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How to Edit Videos Like the Pros: Beyond the Basics.

Okay, if I didn't scare you away from the idea of professional editing last month, let's move on to some of the more advanced stuff. Like what makes the difference between basic editing and actual professional editing. In my opinion, at least, the difference is pretty simple. Beginning editors concentrate on how to do the tasks of editing well. They're concerned with how well they accomplish the process of editing, the cuts, the transitions, marrying the audio and video on the timeline so that nothing's wrong with their work.

The professionals change their perspective. They stop worrying about what might be "wrong" because they're confident in their skills to handle that. So they shift their perspective from simply "how to do things" to how things should be done.

At the earliest meeting with a new client, the beginners will be thinking about how much to charge, how much time the video will take to make, whether their cameras are good enough, what extra help they will need. The professionals will know all that in advance. They'll spend the same meeting listening to what the client needs.

I've been writing this column for more than ten years now, and the next sentence could be the most valuable single piece of advice I've ever given in this magazine.

"In a meeting about new business, the one who's listening is the one who's winning."

Listening means you're focused on what your client needs. And once you understand that, you can make them a video that actually helps them succeed. And people who can do that successfully are the people who are hired again and again. That, in a nutshell, is the major difference between amateurs and profession…