Freelance Writing Essentials Review

How does Freelance Writing Essentials help you make money?

Freelance Writing Essentials aims to help you make a living as a new freelance writer.

As they say on the sales page…

Learn how to grow a freelance writing business from scratch, from two people who’ve actually walked the walk.

Go from having no clients, no portfolio, no website, and no niche–to having all four.  

A freelance writer usually gets paid to write articles or blog posts for the web. Freelance writing can also entail writing for print magazines, books, email newsletters, etc.

As a freelancer you would be running your own business. Clients would hire you to work on various writing projects.

Who is Freelance Writing Essentials for?

Freelance Writing Essentials sells itself as a course for beginner writers.

As stated on the sales page…

I was pleasantly surprised with that description, as too many courses try to appeal to everyone. Not the case here, thankfully.

And having seen inside the course, I tend to agree: Freelance Writing Essentials is an ideal course for beginners who are thinking of becoming professional wordsmiths.

• 70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)

Do Elise Dopson and Michael Keenan have a good reputation?

Yes.

They don’t seem to have a huge audience yet, but I think that’s only a matter of time.

I’ve watched interviews with both of them. They seem like genuine people who have worked hard to achieve success in the world of freelance writing.

Now they’re sharing what they’ve learned via their FWE course and Peak Freelance website.

Below is an interview with Elise and Michael so you can get a feel for their style…

Are Freelance Writing Essentials students getting results?

It’s too early to tell.

As I’m writing this, Freelance Writing Essentials is still quite new. Not many students have gone through the training yet, and so have not had time to implement the teachings and see significant results.

However, the course seems solid, and I don’t doubt that we will eventually see numerous success stories coming out of it.

How much does Freelance Writing Essentials cost?

You have two payment options to access Freelance Writing Essentials…

• One payment of £99 (approximately $115 USD)
• Three payments of £35 ($40 USD)

The latter option makes for a total of £105, so around $120.

Each option gives you lifetime access to the training.

Keep in mind that you may want to put extra money aside for hosting and a domain name for your website. This is an optional part of the training, but having your own website can be helpful for your freelance writing career.

After you buy FWE, you’ll get led to a short upsell page. I didn’t find the upsell very compelling. The only things they tell you about it are the following…

£351.00
All Access Membership
Community plan
8 products

There was no other info available other than that, which is unusual for an upsell page. Usually a course will bombard you with info to get you to buy the upsell.

Freelance Writing Essentials Discount?

I did find a discount for Freelance Writing Essentials via the Peak Freelance blog.

Enter the coupon code TAKE20BLOG at checkout and you’ll get a 20% discount.

The coupon works for both the one-payment and three-payment options.

My guess is that if Elise and Michael offer another discount or promotion, they’ll do so on some of the social media accounts for Peak Freelance.

Refund Policy

The sales page for FWE specifies a 14-day money-back guarantee…

If you’re not happy with the course, you can get a 14-day money-back guarantee. (But we’d rather you tell us why you feel that way so we can try fix it.)

I haven’t seen anyone reporting issues getting a refund on their purchase. This could be simply because FWE is quite new, but since the training seems solid, I believe you can rest easy with this guarantee.

How is Freelance Writing Essentials structured?

Here’s what the training looks like once you log in and open one of the lessons…

The core training is split into seven modules, all of which seem to consist of video lessons. However, they also have transcripts and built-in subtitles, a nice value-add IMO.

I found FWE fairly comprehensive for a course that’s focused on new freelance writers. Most videos last between 10 and 20 minutes, and they seem to cover everything that new writers should know. That would include things like how to write well, getting clients, legal and accounting, developing processes, etc.

Another nice thing about the training is that Elise and Michael are well-spoken, and the overall tone is relaxed. Not to mention the bonuses, as every module has a recap quiz, and some of them have various downloadable templates.

Unfortunately, Freelance Writing Essentials doesn’t have a community solely for students. Peak Freelance does have a free community on Slack, but I found it to be limited to some rather basic threads.

If you value community highly, you can buy the upsell for FWE, or opt for a Peak Freelance membership.

Green Lights 🟢 

Here are a few things to like about Freelance Writing Essentials…

• Reasonable price to access the core training.
• Surprisingly comprehensive core training.
• Both text and video versions of lessons, as well as subtitles.
• Clear instruction, easy to follow, and step-by-step.
• Elise and Michael seem like the real deal.
• No hype or sleazy sales tactics.
• Tons of bonus content provided.

Red Flags 🚩 

A few things about Freelance Writing Essentials that might give you pause…

• Lack of significant success stories from students (understandable: the course is still new).
• Only suitable for freelance writers who are just starting out.
• No community solely for students (though Peak Freelance has a free community)
• No search functionality; makes it harder to find your way around.

Other things you should know

• A helpful way to view FWE: Elise and Michael have laid out a complete guide of what they’ve done to build their own profitable freelance writing businesses. Buying the course grants you access to these resources
• The training course includes several useful downloads, including items like spreadsheets.
• Keep in mind that the course was launched only a few months before this writing. It may be missing some key things such as success stories, but I believe we’ll see plenty of them in time.
• Freelance Writing Essentials seems to be one of many training products offered by Peak Freelance. There is also the Peak Freelance membership, and Creative Class.

Should you join Freelance Writing Essentials?

Freelance Writing Essentials is still a new course, but I’m happy to recommend it.

The strategy that Elise and Michael teach is sound. They’ve laid it out clearly and concisely. And they’ve made it all available for a fairly low price, especially compared to other courses that teach the same business model.

Overall, I consider Freelance Writing Essentials to be one of the best-value courses we’ve reviewed to date. If you’re early into your freelance writing career, or didn’t even take it up yet, definitely give FWE a look.

Just keep in mind that it does not have a dedicated community, but the free Peak Freelance community on Slack may be enough for you in the beginning.

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