Three months of the official existence of The Practitioner’s Pen LLC have been completed. It has been a whirlwind of marketing, prospecting for jobs, obtaining clients, completing assignments, managing administrative responsibilities, and depositing checks.
When I began this journey in May or June of this year, I had a specific type of writing in mind. I pictured myself writing lovely creative pieces that directly informed patients about medical diagnoses, medications, and general health. I would write delightful little notes of what I say to patients daily in my clinic practice. People reading my work across the nation would experience those light bulb moments as my patients do and FINALLY understand how their bodies work and how food affects them. The writing process I imagined was fast, easy, laid back, and involved sipping tea.
While completely different from what I imagined, the reality has been even better. My list of people and jobs I have contacted is in the hundreds; prospecting is very much a numbers game. I am writing for clients I have contracts with and a few other clients who require my services. I have written some patient-facing pieces but have found myself in completely different genres than anticipated. I have found that editing is surprisingly my favorite task in the world. Years of reading and silently correcting grammar and language in my head are finally paying off. The different types of projects are exciting because of the mental gymnastics involved. Everyone has distinct style guides and prefers specific formatting nuances, and I love keeping track of the details. I quickly realized that a notebook with a page for each client with their particular requirements listed saves time when switching between projects or if the brain decides to jumble things up.
I still work full-time in a primary care setting, so I write from 5 to 8 or 9 a.m. before work. My lunch finds me getting more writing, research, or editing time in my car. Scheduling time for administrative tasks or prospecting for more clients is necessary, or it just doesn’t happen. This means my days are long, but building my writing business is exciting and fulfilling. In the past month, the assignments from my contracted clients alone replaced two days of my clinic pay. My as-needed clients bring in extra income. The original goal with my business was to eventually be able to withdraw from the clinic a day at a time over several months, and I expected it to be a year before I could start that process. Instead, as of November, I will only be working four days a week in the clinic. As my business continues to grow, which is why I am always prospecting, I can drop more days from the clinic to focus on writing. And that timeline seems to be shortened from the original plan.
Patience, persistence, flexibility, being open to whatever comes my way, and belief that I will succeed have allowed this writing thing to take off faster than planned. I am surprised, delighted, and even more driven to succeed. Generally, the only thing that matches the original plan, besides achieving and writing, is sipping tea, albeit in much larger quantities than anticipated.