Eknoor Singh says he only needs his mobile phone and a decent internet connection to earn more than £120,000 a year. The 22-year-old Londoner is a professional "clipper". He is paid by clients to make short, vertical videos for social media, in the hope of them going viral.
"The more views a clip gets, the more money I make," he says. The way it typically works is that the client - who could be anyone from a clothing brand to a record label, movie studio, podcaster or influencer - has a longer video that the clipper watches first. He or she then makes 30 to 60-second clips of what they consider to be the best bit or bits, and uploads them to Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or other platforms.
The idea is that the clippers, who are typically aged from 16 to 25, will have a better understanding of what will connect with that demographic, and get the short videos as many views as possible. With clippers able to earn up to $3 (£2.30) per 1,000 views across platforms, it can be very lucrative if a particular clip does take off. Singh says he got hooked on clipping last year when he made $300 from posting a short video of popstar Dua Lipa on Instagram.
"I was like, 'OK, this is a lot of money for simply posting a video.' I instantly knew how lucrative it could be." Now he says he is earning "at least £10,000 a month". He adds that he looks for clips that are funny, quick to watch and engaging, such as a short video he made in May of Sabrina Carpenter's reaction to having the tails of her dress stepped on at the Met Gala in New York. Singh did not reveal who the client was.
For 24-year-old clipper Ethan Weems from Wichita, Kansas, it's a lucrative side hustle to his other video-making work. He says he makes "at least $1,000 a month" from clipping. He does this by making short videos for YouTuber and podcaster Caleb Hammer, who is best known for hosting a show called Financial Audit, which analyses the personal finances of his guests.
Weems says clipping helps him make a living from home – giving him more time to spend with his wife and one-year-old son. "I don't want that typical nine-to-five job where I have to go into an office every day," he says. Yet while some clippers can make good money, social media consultant Lia Haberman cautions that there are very few of them.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
