What's up everyone.
Welcome back to my channel, the number one place for new coaches, content creators and
entrepreneurs.
In today's video, I want to tackle a topic that I don't see talked about enough here
on the platform and that is advice on hiring your very first video editor for Youtube.
Now if you are watching this video, I'm assuming that you are a youtuber and if you're a utuber
then you should know exactly how long it takes to create a video from the moment that you
actually conceptualize the video to the moment that you filmed the video and to the moment
where you actually edit the video.
This process can take a whole day depending on how many videos that you actually need
to produce.
That's why hiring and video editor is one of the number one things that most video creators
actually outsource because for many of us, video editing is not within our zone of genius
and even if you think you're good at video editing, oftentimes there's someone out there
that can actually level up your videos even more.
For example on my channel right here for a very long time, for over half a year I was
editing my own videos through [inaudible] movie and then eventually final cut pro.
Now was I great at it?
Not really, but I was decent enough to get by.
However, the moment that I actually started making money on Youtube, I then reinvested
that money back into outsourcing and actually hiring an expert video editor to do my videos
and since then the quality of my videos have truly gotten better and not only this cause
my watch time has increased as well, but more importantly by hiring a video editor, I now
have way more time to produce the content and stay within my zone of genius.
That's why for those of you who are watching, if you are in a place where you feel ready
enough to actually outsource this to someone else and you have the means to do it, then
make sure you keep on watching because I'm going to share with you my top tips and advice
on hiring your very first video editor from budgeting to what to expect and the things
that I recommend that you do in order to make sure that your videos are the best that they
can be.
So if you're interested in all of this, then keep on watching.
Now, the number one thing that I want to talk about before I dive into the actual tips and
strategies of hiring your very first video editor is to answer the question that many
people ask me, and that is, Vanessa, how do I know when I'm actually ready to hire a video
editor for my youtube channel?
Well, my answer to this is it's very subjective and it really depends on your needs.
For many people, they hire a video editor the moment that they start making money off
of youtube and they realize that youtube is actually a career that they want to pursue.
And then on the other hand, there's also plenty of people who hire video editors right from
the get go.
A lot of people who work full time jobs generally what they like to do is actually take a portion
of their paycheck in order to invest in outsourcing to a video editor so that they could have
more time to create videos.
So that's why the answer is very, very subjective and it's very personal to the person.
So while I can't really speak for anyone else but myself, I might as well share with you
guys why decided to hire a video editor and when was the right time for me.
I don't just do youtube, but I'm also running my coaching business on the side as well.
And therefore the moment that I realized that I wanted to do two videos a week on youtube
instead of just one video a week, I realized my whole life was consumed with either filming
or with editing.
Not only this, by that point I had already gained an audience and people were already
giving me feedback on things that they'd like to see on my channel, things that they like
to see me improve on and that's what I knew that I could no longer be a one woman show
because there was an actual audience relying on me to be consistent on youtube and if I
was still chasing my tail, trying to film, trying to edit videos, trying to do everything
while running my business, it would probably compromise my consistency.
Then when I realized that I was spending majority of my time editing videos and not doing income
producing things in my business, that's when I knew I had a problem.
And then lastly, because I had the income to actually invest in this, I knew that I
was ready.
Now again, for you it might be completely different.
However, I do have to say that there are a lot of video editors out there that are actually
a lot more affordable than you think.
So if you do have that extra side cash, I highly recommend investing in outsourcing
in video editing.
Now, speaking of income, let's just dive right into the very first tip that I have for you
and that is know your budget.
Like I said earlier, hiring a video editor, does it need to break the bank and nowadays
it's actually so easy to find video editors on websites such as upwork or Fiverr or you
can even do what I did and hire within your own community.
When I hired my video editor Alaina over at Crete in a late, she was actually someone
that was already watching my videos and all I had to do was post in my own Facebook group,
the fearless boss network, asking for video editors and she was the one that really fit
the bill.
Not only this beyond just my Facebook group, you can join other freelancing Facebook groups
and connect with other video editors or other entrepreneurs that can refer you to video
editors that they recommend.
Really the possibilities are endless, so please don't think that it's super hard to find a
video editor.
Now, regardless of which platform you choose to hire your video editor, just know that
the price ranges can really vary.
Even a quick search on upwork, we'll show you that video editors can go as low as 10
to $15 an hour all the way up to hundreds if not thousands of dollars an hour as well.
Not only this, how you pay, the video editor can vary too.
You can pay hourly like we just saw or you can pay by video, meaning that you're paying
about maybe $50 to $200 to $300 a video depending on the rates that that video editor is proposing.
And the beauty of this is that you're not necessarily paying for that person's time.
Meaning that if they had a lot of back and forth on the video, then they're not really
charging you for that and all you're really paying for is the end product versus if you're
paying hourly, you are paying for the time that it takes that person to create the video.
So that is something that you really want to keep in mind when you're thinking about
your budget.
Now at this point in the video, you might be wondering which one is better, is hourly
better or is paying by video better?
Or what should the benchmark or baseline be for video editing in terms of pricing and
the answer, again, really it depends and that's why when you are looking towards your budget
and hiring your video editor, you want to ask yourself these key questions that can
also mutely change the price and change which method makes more sense to you, whether it's
being charged hourly or charged by video.
With that being said, the first question that you might want to ask yourself when you're
thinking about your budget isn't, how many videos do you actually meet?
Now if you're doing one video a week on youtube, then you know every month you're going to
need a forward videos.
If you're like me and you do two videos a week, then you know you're going to need eight
videos and depending on the volume of the videos that you need, it might change whether
or not hourly will make sense for you or if being charged by video will make more sense
to you.
For example, if you have a lot of videos that you need per month, maybe you need eight,
maybe you need 12 maybe you need, I don't know, 20 then you know that perhaps being
charged hourly doesn't make as much sense to you because there's probably going to be
a lot of back and forth and there's probably going to be a lot of time needed from that
video editor to create those videos, especially as that big of a volume and therefore there's
going to be a lot of hours that are going to be required and therefore it might cost
more for you.
Where on the flip side, if you actually choose to be charged by video, depending on whether
or not you can find a video editor that offers that, then at least you can budget appropriately.
For me, I know exactly how much I'm compensating Elena every single month because she charges
me by video and I don't have to worry on the hours and making sure that my budget is sustained.
So that's why I personally prefer paying by video.
But for you it might be completely different depending on how many videos that you actually
need.
If you only need two to four videos a month, then maybe hourly makes more sense to you
because that person probably doesn't have that much volume and therefore they're not
going to have a crazy amount of hours.
That's why for you, you really got to do the math and make sure that you're comparing rates
to make sure what makes sense for you and your budget.
Now the next question that you might want to ask yourself when you're thinking about
your budget is on average, how long are your videos?
For example, if your videos are five to 10 minutes long all the time, then I highly suggest
that you actually choose the hourly route because it's probably not going to take that
long of a time or that video editor to string all the clips together versus if every single
time your videos are about 15 2030 minutes long, then you might want to consider the
by video route because the longer your videos are, the longer of a time it might take that
video editor to actually do the work.
So that's something that you also want to consider when you're thinking about your budget.
This leads me to the last thing that you might want to consider when you're thinking about
your budget for a video editor and that is how complex are your videos in the first place.
For example, if your videos have a lot of B roll and it has a lot of complex footage
that you require your video editor to comb through and string into one coherent video,
then you should expect that that video editor is probably going to charge you a lot more.
Especially if you are someone that wants a lot of crazy animations and a lot of features
versus if you have simple sit down videos like I do that are pretty straightforward
to string together, then you're probably going to be charged a lot less so you definitely
want to consider how complex your videos are because that is going to change the rate in
which that video editor will be quoting you.
Now at this point in the video, I really shared a lot of my perspectives as the client and
as someone who has shopped around, but you do have to understand that I am not the expert.
I'm not a video editor and neither are you.
That's why my next tip for you is to do your due diligence.
Shop around and do trial runs.
Something that you need to know is that even with Alaina, my current video editor, she
wasn't the first person that I worked with and I had actually tested other video editors
prior to committing on actually hiring them and even with Alaina before I actually signed
the final contract of us working together, I actually allowed her to do multiple tests
on my videos just to make sure that we were indeed the right fit.
Doing our due diligence, shopping around and actually doing trial runs with these video
editors before you commit to actually hiring them on full time is really important because
you not only want to know their rates and compare them, but you also want to see whether
or not it's worth it.
You want to see if their quality is actually good, whether or not their style aligns with
yours and how fast that they actually pump out these videos.
If your video editor is Mia and doesn't get back to you in two to three weeks, then that's
a problem.
Especially when you're a youtuber.
You really need to pump up videos fast and if you're a video editor doesn't really match
the pace that you're expecting them to be at, then you're going to have a problem and
that's why it's really important that you're testing these video editors out before you
actually commit in signing contracts.
Now to help you out on what to look out for when you're testing out these video editors,
here are a couple of things.
Do they follow instructions easily?
For example, if you tell them to do something, do they actually do it?
Another thing to consider is if they do make a mistake, do they only make that mistake
once and is it a forgivable mistake?
Oftentimes if they can't follow instructions, there's going to be a lot of mistakes and
if they're mistakes that you already pointed out to them and they're not fixing it, then
that's an issue versus if they do make a mistake and it's a forgivable mistake, make sure that
they don't do it again.
You really want to test out and understand whether or not your video editor has attention
to detail and listens to your feedback.
Another thing to consider is how much back and forth is there.
If there are multiple back and forth, meaning that you constantly have to review their work,
then that's also an issue.
For example with me in Elena or Alena and I, we only have one review because nails it
every single time and that is something that I really value in a video editor I do not
like to have multiple back and forth.
Now obviously this is also responsibility that I have to take on my end and being a
really great communicator and later on in this video I'm going to show you step by step
how to actually brief your video editor to ensure that there is not that much back and
forth.
But remember these are things that you really want to consider when you are testing out
your video editor.
And last but not least, another thing that you want to consider when you're testing out
these video editors is do they take creative risks?
You're hiring and you're investing in experts for a reason and you want to make sure that
that video editor is also injecting their own creativity into your videos.
There must be a noticeable difference in terms of quality when it comes to your videos because
you're not hiring experts to stay the same.
You're hiring experts to really have a visible level up and if that video editor is only
maintaining the things that you already were doing yourself, then you probably want to
find a video editor that's probably going to take way more creative risks and actually
implements and integrates that even consults you on things to add onto your videos that
will actually make them stronger.
Now obviously these are awesome things that you want to look out for when you are testing
out your video editor.
However, you must also understand that you are also responsible for the success of your
channel and for the success of the end result of your videos.
And this all comes down to clear communication.
Now, something that you should know about me is that before I became a youtuber and
a business owner, I used to be a brand manager at a corporation where I was in charge of
working with multiple third party suppliers.
And what I learned from that experience is that if you are not clear in communicating
with these third party suppliers, then there's going to be a lot more back and forth and
the more back and forth that you create, the more money and time that you're actually going
to be spending.
So if you want to save money and also save time, especially if you are being charged
hourly, you want to make sure that you are really clear in your communication and in
your instructions of what you want in the final result for your video.
That's why creating a video brief is going to be super helpful to ensure that your video
editor is equipped with the right tools to actually create the best video for your channel.
Now instead of me telling you and walking you through this video brief verbally, let
me just share my screen and show you exactly how I communicate with Alaina on exactly what
I want in my videos to ensure that we only have one review and one review only.
Since implementing this video brief that I've created and developed for my team, it's been
a lot more easier and a lot more efficient to ensure that the videos are always up to
the standard that I like and I'm also not wasting Elena's time as well.
With the constant back and forth in the back and forth is definitely something that you
want to avoid.
So without me babbling on for too long, let me just share my screen and walk you through
the brief.
All right guys.
So right now we are looking at a Google doc where I put my entire brief for a video to
share with Alaina.
Now each Google doc serves as one video.
So this one specifically is all about how to batch content for youtube.
As you can see, I have three columns right here is the clip that I'm referencing and
if you guys are familiar with my channel or what I've taught you guys is that I film my
videos in chunks.
So it's actually multiple clips that are strung together.
So here I'll actually reference the click.
Then I will tell her exactly what type of text I'm looking for or what I want to appear
on the screen.
And then on the side here, this is where I put my notes.
For example, in this clip I wanted Elena to put a picture of herself or I wanted her to
find a way to make this specific clip more engaging because I had a lot of texts that
was showing up over here.
I also wanted her to show a picture of a calendar and I just gave her the link of what photo
I wanted to use.
So this is a way that I actually communicate with Elena.
And so far it's been really, really effective.
Not only am I really telling her specifically what I want to see, but I'm also guiding her
for anything that she might need to know of as she's editing this clip and this is a lot
more simpler than Elena just winging it and us having a lot of back and forth so I highly
recommend this method.
If you are working with a video editor and you want to make sure that you are saving
time and that you're also managing expectations.
With that being said, let's just move right on into the video now.
As you can see, there are a lot of little things to consider when you're hiring your
very first video editor and I really hope that all these lessons helped you avoid any
of the future frustrations that you might face because I definitely faced them five
to six months ago when I was trying to hire my very first editor.
Now with that being said, I understand that not everyone is in the financial position
to invest in this type of service.
That's why I want you to click the notification bell because in my next video I'm going to
share with you some tips and advice on how you can save money as a new entrepreneur.
Saving money is something that is really important, especially if you are in the beginning stages
of building your business and the more that you can save, the more things that you can
invest in, such as a video editor, better software mentorship, and all of that.
So if you are someone who's interested to learn how I managed to save enough money to
invest in these things, then I want you to hit the notification bell because in the next
video we're going to cover all of that.
In the meantime, while you wait for that video, I post a lot of videos on entrepreneurship,
content creation and coaching.
So make sure you check out these two videos that I have here as well.
As always, guys, I appreciate you.
I hope you guys have a great day, a great week, and a great life, and I will see you
in the next one.
Bye guys.