The Blueprint To Landing Your First Video Editing Client
Make Your First $1k in the Next 30 Days
Having One Skill Can Change Your Life
In 2023, I landed my first client as a freelance video editor, earning $1,600 online."
However, before that, I discovered the possibility of making money online and working from home while I worked a kitchen job in 2020
During that time, I would dreadfully wake up at 4 A.M. for this job and work until 3 P.M.
I hated getting up so early for that job so much that I started looking for different side hustles and alternatives to fully make an income online.
Video editing was a skill I had learned, and I was already involved in in-person music video shoots.
However, I had no idea how it was possible to generate income solely from the internet.
Then I discovered freelancing sites such as Upwork and Fivver.
Even without experience I attempted to get a job online on those sites but I had zero luck.
I didn't know what I was doing wrong, so I gave up on my online income goal for three years.
In 2023, I decided to give this online money making thing one more go and after working hard and researching, I could not believe it myself but I had managed to acquire my first client in a full payment.
This is what I did differently my second time to acquire my first client as a video editor without using sites like Upwork and Fivver and without sending 1,000 cold messages everyday.
Inbound Leads With Personal Branding
A lead is a person that has expressed interest in a product or service offered by a business.
If you already didn’t know, businesses that deliver a type of service acquires clients and customers in two ways.
Outbound Leads: leads who are reached out to directly by a business or yourself. This outreach can take various forms, such as cold calling, cold emailing, direct mail, or targeted advertising. Businesses reach out to potential customers first.
Inbound leads: potential customers or clients who initiate contact with a company or its representatives. This usually occurs because the lead has expressed interest in the company's products or services through actions like filling out a contact form on the company's website, subscribing to an email list, or reaching out via social media. Inbound lead generation focuses on creating content and experiences that attract leads naturally.
After posting content on my Instagram social media page (which I will show you how to do later), I got an influx number of inbounds leads interested in my editing services.
It seemed so crazy to me how potential clients were approaching me instead of me having to actively apply for jobs or search for opportunities on platforms like Upwork.
Why It Works…
Personal branding and creating content focused on helping people in your skill can help you acquire customers or clients more easily for several reasons:
Establishes Authority: By consistently sharing valuable content related to your skills and expertise, you position yourself as an authority in your field. When potential clients see you as knowledgeable and helpful, they are more likely to trust you with their business.
Builds Trust and Credibility: Creating content that demonstrates your expertise and provides genuine value helps to build trust with your audience. When people trust you and see that you genuinely want to help them solve their problems, they are more likely to choose you as their service provider.
Increases Visibility: Sharing content online increases your visibility to potential clients who may be searching for solutions related to your expertise. As you consistently produce helpful content, you attract attention from individuals and businesses seeking your services.
As you can see, there are many benefits to creating content about your skill (video editing). It does not cost you a penny.
The only thing you may sacrifice is your time, but good things don't come without a bit of sacrifice.
Plus, I always recommend to just start creating content as a video editor because if you want to get better at editing while building a portfolio, creating content will do both those things.
If you need to build a portfolio, you might as well post it as content to reach more people.
You may be thinking, 'Okay, but what type of content do I create, and do I have to show my face?
Let me show you and no, you do not have to show your face.
3 Things To Dial In To Acquire Clients
If you want to get inbound leads to pay for your service you need to have these 3 things dialed in.
If you do not have these correctly, there is no point of even trying this method.
1. Clear Valuable Offer
The first part you want to focus on is creating an offer.
First select what type of video editing service you want to offer. There are many niches out there but get started by offering either long-form content or short-form content only. This reading will be about short-form only.
After that, you want to create a very specific Dream Customer Avatar.
A Dream Customer Avatar is like creating a superhero character, but for your business.
It's a detailed profile of the perfect person you want to sell your products or services to.
For example, my Dream Customer Avatar is an online business owner that wants the benefits of a Personal Brand such as getting more leads, selling more, and more reach via short-form content.
My dream customer also struggles with posting content because editing takes too long or they don’t want to do it.
You see how I detailed one of their problems?
You need to know everything about them — their likes, dislikes, problems, and dreams.
Your dream customer has problems, just like everyone else.
Your job is to figure out how your product or service can solve those problems. Maybe they need help with posting more content, or maybe they're looking a reliable editor that can edit high retention videos, or maybe they just want to make more money from their content.
Whatever it is, know how to solve for that problem.
The competition for editing services may be high but that does not mean there are zero people willing to pay you for a service that helps them fix an issue.
One way to help you stand out is by offering more value to your service.
People are not going to buy your service for fancy edits.
They care only about how well their content performs, how much videos can they post per month, or how well their content is converting viewers into buyers.
Sometimes clients even need help with filming or scripting.
If you can make yourself more valuable than just an editor, then they will highly want to work with you.
2. Attention Grabbing Content
Now you need to start creating videos for your Instagram page.
Here is the type of content you can post without showing your face:
Before & After Edits
This is the same method, creators/editors like me use to get their video clients.
Just start by editing before and after videos like this one.
These before and after video showcase the impact of your work and shows the viewers what type of work you can do as an editor
Edit viral podcasts clips of famous people online as these peoples faces are instantly recognizable to a wider audience online. This is what Natt Jongsala did and many others to grow their Instagram account as a video editor.
You can also showcase a comparison between two videos with a recognizable editing style.
I edited this Dan Koe comparison video and it got over 469k views.
I also want to say that the beginning of any kind of short-form content is the most important, so learn how to edit to capture the attention of viewers so they stick around and watch your videos. If you cannot capture attention, then your videos will perform badly.
After that you just have to stay consistent by uploading at least 5x a week.
Treat your Instagram page like your portfolio and if your content is great and engaging, I guarantee you will get messages from people waiting to pay you for your services.
3. Lead Generation Setup
Now that you have created your first video, you need to be doing a couple of few things to make sure people are aware that you offer editing services. Do this.
CTA’s
CTA: The purpose of a CTA is to encourage your viewer to do something, whether it's to DM you, comment below, or any other action you want them to take.
CTA’s will make people aware of your services.
For this video that I have posted recently, inside my caption I wrote, “Comment down below “Fix” and I will re-edit your video”.
Not only are people who are interested in my offer, but they are also commenting. More comments on Instagram = More reach.
Because Instagram is seeing that people are commenting on your video, the algorithm sends the video out to more people, thus increasing your reach based on video engagement.
You can also tell your audience to DM you with a DM CTA.
On this post I wrote, “If you are a content creator or online business owner, DM me “Content” for video editing services for your personal brand”
This video went viral so I received a huge number of DMs for my services and questions.
Bio Set Up
For anyone who visits your Instagram profile, the first thing they'll do is read your bio to see who you are and what you do.
Because of this, you want to make sure your bio and profile picture is set up properly.
Profile Pic
Have a properly lit picture and a great profile of your face.
You do not have to copy me but as long a stranger can see your face properly, you are good.
If you do not want to show your face, that’s okay but I would recommend creating a nice logo for your profile like Eptavideos.
Bio
The best bios usually follow a specific structure.
Name | (Keyword)
What you do
Bio CTA
For your name, type in your real name or your brand name. Then follow it with a keyword such as “Video Editor”, “Content Specialist”, “Content Creator”, or “Motion Designer”.
The first line of your bio will describe what you do. This helps people identify what you post and how you can help them from watching your content.
The second line should be a CTA. Tell people to DM you a keyword like “Content” or “Edits”. That way people who view your profile become aware that you sell video editing services even if you do not have a website.
If you found clarity and motivation on how to get your first video editing client, go watch my video on The 3-Step System To Save 100+ Hours of Video Editing Each Week.