwiggin, MSN, RN is an experienced medical writer, an advocate for safe work environments, a mentor for fellow writers, and an avid downhill skier.

• When did you start freelance writing? 2018.
• Where are you from? New Hampshire, U.S.

1. As a registered nurse with a Master’s Degree, what motivated you to pursue a career in medical writing?

When I was super little, I always dreamed of becoming a writer. If you talk to my mom about how I’m a medical writer, she always says, “I told you so”. I made the transition from nursing to writing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I was working during the peak of the first surge on a COVID-19-positive floor. This was before any of the vaccines. It was before we even knew how the virus spread. It was the wild west and I heard calls every day on the radio asking nurses to come to the frontlines. So I did.

Every day I worked, more and more patients died. We didn’t have enough supplies and we were reusing personal protective equipment. I was told to just put on the same dirty gown from the day before. I remember feeling so disposable at that moment in time.

I decided it was time for me to branch away from an industry that treated me like my safety wasn’t important. I was already writing as a freelance reptile writer. My rate was super low, but I started to wonder if I could get paid more if I made the switch to medical writing. And it turns out I could!

2. Is medical writing currently becoming a more well-trodden career path for nurses? If so, why do you think that is?

I think that medical writing, along with nontraditional nursing roles, are becoming more popular. The COVID-19 pandemic was a breaking point for so many of us working on the frontlines.

I also believe that we are at a turning point where nurses are starting to see more industries working from home and earning more money. We want to find a better work-life balance away from the traditional bedside role. Medical writing offers that. Plus, nurses are highly valued for our clinical knowledge.

3. You’ve been vocal about the problems in the healthcare industry, particularly unsafe working conditions. For nurses who are struggling and want to explore writing, where do you suggest they start?

I love shedding light on unsafe working conditions for nurses. I’ve had so many nurses message me with their heartbreaking stories of working shifts that would be completely unacceptable in other industries.

I think it’s so important to come together to support the healthcare community, especially when these nurses are hesitant to speak out publicly for fear of retaliation. No one should go to work afraid of being physically or verbally assaulted.

If nurses want to explore writing, they should connect with other nurse writers and see what they’re posting. I got my start connecting and learning from the great writers that came before me.

They should research the different types of writing to see what may interest them. For nurses, there’s more than just blog writing. Do they like dense, technical writing? Or are they creatives who may enjoy medical copywriting? This information will help them focus their efforts.

4. What do you think has been the hardest part about building a medical writing business? And how did you end up overcoming it?

Finding clients for your first year may be the biggest challenge to overcome. I actually got my first few clients right away, but I had a hard time maintaining that client base at first.

A very common mistake I see with new freelance writers is not putting enough effort into client acquisition. They will send a few emails or pitches and call it a day. At one point, I was sending 60 emails a week to try to get my client base up.

My biggest advice is to use multiple channels for client acquisition and seek out clients aggressively. That phase of starting your business doesn’t last forever, though. Now, all my clients are recurring. Any new clients find me, and I just have to deal with my onboarding process.

5. You’ve shared that you achieved the coveted $10k month as a freelance writer. First, congratulations! Second, how long did it take you to get there?

Reaching my first $10k month was huge for me, and actually a surprise! I wasn’t anticipating it. My timeline is a bit atypical. I didn’t really take writing seriously until about 2 years ago. I’ve been writing for 5 years, including 1 year as a reptile writer.

Last year, I really paid attention to my business and treated it like a chess game. I was careful with who I took on as a client and declined some clients that didn’t foster my goals. I was trying to find my way into a highly selective niche, and was only taking clients that would help me do that.

If anyone wants to reach that first $10k month, I suggest aggressively setting goals. Before you take on new clients, check your goals and see if they support your overarching vision. Make sure you have support in your household, because your first $10k month will be a whirlwind.

6. For freelance writers who are making around $5k per month and want to scale up to $10k…are there any key steps that helped you?

My biggest tip for people who want to scale is to stop saying yes to every client that comes through your inbox. This one was really hard for me to learn. More clients means more money, right? Well, not necessarily.

For a while, I was caught up with some lower-paying clients. I was writing all the time, but I couldn’t get past that $5k target. I decided to drop my lowest-paying clients without new clients lined up. This gave me time to aggressively search for higher-paying deliverables.

Remember: being booked solid doesn’t necessarily mean you’re making the most money.

7. We met thanks to LinkedIn and have been connected for quite a while now. As someone who maintains a regular presence on the platform, do you recommend other freelance writers do the same? Why or why not?

I definitely recommend LinkedIn to new writers and nurses. I’ve made so many authentic connections that have catapulted me to where I am. I actually got one of my first big clients from word-of-mouth on LinkedIn.

That being said, I know there’s a lot for new writers to do when they first start out. New writers don’t need to post every day on LinkedIn, but they do need to authentically connect with their peers, optimize their profile, and follow experienced writers who may offer free tips in their posts.

8. You’ve also created and launched a variety of offerings to help freelance writers. Can you share what all you have available currently?

My favorite resource is the Writer’s Academy. It’s my biggest course that will cover everything you need to launch your business, discover your niche, find clients, and get paid. It comes with 30 templates, a private LinkedIn community, 12 webinars, and support from me.

The Academy comes bundled with 3 workshops that are also for sale separately:

• The LinkedIn & Personal Branding Workshop: The LinkedIn & Personal Branding Workshop focuses on LinkedIn Optimization and comes with a checklist so you can perform your own self-audit. It takes you through color theory, how to build a logo, and how to pick personal branding colors to make your brand stick out from the rest.
• Goal Setting for Business Owners Workshop: The Goal Setting for Business Owners Workshop helps you perform a SWOT analysis on your business and the surrounding market so you can create long-term and short-term business goals that build on each other.
• What’s My Niche Workshop: The What’s My Niche Workshop goes through the different types of deliverables a healthcare worker may choose to write, and what personality traits may be best suited for a certain deliverable.

9. And how about the Janelle beyond work? When you’re not writing medical content, mentoring freelance writers, or marketing on LinkedIn, where are you most likely to be found? What do you like to do?

I’m an avid downhill skier! We go about 30 times a year. I ski with the same group of about 30 friends from college, so it’s a blast. We’ve been skiing for over a decade with each other.

Other than that, I really love being outside in general. My fiance and I have an off-the-grid camper on a big plot of land in the middle of nowhere. I love to stargaze, kayak, and settle the land. I also love crocheting and gardening.

I use the vegetables from my garden to preserve my own pickles and sauces using the recipes that have been passed down to me from my great-grandparents. It’s nice to feel connected to that generation. We also have our own chickens, all named after celestial bodies.

10. Lastly, what are you planning for 2024? What should we should keep an eye out for?

I think 2024 is going to be a really fun year for me! I’m launching my podcast, Nontraditional Nurses: Uncharted Practice, which will be released in about a month. The podcast will focus on nontraditional nursing roles and tips for nurses who want to write.

I also will be beefing up my course, the Writing Academy, and my other digital products. I love helping newer writers and I want to expand that into 2024.

And I’ll be fine-tuning my role as a public speaker by presenting at the National Nurses Business Association.

Where can you find, follow, and contact Janelle?

Connect with Janelle on LinkedIn.

Visit her website Willow Bark Writing.

Thank you so much, Janelle, for sharing your experience and wisdom with the ATFW community! ???