--- title: Freelance Copywriting Business url: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/freelance-copywriting-business type: programme published: 2026-04-05 last_reviewed: 2026-07-12 reviewed_by: tom-beresford publisher: The Study Guild --- # Freelance Copywriting Business A 10-week live programme building a freelance copywriting business — craft, pricing and clients — taught by a copywriter with fourteen years of practice. ## Programme facts - Price: £349 (payment plans available, never discounted) - Format: Live online + self-paced - Live contact hours: 20 - Expected self-study hours: 40 - Duration: 10 weeks - Level: All levels - Tutor: tom-beresford ## Learning outcomes - Interview a client or customer well enough to write something only you could have written - Write long-form and short-form copy that survives a commercial review - Price from a costed income target rather than from what competitors charge - Position yourself in a specialism where AI has not compressed rates - Run a first client conversation that ends in a proposal - Write a contract and scope that prevents the arguments freelancers usually have ## Curriculum 1. **What is still worth paying for** — An honest map of the copywriting market after generative AI, and where the money moved to. Topics: Work that has been commoditised; Work that has become more valuable; Why judgement is the product now; Choosing where to compete 2. **Interviewing** — The skill that produces copy a model cannot write, because it depends on information nobody has published. Topics: Customer and stakeholder interviews; Questions that surface specifics; Listening for the phrase you will use; Recording and mining transcripts 3. **Structure and argument** — Making a piece of writing do a job, rather than merely reading well. Topics: Establishing the single job of the piece; Ordering an argument; Proof and specificity; Cutting 4. **Long-form** — Landing pages, case studies and long-form sales writing, critiqued in open review. Topics: Landing page anatomy; Case studies that are not testimonials; Objection handling in copy; Open critique 5. **Short-form** — Email, ads and headlines, where constraint exposes weak thinking fastest. Topics: Subject lines and open rates; Writing to a character limit; Headline testing; Open critique 6. **Pricing** — Working out what you must charge, then learning to say it without apologising. Topics: Costing your year honestly; Day rate versus project versus value; Raising prices with existing clients; Walking away 7. **Positioning and specialism** — Choosing a niche narrow enough to be memorable and wide enough to eat. Topics: Why generalists compete on price; Choosing a sector; Proof of expertise; Saying no to adjacent work 8. **Finding clients** — The repeatable acquisition work that separates a business from a series of lucky breaks. Topics: Outbound that is not spam; Referral systems; Content as proof; What does not work 9. **Contracts and scope** — The paperwork that prevents most freelance disputes. Topics: Scope, rounds and revisions; Payment terms and deposits; Kill fees; Chasing late payment 10. **Portfolio review and assessment** — Final portfolio and pricing plan critiqued live. Topics: Portfolio assembly; Pricing plan critique; Your first quarter; Continuing critique groups ## Assessment A portfolio of three assessed pieces produced during the programme — one long-form, one short-form, one written from a real interview — plus a costed pricing and positioning plan. Marked by Tom Beresford against a published rubric covering craft, commercial judgement and specificity. Written feedback with one free resubmission. ## Upcoming cohorts - 2026-10-13 to 2026-12-15 — Tuesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 10 weeks (open, cap 22) - 2027-02-10 to 2027-04-21 — Tuesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 10 weeks (open, cap 22) ## Is copywriting still a viable career after AI? Yes, but a smaller and more specialised one. Generative AI has permanently removed the low-rate, high-volume end of the market. Work that depends on interviewing real people, understanding a market and taking responsibility for a commercial result has become more valuable rather than less. The honest framing we use on this programme: if your offer was competent generic copy at a low rate, that offer is gone and no amount of positioning will bring it back. What has grown is work where the client is buying judgement — someone who will tell them the page should say something different, and be right. That is not a prompt. ## What do UK freelance copywriters charge? Advertised UK rates commonly run from around £300 to £800 a day, with specialists in technical, financial and healthcare sectors charging more. Generalist rates have fallen. Most freelancers undercharge for their first two years because they price against competitors rather than costs. We are cautious with these figures because reliable published survey data on UK freelance copywriting rates is thin; the range reflects advertised rates rather than a survey. The number that matters is your own: what you must earn per billable day to hit your income target after unpaid time, tax and holiday. That calculation is assessed on this programme. ## Do you need a qualification to be a copywriter? No. Copywriting is entirely unregulated and no client will ask for a certificate. What they ask for is a portfolio and evidence you have solved a problem like theirs. That is why this programme is assessed on portfolio pieces rather than on exams. ## How is this different from a self-paced copywriting course? Your work is critiqued live, in front of the cohort, by a working copywriter — which is uncomfortable and is how writing actually improves. You also finish with three assessed portfolio pieces and a costed pricing plan, rather than a folder of exercises nobody read. ## Common questions **Will I have a portfolio at the end?** Yes — three assessed pieces, one written from a real interview you conduct. They are real work products rather than exercises, which is the point: speculative work for imaginary clients is not a portfolio and buyers can tell. **Do you teach how to use AI for copywriting?** We cover it honestly, including where it genuinely helps with research and first drafts. What we do not teach is generating copy at volume, because that is the part of the market that no longer pays. **Is my work critiqued in front of other people?** Yes, in open review. Everyone learns more from ten critiques than from one, and it is the format professional writing rooms have always used. It is voluntary for the first two weeks so you can see how it works. --- Source: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/freelance-copywriting-business · The Study Guild