3 ways to craft powerful bios for your freelance writing biz.

Most freelance medical writers approach their biographies from a place of “how can I cram my life story into a small space to convince people to hire me?” As a result, they end up with a generic, overly formal, contrived, and jumbled mess of words that doesn’t serve their business well at all.

In most cases, a poorly written bio will cause a freelancer to:

• undermine their credibility, making a weak first impression on prospects,
• attract the wrong types of client/project (e.g., low budgets and red flags),
• miss out on opportunities that are well-suited to their skills and interests,
• struggle to grow a network of valuable professionals they vibe with,
• fail to stand out in a competitive market, and
• find it difficult to secure regular work and keep their business alive.

The truth is, a biography is so much more than just a summary of one’s experiences or a clear articulation of someone’s professional journey. When written correctly, a strong bio is a well-crafted, authentic narrative that:

• defines a writer’s personal brand,
• demonstrates their expertise,
• connects them with potential clients and collaborators on a deeper level, and
• puts them in a prime position to dominate or thrive in their niche.

Having helped countless professionals successfully launch freelance medical writing businesses (as a coach specializing in this field), I’m going to share my best advice on how you can nail your bio once and for all. So, listen up! 👂🏻

I’ve noticed that there are 3 main types of biography that can work well for any freelance medical writing business. Get the type right and you’ll eliminate 95% of the issues you’ll face in writing it effectively. Get it wrong and it’ll be like pushing a boulder uphill with a broken arm (or two).

With this in mind, the first step is to determine which of the 3 types of bio is the best fit for you and your business. Then, you can let that choice dictate the structure and format of how you approach your biography.

The 3 types of bio are:

1. Chronological Transformation
2. Pivotal Moment
3. Hybrid/Sandwich

To choose the best type of bio for your business, you first must understand that the primary purpose of a biography is not to convey what you’ve done in a way that sounds impressive; it’s to convey how your unique expertise and experiences have shaped you as a person and as a freelance medical writer.

In other words, the best bios are much more focused on who you are than what you’ve done. They aim to integrate past experiences with future goals so that you can communicate the values and vision of your personal brand effectively. This means that, when writing a biography, you need to be thinking about how to choose key life events, insights, and experiences that can illustrate:

• who you are now,
• how you got here, and
• why all of this matters.

The best bios are much more focused on who you are than what you’ve done.

Type 1—Chronological Transformation

This type of bio presents the writer’s relevant past experiences as a series of well-intentioned decisions that led them to where they are now in their life and career. The narrative is compelling and powerful, yet concise (no fluff allowed!).

The key characteristics of this type of biography are:

1. The sequential order of events.
2. Its emphasis on career progression, important decisions made, and the logic behind these decisions.
3. The (relevant) challenges the writer met and what they learned as a result.

If you’ve had a long and varied career up until this point with clear (even if indirect) progression, this is the best type of bio for you. You’ll need to highlight important milestones in your journey, outlining or strongly implying the significance of each, and ending with what led you to becoming a freelance medical writer with the niche you’ve chosen.

An important note here is that your niche shouldn’t just suddenly appear right at the end of your biography. This is rookie mistake number 1! Your niche is the most critical aspect of your personal brand, so it must be a through-line in your biography if the overall message is going to land well.

To demonstrate, here’s an example of an excellent bio that was written by a Prospologer using our ‘Chronological Transformation’ approach:

“Fueled by a love of science, I trained as a physician in my native country of Mongolia. During my medical training, I grew frustrated with the healthcare system’s insufficient resources for chronic disease management. The desire to improve patients’ lives by strengthening healthcare systems led me to pursue a Healthcare Management degree in the United States.

During my five years in US hospital administration, I learned that abundant resources don’t always lead to high-quality patient care. In other words, systemic financial incentives often compromise the well-being of patients and HCPs, adding strain to healthcare workers. I felt a growing sense of anxiety due to my workload imbalance combined with feelings of disillusionment with the system at large.

Now, I use my expertise to help organizations better meet patient needs. With my personal experience in seeking mental health support and professional skills in supporting patients with chronic disease, I specialize in writing to engage and educate audiences on chronic disease and mental health from a systemic perspective.”

This person’s niche (healthcare systems, with a side of mental health/chronic disease) comes through very strongly, and you get a real sense of who they are as a person and why they’re great at what they do. I felt this so much so that I actually hired them as a Systems Expert at Prospology 😅.

Type 2—Pivotal Moment

The second type of bio centers around a memorable moment in the writer’s life that has informed their niche or unique value proposition. It tells an engaging story that encapsulates how the writer’s expertise as a business owner was influenced by a transformative experience or emerging passion.

The key characteristics of this type of biography are:

1. That it’s built around a significant event or achievement.
2. That it shines a light on the writer’s niche or specialty area.
3. That it conveys a core value and/or vision that the writer has.

If a defining moment, achievement, or event shaped your career and led you towards your niche and/or freelance medical writing, this bio is for you. You’ll need to explain how this pivotal moment encapsulates your skills and expertise in the present day so that your personal brand is 100% unique, genuine, and inspiring to others.

Never underestimate the power of storytelling in a bio! 📖

Type 3—Hybrid/Sandwich

This style of biography opens with the writer’s current niche or area of expertise before delving into their backstory to provide the reader with more context. It’s a blend of chronological experiences and pivotal moments, providing a comprehensive and highly focused overview of the writer’s career.

The key characteristics of this type of biography are:

1. That it starts with the present and then moves to past formative experiences.
2. Its interwoven chronological and pivotal moments.
3. The way it illuminates propelling discoveries in a writer’s life and career.

If you have a rich professional background with multiple facets to showcase but no clear sequence of pivotal events that led you here, this type of biography will be ideal for your writing business. Be sure to open with a strong scene that encapsulates what you currently specialize in as a freelance medical writer, before jumping back in time to explain or imply how your past experiences shaped you and your current business endeavours.

Here’s an example of what a well-executed Hybrid bio reads like:

“Dr. X is a Freelance Medical Writer who specializes in lifestyle medicine, including obesity management, physical activity, nutrition, stress management, and mental health. She has written or co-written over 80 articles in journals, magazines, textbooks, and online outlets.

In her younger years as a ballerina, Dr. X was exposed to constant pressures to have the “ideal” body shape and size. This sparked an interest in nutrition, exercise, and health psychology, which led to her pursue an undergraduate degree in psychology. Later, in her role as an ER physician, Dr. X gained invaluable hands-on experience with patients presenting with an array of long-standing health conditions. In noticing that patients consistently returned with chronic ailments, she realized that instead of continuing to patch up diseases, she could do more to help.

Now, Dr. X educates patients and guides HCPs in becoming more proactive in the prevention of emergency medical care and provides freelance writing and editing services on topics relating to lifestyle and obesity medicine. Should you require any writing support in these areas, you can reach her at {email address}.”

Notice how this writer’s personal story is sandwiched between two succinct summaries of her current service offering and specialty area, each distinct from one another but building on the overall narrative until the call-to-action is presented. These are all telltale signs of a gold standard Hybrid biography.

Whichever type of bio you choose to write, make sure:

✅ you establish credibility,

✅ you engage readers emotionally,

✅ you tell heartfelt stories about your character, work ethic, values, and vision,

✅ you clearly illustrate your unique journey,

✅ you consider what will resonate with your audience,

✅ you show the core of who you are and what matters to you,

✅ you get an expert’s input before its published, and

✅ the final text feels current, true, and inspiring to you.

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Looking for a personal coach to help you take your small business to the next level? Send a summary of what’s up to sophie@prospology.com and I’ll put together a custom package for you.