Everything changed for me in December of 2021. I had new born twins at home that were 7 months old. And while I made pretty decent money with a full time job and a $2k a month retainer client on the side, I was still just getting by. My expenses had more than doubled when the kids were born. Mostly due to child care. I was paying $30k a year just for that (and I still am).
I knew I need to find more work to provide for my family. That’s when one of the best opportunities of my life came walking in. Here’s the story of how it happened.
Today I manage a team of video editors for one of the best Social Media Marketing Agencies in Southern California called Millennial Media Group (MMG).
I’ve been with them going on three years now. I started as a Freelance Video Editor brought on to help with their overflow of editing projects. Over the years I progressed in the company and became their Lead Video Editor and Manger of their video editing team.
I currently manage a team of four Video Editors for them and I still do a lot of editing myself. To give you some more context, this is actually a part time role for me and I put in about 15 to 20 hour weeks with them.
I have a completely different full-time salaried job (36 hours a week), also managing a team of Video Editors for a company called GymTV. But that’s a topic for another time.
In this article, I want to show you behind the scenes of what it’s like working with a successful Social Media Marketing Agency and fill you in on how you can find work with one too.
This opportunity actually fell into my lap all because I had my defense set up online. And when I say defense, I’m referring to my online image. My portfolio website, my social media accounts, my LinkedIn account. And most important in this case, my UpWork profile.
The owner of Millennial Media Group was in need of a Video Editor because the workload in his company was becoming too much. They tried a few local Video Editors from California and none of them worked out. So he decided to look for a remote editor.
When most companies are in need of talent, like MMG was, they go to platforms where they can actively search for it. The best platforms to do that right now are UpWork and LinkedIn. There are thousands of talented individuals in all industries to search through. These platforms make it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. LinkedIn is better to find people looking for full time work and UpWork is better for finding freelancers and contract workers. So depending on what type of work you’re looking for, that’s where you should set up a good looking profile and portfolio.
Don’t think that having that Instagram account is enough. When these agencies are looking for talent, that’s not usually where they are going. It’s just too hard to search through and find a good editor on Instagram. You need to go where they’re looking.
In this case they found me on UpWork. I had a profile set up with a nice bio about myself and my experience. A good profile picture, and a bunch of examples of my work. Now there there are a few ways to find work on UpWork. Either people looking for work will find you (if you have a good profile set up) or you can actively apply to hundreds of jobs.
There are new jobs posted every single day. I’ve had success waiting for new jobs to be posted, and jumping in and submitting one of the first proposals. If you can show up on their radar first, you have a better chance of them considering you (because there’s less competition). But even if you’re actively applying to jobs, you still need a good profile with information about yourself and examples of you work. They’re going to check it before they hire you.
In my case, I didn’t even have to apply to the job. The owner of the company found my profile and it fit the mold of what he was looking for. So all that effort I put into setting up my account 6 months before had paid off.
And the best part is, I haven’t looked for work or applied to any job since that day. In fact, I’ve turned down a ton of projects over the last few years simply because my pipeline of work is full. I have all the work I can handle and then some. I used to take almost every single opportunity that came my way, now I get to pick and choose and only take the good ones.
I’ve put myself in a position that I would have died for about 5 years ago. A position where I no longer need to spend any of my time looking for work. Where nearly every hour of work I put in, I’m getting paid for. Where I can jump on the computer at anytime of day, and there is good paying editing work ready for me. As much as I can handle. That’s all I every wanted was a pipeline full of opportunity, and now I have it.
And I know what it’s like to not have it. I didn’t have it for 10 years of my career. Most of which I really struggled financially. My goal now is to help as many other video editors get what I have. A pipeline full of good paying video editing work. More than enough to support a family on. And usually all it takes is one or two really good connections. Like my case here, that connection was made on UpWork.
So if you want to find freelance work with a content agency, get on UpWork and set up a good profile. Post all your best work. And start applying to as many jobs as you can. As you complete jobs, ask for a testimonial from the client. You just need to keep building. The more effort you put into the platform, the better jobs you’ll be able to get. And people will start to refer you to their network. You may even land a contract/freelance job with a big Social Media Marketing Agency like I did. Heck, I might even hire you myself. When we’re in need of Video Editors at MMG (which we almost always are) we go to UpWork to find them.
It may seem like hard work at first, but just remember, one good connection with the right person could change your life.
If you have any questions about my experience finding work on UpWork, feel free to reply to this email or shoot me a DM on Instagram. I’m happy to help.
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