• Could you explain us your background  & where you coming from ?

Rashmi is a leader in the market research consulting space, helping companies derive optimal market intelligence from available proprietary and secondary desk research. With over 22 years of experience and associations with Torrent Pharma, Intas Pharma, Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company, Veeda Clinical Research, and Cliantha Research, she has accumulated deep marketing intelligence based on comprehensive data analytics. She advises pharmaceutical and clinical research companies from UK, USA, and India in attaining a strategic perspective for discovering optimal, unexplored, and sustainable growth opportunities. Her expertise is in secondary desk research, market intelligence, and strategic marketing. She teaches market research, strategic marketing, business communication and pharmaceutical management courses at Gujarat University’s BK School of Management, Amity University, Shanti Business School, and Xcellon to both full-time students and working professionals.

• Could you please let us know more about your expertise, your day-to-day activity as a freelancer in this expertise ?

1. Networking on Social media primarily LinkedIn,
2. Working on referrals, citing inputs or showcasing insights on LinkedIn on contemporary trends in Market Research,
3. Engaging with prospective customers, encouraging existing customers to enhance or improvise existing project scope
4. Market Research Service promotion activities

• Why did you decide to become a freelancer ?

During the years of my association with the industry (Both Pharmaceutical & Clinical research) since 1997 , I had always taken a step forward to understand the “Challenges  outside the Fixed time job world “. I took out the time to provide inputs for those challenges as an experiment to understand the free lancing world. I realized the time flexibility free lancing could give , knowingly well that it was not a “fixed “ income phenomenon like a full time job which during the time till 2014 was paying me well.

I saw many of my peers in related and unrelated industries go all out and start their own work in the period of 2014. This gave me a full push to adopt free lancing as Market Research consultant on a lifetime basis.

• What are the pros & cons  being a freelancer ?

Advantages

1. Free lancing allows complete time flexibility.
2. Free lancing allows exposure to “newer challenges” and the ways and means to create better understanding of the respective industry requirements

Disadvantages

1. Establishing credibility with diverse clients on an ongoing basis – biggest challenge in free lancing
2. Rate negotiation is a continuous process particularly when the expert availability in the similar domain is high
3. Continuity of projects is unpredictable
4. Timely payments from clients is an ongoing challenge

• What would you say to  someone hesitating becoming a healthcare industry freelancer ?

Get, Set and GO !

• What is your feeling around healthcare  Clients openness  to freelancers ?

1. Extremely “fluid” and unpredictable
2. Take away the insights in conversations virtually at “no cost” and only a few clients come back with active interest

• What do you think about initiative like pharmatch.co ?

Excellent initiative. Hope to get projects from this initiative.

• How do you see  freelancing in healthcare industry in the near future ?

1. Free lancing will always be growing market as large number of industry specialists can align at their own will and time and show case their experience via the free lancing domain.
2. Free lancing would particularly increase considering the “job market shift” towards fresher level jobs, salary cuts and increasing reliance on contract jobs across the industry since the last 5-10 years.