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Néstor Zumaya

Being nimble is a skill, not a personality trait

At the end of 2023, I had the longest period of time that I had gone without a client project. After one week with no emails, I told myself that it was fine. After all, I had experienced similar dry spells before. After two weeks, I knew something had changed.

What our degrees are actually for

For a long time I couldn't articulate what my medical degree meant on the page, at least when it comes to medical communications. I could say what I did, overall. I could say what I learned. I could say what I do as a job: I write and

Diversification has two axes

Years ago, an agency went quiet. An agency whose medical textbook chapters had been a steady part of my calendar, and they stopped sending them. No new files, no updates , nothing. I knew something was wrong, and I decided it was temporary. Volume dips happen all the time, and publishers

…if you struggle writing on LinkedIn

The biggest shift that I made when publishing articles for this newsletter or LinkedIn was stopping to pretend that I knew the answers, that I was the expert in X or Y topic. Instead, I decided to write only from my perspective, my experiences, and what has worked for me

New workflows open new opportunities

I recently read a line that made a lot of things click for me: “Fluent isn’t the problem anymore. Correct, on-brand, and governed is the problem.” I agree, at least based on what I’ve seen with my clients and the shift that many translators and writers are

Cultural sensitivity has been falling short.

I’ve been immersed in continuing medical education slide decks for the past couple of weeks; sometimes editing, sometimes reviewing scientific accuracy, and, the last two days, reviewing translations for US-focused accredited activities being adapted to other countries. Doing these different activities back-to-back helped put a name

I still think niching down is better

It’s no secret that I am a strong supporter of niche marketing. I find it attracts the right type of clients and leads to more fulfilling work. I’ve also seen that many people are opposed to it and they say that they can write a novel with the

What office workers do that I sometimes wish I could

I frequently work at a coworking space, and there’s something that I’ve noticed: people with regular jobs do something that I can’t really afford to do. I’ve seen how some people start their day: they arrive at the office, grab coffee, check emails, chat a bit

The importance of ”yet”

This time last year, I had been trying different marketing strategies on and off, but I couldn’t stick to one. LinkedIn, cold emails, online networking events, reaching out to other freelancers in my area; it felt draining. I was convinced I wasn’t good at it, so I started

Picking your niche the wrong way

One of the most contested pieces of advice in freelancing is niche down. I’m 100% a proponent of niching down, but I think most of us approach it backwards, and that version of niching down is why so many translators and writers spend years in a niche that never