The Filthy Rich Writer course claims that it is possible to make a great living as a writer. After buying the course in 2021 and then transitioning into a copywriting role, I can tell you first-hand that it does deliver on its promise—even in the age of AI. In this Filthy Rich Writer review [updated for 2024], I unpack the course so that you can see for yourself and decide if it’s the right copywriting course for you.
Whether you want to be a professional in-house copywriter, build your own freelance copywriting business or even just need to hone your copywriting skills for your own projects, this online copywriting course packs some real punch.
Since taking the course I have transitioned from a 20+ year career in design to working part-time as a marketing manager (earning double my previous hourly rate), and now full-time as a freelance content and copywriter. The course has paid for itself multiple times over.
If you want to see for yourself, watch the FREE training video.
Or if you want to know more about it from me, let’s start by looking at the teacher to see what qualifies her to teach us in the first place…
Who Is The Filthy Rich Writer?
The founder of Filthy Rich Writer is Nicki Krawczyk. Nicki has spent many years working as a professional copywriter. In short, she knows what she’s talking about and she teaches it exceptionally well. After developing many new copywriters throughout her career, she then decided to collate all of those lessons into one very powerful course.
If you’re wondering about the naming, in this blog post, Nicki goes on to explain why she named her business the way she did. In a nutshell:
For me, being “filthy rich” means having a job you love, being good at it, and being paid well to do it.
Nicki
So while the name may sound scammy, leading you to ask is this filthy rich writer legit?!, let me assure you right now that it absolutely is.
When I first saw the Filthy Rich Writer Facebook ad, it hooked me and really got me thinking. I clicked through and watched the video and it was as though Nicki was inside my brain and reading every question I had.
In that video she went on to answer all of those question—plus many more that I didn’t even know I neede answering! I went to bed that night with my mind buzzing about the possibilities. The next day I signed up—and it really is one of the best things I’ve done.
Who Is the Filthy Rich Writer Course Aimed At?
The course is primarily for people who are looking to learn how to be a copywriter in order to land freelance copywriting work, although the skills you’ll learn are exactly the same for any who wish to work as a pro copywriter within a business. For the latter, it just means you can skip a few of the lessons.
How Is The Filthy Rich Writer Course Structured? What Will You Learn?
The course is structured in a series of modules, each consisting of a number of laser-focused, bitesize lessons.
There is no waffle or padding, with each lesson cutting straight to the point, delivering the concepts in a straightforward way (err, like good copywriting?).
For students, this means that it’s both faster and easier to learn the necessary skills on our copywriting journey.
So what exactly do you get for your money…?
The Foundations Course
This professional copywriting course is split into different sections. It begins with the Foundations Course, which is where you will learn about all of the essential building blocks of how to become a copywriter.
- Module 0: Getting Started
- Module 1: Copywriting Fundamentals
- Module 2: Copywriting Tactics
- Module 3: The Project Lifecycle
- Module 4: Interactive/Digital Copywriting
- Module 5: Print Copywriting
- Module 6: Building Your Business
These six core modules really do lay down a solid foundation. They explain the key concepts in a logical order and answer questions such as:
- what is the difference between copywriting and content writing
- how to write copy for web pages, banner ads and emails
- how to write copy for printed mediums
- how much to charge
- how to create a copywriting portfolio
As well as teaching you what to do and how to become a successful copywriter, the Filthy Rich Writer course also teaches you what not to do. Whether you’re looking to be a freelance copywriter or in house agency work, avoiding bad practices is as important as maintaining good ones, and this course highlights some of the more shady tactics and techniques that exist and explains why they are bad.
The Bonus Courses
This course is rich in content. Honestly, if I’d just been given the core modules for the full price I paid, I’d have been happy. But with the Comprehensive Copywriting course, you get a TONNE of extra bonus content. And this isn’t just fluff to pad out the main course. It’s highly valuable, useful actionable stuff. Topics include:
- Landing work
- Writing for specific mediums
- Building your business
Nicki is also big on the psychological aspect of starting up a new business and offers a lot of highly practicable advice on how to overcome such mental blocks as resistance and imposter syndrome. Whilst this might not be something you’ve thought about before, it’s incredible how often that twin-headed monster rears its ugly heads to try to undermine your new business venture.
The advice Nicki gives on this will no doubt help many to forge on in the course rather than give up – a true sign that the course creators care about the outcome for us students, rather than just wanting to take cash off us…
I also love the fact you get taught the business elements too – how to nail your client calls, pricing your services, plus tips for optimising your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to attract business. Lots of angles are covered that help you to become a success.
Group Coaching Sessions
Group coaching sessions are available once or twice a month. Send your questions in and Nicki and the team will answer them on the live video.
An added benefit is that you can trawl back through the archives all the way back to 2014 to see if the question you have may already have been answered!
If you prefer a more tailored response, one-on-one coaching sessions are also available for an extra fee.
Private Facebook Group
Once you’re all signed up as a student you get access to the exclusive, student-only community. Within this group there is so much constructive feedback—even if you don’t actively get involved there’s a wealth of tips and inspirational stories that you can browse through in order to deepen your understanding and keep yourself motivated.
It’s a lovely community full of open and honest critique, and can really help out when you hit a problem you don’t know how to solve.
So although the course is online rather than in a classroom, you do get the benefit of a large group of highly engaged online classmates.
How Long Does It Take To Complete?
If watched back-to-back, the total video time for the Foundation element of the copywriting course is around 8 hours.
The Bonus courses add up to a further 17+ hours (at current counting!)
Included with many of the videos are downloadable action sheets. And it’s these that are going to take a chunk of brain work and time to complete to make sure you’re fully understanding the principles you’ve just learned about and letting them sink in through application to those tasks.
So realistically, it’s hard to say how long the core course content will take to complete for each person, as it depends on how fast the action sheet tasks can be done. But hopefully, those numbers above give you some idea as to how long the course itself might take you.
You’ll Also Need a Website…
Additionally, if you’re looking to become a professional copywriter, then you’ll need to have a website. Nicki suggests various ways to go about doing this, and stresses how vital it is that you have one.
Building this will also take a chunk of time, regardless of how proficient you are at building websites.
And a Portfolio…
Then you’ll need to build your copywriting portfolio (online and offline). Once you have those ready, it’s time to start pitching to potential clients. Luckily there is a stack of help and advice on how to do this included in the course, too.
What Is the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy?
The Comprehensive Copywriting Academy is the course aspect of the Filthy Rich Writer’s brand. The About page clearly states the aim and the promise to students: (source)
We created the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy to provide real, career-focused training to people who want to put their natural talent for writing to good use—and earn a good living in a fun, creative, and fulfilling career.
Other Resources
As well as the Filthy Rich Writer copywriting course, there is plenty of other content created by the Filthy Rich Writer team that is free for all students of copywriting to benefit from. As part of my research, I listened to many of the podcasts and read a good number of blog posts before buying the course. The content helps to give a good feel for the team behind the Filthy Rich Writer course, so I hope the below links prove useful to you.
Blog
The Filthy Rich Writer blog features a whole raft of helpful topics in easily digestible articles. Here are a bunch of recommended reads if you’re interested in a copywriting career:
- How to Break Into Copywriting Article
- 6-Figure Copywriter Interview
- Her Goal Was to Replace Her Teaching Income in 5 Months. She Did it In 6 Weeks
- Will The Market Be Flooded With Copywriters? (There are some stats in this one about the number of businesses that will really blow your mind!)
Podcast/YouTube Channel
Nick and Kate also host the ever-useful Filthy Rich Writer podcast (also available as video content on YouTube, if you prefer that format). New content is added every few days and it’s genuinely helpful for any copywriter, whatever the experience level.
How does the CCA Compare to Other Online Copywriting Courses?
One of the many things I really like about the course is that it’s modern and contemporary in its presentation. Many of the other online copywriting courses that I looked at felt stuffy, dated and not in touch with our modern world.
But the course from Filthy Rich Writer is fresh and on-point, delivering strategies and techniques for writing copy in both traditional print mediums and within today’s fast-moving digital landscape.
Other online copywriting courses that I’ve completed are:
Million Dollar Copywriting Course by Miles Beckler
Others that I considered buying are:
Filthy Rich Writer Copywriting Course – the Pros and Cons
As with anything, there are pros and cons to most things in life. That said, for me, the cons with the Filthy Rich Writer course were very few and definitely not course-breakers.
Pros
Clear and concise – Nicki presents the content in a very clear way, in a highly engaging manner. Each module is concise and to the point, meaning you get to the essence of the learning quickly.
Bitesize sections – Most of the modules are very bitesize, meaning you can watch the video during a coffee break. The average time is 20 minutes, with the longest module coming in at just over 30 minutes. For me, this made the course quite addictive, and I’d often get through several modules in one learning session.
The sheer amount of content – you really do get a lot for your money. But the bite-sized nature of the courses means it never feels like you’re being swamped. The course structure makes it easy to find a specific lesson, in case you need a refresher. Just landed a job for a client writing an online sales letter and need a quick reminder? You’ll easily be able to find the lesson you need.
Cons
Some content may not be useful to you – if you’re looking for a course to learn copywriting for your own use (i.e. you’re a solopreneur/small business owner), then there are some elements of this course that are not going to be so relevant to you. That said, the principles and learnings within the bulk of the course are exactly what you’re likely to be looking for. And because each lesson is so tightly focused and clearly titled, it’s easy to skip those that you don’t need to know.
Inflexible Action Sheets – Many of the Action Sheets included in the course are downloadable pdfs. They’re hugely useful but fixed layout. So for many of them, I did find myself remaking them so that I could create flexible digital templates for myself to use on future copywriting projects. This was no big deal for me and actually helped me to really cement the systems in my head more. But it will take a little time if you want to do the same thing.
FAQs
How do I become a copywriter with no experience?
If you’re looking to build a copywriting career for yourself then taking a copywriting course is a great place to start. I have a background as a graphic designer and have also been content writing for some years. As such I’ve been around copywriting in some form for multiple decades.
But even with that experience, I didn’t fully understand the difference between content writing and copywriting (if you’re not sure, I wrote a post ‘Copywriting Vs Content Writing – What Is The Difference?‘ that answers the question). And until I started consciously learning about copywriting and started writing copy, I didn’t understand how hard it was!
Taking a course that teaches you the necessary skills and then gets you to put that learning into practice is the best way to begin to build experience. Create some spec ads (mock projects) and use them as a foundation for your portfolio.
You can then start to reach out to try and get some real-life copywriting experience. Your contacts are a great place to start here – do you know anyone who has a business?
How hard is it to become a copywriter?
For me, the hardest part of writing copy is the limited number of words you often have to play with.
Whereas a content writer can generally use a lot of words to get a message across, a copywriter has usually very few. And those select words have to be the right ones in order to get the reader to take an action. The words need to evoke an emotional response within the reader – no mean feat. This is why empathy is so important – both with your clients and with their customers.
What skills do you need to be a copywriter?
In an excellent podcast, Nicki and Kate talk through the skills needed to become a copywriter. Here are a few skills that are useful to have in the locker:
- Empathy
- Creative writer
- Time management + prioritisation
- Research skills
- Curious mind
- Good communicator
How long does it take to become a good copywriter?
Mastering any craft takes time. And writing copy is no different – it’s definitely not a get rich quick scheme! And if you want to be a good copywriter, then you’ll have to spend time learning copywriting skills. This copywriting course is definitely going to give you all of the key fundamentals you need, as well as a load of helpful extras!
How much do copywriters earn?
Professional copywriters can earn a lot of money – I mean, have you seen Mad Men?! Done well, copywriting can be a very lucrative career path.
What are the best books on copywriting?
As well as taking a few copywriting courses and digesting many days’ worth of digital content on the subject, I’ve read a few excellent books for copywriters. These should be added to your library to help you in your ongoing copywriting journey:
- How to Write a Good Advertisement: A Short Course in Copywriting by Victor O. Schwab.
- Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy.
- The Ultimate Sales Letter, 4th Edition: Attract New Customers, Boost Your Sales by Dan Kennedy.
Filthy Rich Writer Review – The Key Takeaways
After watching the video, I searched for Filthy rich writer reviews online as I thought it was a scam. If you’ve also been asking yourself is the Filthy Rich Writer legit?, then I hope this course review has laid those fears to rest.
Is it the best online copywriting course out there? Well, I haven’t done them all, but from the many hours of learning that I have put in on various courses and books, I’d say that the course offered by the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy is definitely up there with the best. It’s practical, intuitive and exceptionally thorough.
The Foundations Course element is excellent on its own and gives you a strong structure to build any further learning around.
And if it’s further learning you’re looking for, then the bonus content is an incredible reservoir of extra value (more than 17 hours!). I was genuinely blown away by the content and value this course offers.
If you’re of a social mind and want to connect with other students to bounce off them then the Facebook group really is the icing on the copywriting cake.
In short, this copywriting course is a fantastic way to start your career as a professional freelance copywriter. Many students also go on to be employed as full-time staff.
Also, if you’re a blogger who is good at content writing and looking to learn the craft of copywriting to help you build an online business, then the Filthy Rich Writer course is a highly useful option for you, too. I know it has been for me.
If you’re not looking to write copy professionally but just need a course to get some basic copywriting training, then there are definitely some cheaper options out there. That said you would certainly learn a lot of highly useful stuff via the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy, and you can just skip the lessons that you don’t perhaps need for yourself.
Can the Filthy Rich Writer copywriting course help you to set up your own freelance copywriter business? It absolutely can.
If you’re looking to invest in yourself and learn the craft of copywriting, then I would have no hesitation in recommending this course to you.
Curious to know more? Watch the video to see for yourself – what do you have to lose…?
This site contains affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. That said, I paid full price to enrol on the Comprehensive Copywriting Academy and am recommending this course based solely on my own personal experience of it.