How to make $100K as a video editor using 5 proven steps

How do video editors make $100K per year?

You need to focus on emotion and story instead of technical skills, apply those skills to high-end projects, get feedback from pro editors, create targeted showreels, and use strategic outreach to land paying clients.

Why technical skills alone won't get you to six figures

Do you struggle to get editing work even though you've spent years learning your craft and your edits are technically flawless? It's frustrating when you see others hitting six figures with what seems like almost no effort.

I struggled for years when I started, but once I learned what I'm about to share, I started hitting six figures easily and made a million dollars from editing before I turned 30. The problem isn't your talent — it's that the craft of editing is far more than technical skills.

For four years after I started editing, no matter how many hours I put in, I struggled to get past beginner-level skills. The only tutorials I could find focused on the technical side of editing, and I didn't know how to bridge the gap between using the software and creating edits that grabbed attention and made an audience feel something.

Without guidance, I was stuck experimenting on my own, unsure if anything I was doing would ever make my videos stand out. I honestly started to think that I just didn't have the talent to make editing my career. I hit rock bottom when I couldn't land an editing gig.

So I decided to do something about it. I asked a successful pro editor for help — and that decision changed everything.

Step 1: Plan every edit around emotion and story

My mentor showed me how pro editors really worked. He taught me to focus on emotion and story, not software. He let me see behind the scenes of his decision-making process on his actual real-world projects.

After years of struggle, I finally had a clear process to follow. Within months, I edited a short film that got into multiple film festivals. Soon after that, I landed my first TV commercial — the start of my 20-plus year career.

That led me to booking higher and higher budget broadcast TV commercials until suddenly I found myself editing footage shot by a Hollywood cinematographer. I was editing great actors and getting paid more than I ever had before.

If you're putting in the work but still feel stuck in your editing career, you just need guidance on how to consistently incorporate emotion and story into every edit and the career strategies to turn that into high-end projects and clients.

My student Doug learned to edit with emotion and story first while he was in my program. He went from editing creatively draining projects to working on a feature documentary that's aiming for Netflix distribution.

Ready to transform how you think about every edit? Download the Think Like A Broadcast Editor guide and discover the 5 criteria top editors use to craft emotionally-impactful edits.

Step 2: Apply emotional storytelling to high-end projects

Do you ever feel frustrated because you're editing the same low-paying, creatively unfulfilling projects over and over?

Let me tell you about my student Rob. He'd been editing corporate videos for years and wanted to make the transition to freelance, but he felt stuck. He knew he had the technical ability, but the opportunities he wanted just weren't coming in.

After Rob went through my program, he realized what he'd been missing all along: applying his emotional storytelling skills to high-end projects that were designed to look and feel like the kind of work he wanted to be hired for.

Not only did putting theory into practice cement his learning, but for the first time in his career, Rob had polished, high-end showreel pieces that he could confidently put in front of higher-end clients.

Step 3: Get feedback from a pro editor

Learning emotional storytelling and applying it to real-world projects is very important, but it's not the true shortcut to making your work stand out to high-end clients.

Before joining my course, Camari had a solid technical foundation, but he was stuck because he didn't have a mentor giving him feedback on his work. After getting detailed feedback from me on his work, he knew exactly what to do to hit the emotional targets he intended, and he created something he could use to attract more high-end work.

Jason experienced the same thing during my program. After getting personal, detailed feedback on his edits, he was able to take his editing to a new broadcast-ready level using a process he can now repeat for future client work.

Getting feedback from a pro who's working at a level you aspire to is the one true shortcut to breaking into high-end editing work.

Step 4: Create a high-converting showreel and portfolio

When a potential editing client asks to see your work, do you ever feel completely lost on what to send them? Or worse, you send them something and never hear back.

Creating and refining high-end showreel pieces isn't enough. You need to present your work in a way that high-end clients can't ignore. This means you don't cram everything you've ever done onto one website or send the same generic showreel to every potential client.

You create short, high-impact showreels designed for one person and back that up with a professional portfolio website.

Once my student Guzman started following these strategies, he booked his first five-figure freelance editing project after completing my program because his work was now being presented in a way that amplified the quality instead of detracting from it.

For editors who struggle with this critical step, I've created a comprehensive system that walks you through building a $100K video editing showreel using the exact framework that lands high-paying clients.

Step 5: Use strategic outreach to turn showreels into paid work

I get the chance to speak to hundreds of editors and 99.9% of them have the same problem with selling themselves. One, they're introverted. We do like editing alone in the dark, after all. And two, the word sales is cringy to us creative types.

Those two things held me back for years until I finally discovered that I could do just 20% of sales to get 80% of the results and hit my dream income without much effort.

Remember my student Rob who left corporate video editing to go freelance? Well, he was also scared to do outreach. But after implementing my outreach strategies, he booked a new creative client only four weeks into my program. And it wasn't another corporate video — it was for a fashion brand he was really excited about.

That didn't happen because he suddenly became more confident or because he got lucky. It happened because he had a clear, simple process for putting the right work in front of the right people.

These five steps break down every roadblock to advancing your editing career. They're the exact five steps I personally guide students through inside Edit Like A Broadcast Pro, where you'll create emotionally-impactful edits that win serious clients with real budgets.