Raise your hand if you've always wanted to hire a video editor for your channel.
Me, me, me!
Pick me!
If you have video editors on your mind, then this video is for you because I'm going to
break down everything you need to know about video editors.
When to know you're ready for a video editor, what to look for in a video editor, and lastly,
where to find a video editor to edit your YouTube videos.
Hey guys, I'm Morgan.
And about six months ago, I hired my very first video editor.
That day was amazing.
And I learned a ton over the past six months, working with a video editor.
And I wanted to share all of this with you.
So you can skip the frustration and guesswork in hiring a video editor.
So let's jump into it.
Now, when it comes to video editing, you probably fall into one of two camps.
You either absolutely love it and think it's the best thing ever.
And it's a creative outlet for you, or you do it for a job.
It may be one of your favorite parts of your YouTube channel, or you might be on the other
side of the coin where you hate editing.
It takes too long.
You're not good at it.
You don't enjoy it.
So I'm curious, let me know which of these two you are in the comments below.
Do you love editing or you despise editing?
So how do you know when you are ready to hire a video editor?
We all know that editing videos can be one of the more time-consuming parts of running
a YouTube channel.
So if you are not a great editor and you find that you are just spending so much time editing
your videos, then it might be time to hire a video editor.
And that goes into my next point is if you want to increase the number of videos on your
channel.
If you are stuck making four videos a month, and that is all that you have time for, it's
probably because you are splitting your time versus making the videos and editing the videos.
So if you can find someone who is truly efficient and a master at editing videos that can free
you up to make more videos, then as a result of that partnership, you'll be able to release
more videos on your channel.
Imagine what it would be like.
If you could double the number of videos you release on your channel.
Now, another reason might be because you're not that great at editing videos, and you
want to level up the quality of your YouTube videos.
A professional editor can do things faster, better, and more sophisticated and more professional
than you.
So it would make sense to hand that over to a professional.
Now, the umbrella for all of these, to know that you are truly ready to hire a video editor
is that you can afford it.
If you are making money, whether that's through ad sense on your channel or through affiliates
or sponsorships or paid products or any other way that you're making money.
Maybe you do YouTube on the side and you have a nine to five job.
And the nine to five job can pay for a video editor, no matter what it is.
If you can afford a video editor and you have some, or all of these reasons below, then
it might be time to hire a video editor.
Now that means that if you actually enjoy editing YouTube videos, even though maybe
you're not the greatest at it, or it takes a long time, but it's just something that
really lights you up, then you may not be ready for a video editor and that's okay.
So now you know that you want to hire a video editor and you are financially able to hire
a video editor.
So what should you look for in a video editor for YouTube?
I think one of the most important things is that they are able to match and amplify your
style.
So they understand the YouTube style.
They understand the style on your channel.
And so by them taking over your videos, it's like your channel on steroids.
If you hire someone and their style is totally different than you or they don't understand
the way that YouTube works or your channel works, it's going to feel off.
And you're not going to be very happy with the end result before the editor even gets
started or as hired, you should have them look at your channel, watch a bunch of your
videos to really get a feel for you, your channel, your editing style.
And then before you hire them, I would give them a little test footage, give them just
a short 60-second clips, something super easy and have them edit that in your style.
Because if they can't edit a 60-second clip in your style, they definitely are not going
to be able to edit a 10, 20, 30 minute clip in your style.
So let's get ahead of this and do a test edit just to make sure that we're on the same page.
So not only should that person be able to match your style, but the quality should be
up to yours or better.
That's the whole reason you're hiring someone.
If you're hiring someone and they actually put out worse quality videos, why did you
hire them?
If it's simply to save time and you don't care about the quality, okay, that's fine.
But I think you probably care about the quality.
The next thing to look for in an editor is the turnaround time after you deliver the
footage, how fast are they able to deliver the video?
Is it within 24 hours that you'll have a complete finished product?
Is it gonna take a few days with my video editor and the plan that I purchased there
was actually a two business day turnaround time.
So from the time that I gave them materials, I would typically not see that first cut until
two business days later, which meant that if I gave them the video on a Friday, I wouldn't
see my first cut until probably late Tuesday.
So if you are in a tight release schedule and you're not ahead of the game of maybe
batching your videos, then that might be something to consider.
You might want a video editor that has faster turnaround time or perhaps works weekends.
So another thing to look for is whether you want to hire a freelancer or an agency.
So a freelancer typically is one person.
That's the one editor who's going to be working on your videos.
And they are the only person who's going to be working on your videos.
And an agency typically has a group of editors that will be editing videos.
And you may be assigned a specific editor, but depending if that person's out or not,
you may have other editors swap in on your edits.
As a result, they may not as familiar with your style versus having a single dedicated
editor.
Now, that being said a great agency that has multiple editors that could potentially be
working on your videos.
They are going to make it.
So that way you don't notice a difference.
The editor doesn't matter, but that's just something to look out for.
And last but not least is price.
How are you paying this person?
Are you paying them for video?
Are you buying a package of video edits, for example, four videos a month, or you have
an unlimited package of edits where you just buy one package per month.
Typically with these unlimited packages, they'll work on one video at a time.
So once one video is done, then they can start working on the next one.
So if you have all of your ducks in a row and you are really, really on it, you can
get a ton of videos edited this way.
The next obvious question is how much does a video editor cost?
And it depends.
I know you don't like hearing that, but it really depends on a variety of things to the
skill and expertise of that person, how long they've been doing it, what country they're
located in, and if they're a freelancer versus an agency.
So there's a variety of things and it really does range.
For example, you can go on a freelance website like Fiverr, and you can find someone who
will edit your videos for 50 bucks, or you can find someone who's going to edit it for
a couple thousand dollars.
As you can see, there is a big range and all of those factors come into play.
So now that you've hired that video editor, I wanted to share some tips to make that relationship
a success.
So first and foremost, you have to have a replicable system in place.
You want to have a place where you're going to be able to upload your videos, your raw
files, your images, everything that the editor needs to edit your videos.
This can be Dropbox or Google drive, but you want to have things organized in a way that
they know where to find everything that they need for the video.
So the first thing that I do when I'm ready to send my footage to my editor is that I
have editor instructions.
So the way that I do this is I have a very simple Google doc.
It's split into two columns, one for my video assets and one for the audio.
And basically I will write out for each section of the video, what I need.
So if I need a title card in one place, if I have an idea for a graphic or animation,
I want them to do, I will call that out.
And it basically gives them a checklist of what to expect.
Now, if you scripted your videos, you may already do majority of this work in the scripting
process.
So that way you're not having to duplicate efforts, you're not having to write a script,
film the video, and then write instructions to your editor.
If you can just do all of that.
When you are writing your script, it's going to save you so much time.
And depending on the relationship with your editor, these might have to be very, very
specific, or you might be able to just give them a general description of your goal of
the video.
And off they go.
I felt with my editor, the more specific and detailed that I was able to give them the
less back and forth we had in revisions, because they are not a mind reader.
Even though I know what I want this video to look like, they may not know.
So once your instructions already, that's when you want to package everything up and
send it over to the editor.
So you're going to want to send over your instructions.
You're going to send over your raw files, your audio files, any images, sound effects,
b-role, anything that that editor would need in order to edit the video.
And it's better to do this as much as possible at the beginning.
So that way, when you're in the revisions rounds, you're not,
"Oh, I forgot you need to b-roll.
Oh, I forgot an emoji here.
Oh, I forgot you need an animation."
If it's already there for them, then they don't have to come back and ask for those
things later.
And the next thing, when working with the video editor is to give them time, whatever
your SLA is for how long it should take them to edit the video, make sure to respect that
time.
So if they tell you the turnaround time is 24 hours, you should not be emailing them
four hours into the edit asking, "Hey how are things going?"
Give them the full time.
If it's two business days for you to see the first edit, wait the two business days.
Now, if you are in a time crunch and you need them to edit faster, you need to communicate
that to them.
And there may be an additional charge for having to expedite the footage or based on
their other clients.
They may not have the time to do so.
And you need to be okay with that.
That's why I recommend having a big bumper towards when you film your video and the editing
process of the video to when you want the video to go live.
Because editing probably is going to take a lot longer, especially with back and forth
with the editor.
So make sure you're not giving your video to the editor a day before you need to upload
it on YouTube.
That's just not going to go well.
So where do you find a video editor?
Video editors are all over the place.
You just don't know it.
If you're looking for an agency, there are a variety of agencies out there.
I used often marketing.
You might have one in your local area, or you might be able to find one online.
If you're looking for freelancers, you can ask family and friends for recommendations.
You can go to places like Upwork and Fiverr.
And then of course you can also just do a good old Google search, or you can search
Instagram, any sort of platform where you're able to search type in "video editor for YouTube"
and see what you find.
Or you can even try the comments on YouTube channels.
If you are a video editor and you are watching this, then put your contact information in
the comments below.
So other YouTubers who are looking for video editors can find you, like I said, I hired
a video editor six months ago, and I actually am going to share my whole experience, the
good and the bad of hiring a video editor in my next video.
So be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss out on that video because I'm going to
share the good and the bad.
I will not be holding anything back.
So get ready.
I hope you found that helpful.
And now you're ready to hire your first video editor.
So that's all I have for today.
And I'll see you next time.
Imagine how, imagine what it would be like.
If you could double the amount of your imagine what, imagine what it would imagine.
What, when I was finally ready to hire a video editor, it was game changing.
It's like the clouds parted and the sun beams and angels were singing.