We caught up with the brilliant and insightful JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

JoAnna , appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

One of the biggest risks that I’ve taken in my life was starting my freelance medical writing business.

As I was nearing graduation from veterinary school, I knew that private veterinary practice was not for me. I struggled with deciding what my next step would be after graduation. I decided on research. However, just a few months into my 2-year research fellowship after veterinary school, I realized that the research world wasn’t for me, either.

Fortunately, I listened to a presentation about medical writing by a freelance medical writer. I immediately felt like this was the right career choice for me. Medical writing would give me the opportunity to blend my love of science and love of writing into a rewarding career. After my research fellowship ended, I immediately took my first job as a medical writer.

My first few jobs as a medical writer involved writing for pharmaceutical and academic audiences. As a veterinarian, though, I often felt like a fish out of water among other medical writers; there are very few veterinarians who are also medical writers. I also started to get the feeling that I was writing for the wrong audience; it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

In veterinary school, our professors impressed upon us the importance of talking to pet owners in a way that they could easily understand; we needed to simplify complex medical topics and not use a lot of medical jargon when explaining a pet’s health issues. Remembering this, I realized that I needed to write for the general public and, more specifically, pet owners.

Changing directions within my medical writing career meant that I needed to strike out on my own–a very scary proposition for me. I never saw myself as a business owner and was terrified at the thought of not having a steady income.

I began working with a business coach who had been recommended to me by a colleague. Working with him helped me understand the nuts & bolts of business ownership and helped me shift my mindset from employee to business owner. I was still scared of taking the risk of starting a business, but at least I felt more confident that I could actually do it.

I officially started my business in August 2016, and I’m absolutely loving it. I have harnessed my writing skills and veterinary expertise into a solid business, and I work with great clients who have given me steady work throughout the years. I have earned the respect of many of my colleagues in the medical writing world, and I enjoy providing advice and mentorship to others who are interested in medical writing as a career.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a veterinarian and freelance medical writer. I became a medical writer after listening to a presentation about medical writing during my research fellowship after veterinary school.

Medical writing is a broad field that encompasses writing about health, science, and medicine. My specific niche within medical writing is consumer education, meaning that I write health-related material for the general public. To be even more specific, I write about pet health for pet owners.

Pet owners may have a difficult time understanding what their veterinarian explains to them about their pet’s health. But they might not feel comfortable expressing that lack of understanding to their vet. Through my writing, my goal is to fill in the gap between what the veterinarian says and what the pet parent understands. I want to provide pet parents with accurate, concise, and easy-to-understand information about pet care so that they can make informed health decisions for their pets.

As a veterinarian, I have the expertise and knowledge to write about a wide range of pet care topics, such as basic wellness and common pet diseases.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Not long after I started my business, I had a client that was a great fit for me. I enjoyed the work, and the client paid well. In fact, the client paid so well that I didn’t bother to go out and search for other clients. In short, I got complacent. Big mistake.

After working with them for almost a year, the client had to immediately and significantly slash their pay rates for freelancers. It was like the rug had been pulled out from under me. I had to quickly come up with a plan to get more clients and regain the income that I had lost.

This plan took resilience to carry out because I could have easily gotten stuck in frustration and uncertainty. Instead, I went on the grind to identify clients, reach out to them, and gain more work. It took a lot of work, but I was eventually able to gain enough additional clients to once again reach a steady and reasonable monthly income.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

By far, LinkedIn has been the most effective strategy for growing my clientele. Many of my clients are websites that publish educational pet care content. About once a month, I’ll post my articles on LinkedIn. Doing this allows me to easily put my name and work out there for potential clients to notice.

I do my best to stay active on LinkedIn. In addition to posting my own work, I also post articles about business ownership, writing, professional development, etc. I will also comment on other posts.

Other than LinkedIn, I focus on consistently doing good work for my clients and being a good person to work with. Those two things sound simple, but they can go a long way toward developing long-standing relationships with clients and building up a solid reputation among colleagues.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.jpencmc.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-pendergrass-dvm