Freedom from your 9-5 may be closer than you think. If you’re feeling burnt out and have had it with your day job you are not alone. Every day people like you are trading in their W2 to follow their passions.
What if you could find work you enjoy, create more freedom in your life and say goodbye to the 9-5 grind forever?
I recently got the chance to interview O.R. nurse turned medical writer, Claire Bonneau. Claire felt trapped in her nursing job and needed to find a way out.
Now, she writes for a living and has BEAT her full-time nursing salary every single year since she quit. If there’s any part of you that wants to leave your day job and build something better, Claire’s story will inspire you to do it.
How did you go from working as a trauma O.R. nurse to a full-time freelance medical writer?
2019: I graduated nursing school from the University of Alberta. After graduating I was immediately accepted into the perioperative program in Calgary, Alberta.
This was a big shift for me because almost overnight I went from being a full time student to being paid to learn in the O.R.
The program was 9 months of intensive training that involved in-class work and supervised perioperative practice. It was AWESOME.
Working in a large trauma hospital exposed me to a little bit of everything. I was able to train in various surgical areas including pulmonary surgery, general surgery, gynecology and orthopedics to name a few.
I enjoyed many aspects of being in the O.R., but at the same time, it was a little daunting working in a trauma center. A combination of stress, heavy workload and lack of staff made me begin to question if surgery was a good fit for me.
It was pretty disappointing actually because I loved my preceptorship but it was very different from the O.R. setting I wound up working in.
2020: Right before the pandemic hit I made the switch to work at a private dental surgery clinic. Working there gave me a more regular schedule than I had in surgery.
With a little more free time on my hands I started exploring other things I could use my nursing degree for.
At the time, my partner had been freelance editing and animating through Upwork for about a year or two. He’d been able to make it his primary career which was really cool to me.
Here I was waking up early and catching the bus to get to the clinic while he was able to sleep in later and have more control over his schedule. Seeing how great his work life balance was pushed me to try freelancing myself.
So I made a profile on Upwork and started sending out proposals for work. Surprisingly enough I was able to land a few clients this way. So for a while I’d work at the clinic Monday-Friday and I’d use my evenings and weekends for client work.
It was very busy but I honestly enjoyed doing it. I felt a sense of ownership and pride in what I was building.
2021: 6 months later I’d taken on enough clients to match my nursing income. So in January, I was able to quit my day job and become a full time freelance medical writer.
2022: In the beginning of 2022 I got hired by a medical marketing agency (which I LOVE) as their full time writer, so now, I still freelance on the side, but I also have a full time medical writing job.
So let me get this straight Claire, after just 6 months of pitching to clients on Upwork you made enough money to quit your day job?
Yes, there was a bit of a drought period after I got my first client but soon after that I started landing clients pretty consistently. And by January I was able to quit my day job. I actually made more my first year as a freelancer than I ever did as a nurse.
That’s incredible Claire. Some people struggle for years to make enough money to quit their day job. What’s your secret?
It’s a combination of things honestly. Having someone in my life who’d already found success as a freelancer made me believe I could do it too.
I think people either love Upwork or hate it but it helped me tremendously when I was getting started. To this day some of my best clients originally connected with me on Upwork.
In my opinion, what makes Upwork good for new freelancers is that instead of cold pitching clients who may not need your services you get to do what I like to call ‘lukewarm pitching’.
You’re pitching to people who are actively looking to hire a writer. It also helps to have examples of your work, testimonials and your rates all in one convenient place for your prospects to see.
Creating a killer profile and sending high quality pitches with personalization helped me begin landing clients even faster.
It also helped that I didn’t love my nursing job, I knew I didn’t want to keep doing it forever. That pushed me even harder to constantly apply for jobs and start landing better quality clients.
Can you describe the gnawing feeling you had when you realized clinical nursing wasn’t for you?
So while I was in nursing school many of my professors would hammer it into us that nursing was the best possible degree to get.
They’d go on and on about all the different areas of healthcare a nursing degree could take me and I don’t disagree with them. There are plenty of clinical options available to you as a nurse. But here’s the thing, once I actually became a nurse I did not enjoy the work.
Now to be fair I only experienced a few different units but it didn’t take long for me to realize the busyness and stress of bedside nursing was not for me. It takes a toll on you over time.
I started feeling sad on my way to work and one day it hit me: “I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life”. That was a very scary thought to have. I’d put all this time and effort into getting a degree in a field that I was quickly learning I didn’t enjoy working in.
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to find another industry where I could apply my nursing skills because they were so niche and specific. I was relieved when I learned about medical writing and the idea of freelancing.
To have the opportunity to share my medical knowledge in a creative way boosted my confidence and opened so many other doors for me.
I wish nursing schools would let their students know about this amazing career path. So many nurses I meet have no idea that medical writing is even an option for them.
What medical writing services do you offer clients?
I mainly write blog articles, web copy, and marketing email campaigns. I also write ad and social media copy, but that is less often than the others!
What helped you balance working full-time and writing on the side?
I don’t want to sugarcoat this, in the beginning it was an absolute sprint. I’d work for eight hours at the hospital, come home and start in on client work right away.
Most evenings I’d spend another 3-4 hours working before I’d go to bed just to wake up the next day and do it all over again. I also worked a ton of weekends to fit everything in.
I probably pushed myself a little harder than I needed to back then because I made it my goal to put out the absolute best work possible and never miss a deadline.
I think my nursing training helped me with this because when you work on the unit you have to make quick decisions and prioritize effectively. There is no time to labor over things, you have to keep moving forward.
Having that mentality helped me a lot. Keeping a tight schedule and staying on top of it was crucial to me being able to successfully juggle multiple clients at once.
How much time did you spend on your medical writing when it was a side hustle?
I’d dedicate close to 15 hours every week to my medical writing. I feel like that sounds worse than it actually was! I didn’t feel burnt out because I really enjoyed what I was doing.
I think most people who work full time can squeeze out an extra 15-20 hours each week for their side hustle by making sacrifices.
How has AI impacted your freelance writing career?
That’s an interesting one. When I first heard about AI a few months ago I immediately got very stressed. I’d see posts on LinkedIn about how ChatGPT was the future and writers were going to lose jobs because of it.
And then I read a few articles that it wrote and realized I had nothing to worry about. Now I don’t want to brag, but I believe my clients appreciate the human touch my writing brings.
In the medical field using a human writer is necessary to keep the data accurate. For people who want interesting, engaging, accurate and fresh medical content, AI is a tool that can help but it won’t replace a trained medical writer anytime soon.
What helps you connect with your audience on LinkedIn?
I’d say consistency is key to growing your network on LinkedIn. I post once every week so my connections are used to interacting with me. I try to put a little bit of my personality into every post I make while keeping them valuable for my network.
Doing this helps my prospects see what I’m like and learn more about what I do. Sharing stories and pictures from the O.R. also helps because it connects well with other healthcare professionals.
Do you have any medical writing tips for people who don’t know anything about it?
The most important advice I would give any new writer starting out is to try not to get bogged down in the details and just work towards getting clients.
Avoid wasting your time doing things that make you feel good but do nothing to help grow your business. In the early days I thought I needed the perfect website, a blog, and an email newsletter right away. But none of those things landed me clients.
I landed my first client by pitching him and having writing samples he liked. Once I started focusing on pitching, talking to people, landing clients and doing interviews my freelance business started to take off.
Even if you aren’t totally confident in your skills you should still get out there and start pitching to clients. After I started doing more regular writing I began to feel more confident as a medical writer.
What’s one tip you’d give to 2019 Claire?
Keep going! The energy that carried me through that time brought me here now and I am so thankful to ‘2019 Claire’ for doing everything that she did because it was not easy in the beginning. I’d tell her that it’s okay to take space.
When I worked in the trauma OR as a brand new female nurse, I was pushed to the side and yelled at constantly. I spent a lot of time feeling down and not feeling confident in my abilities. Time helped me work through that and realize how much value I bring to the table.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I am an avid baker, and my famous M&M bars are so delicious I made them a record 8 TIMES during my preceptorship placement at the request of the staff!
That wraps up Claire’s interview! No doubt, hearing her story inspires you. Use her experiences and advice to change your life.
To recap:
A HUGE shoutout to Claire for really opening up in this interview. I’m sure there are plenty of other people who feel trapped in their careers right now.
One major takeaway from Claire’s story you should walk away with is that there’s always a way out. The journey will not be easy but in Claire’s words “it will be SO worth it!”
Want to connect with Claire? Follow these links to find her:
Want to see more content like this?
Sign up for my mailing list below to get marketing insights, productivity hacks and copywriting tips sent to your inbox weekly.